Plaa Tu

A common site at almost all food vendors and small restaurants is these little fish. I learned today they are called plaa tu. (Plaa means 'fish' in Thai. Not yet sure about the 'tu' part.) Anyway, they are always available at the small restaurant a few doors down from our building where I often eat lunch, but I have not had the nerve to order them. Today, I went for it.

Thankfully, you can ask them to de-bone them for you.

With a plate of rice and some veggies, this turned out to be one terrific meal! By the way, the red things in the rice are small (and very hot) peppers. Rather than salt, almost every table in Thailand will have a small jar of fish sauce, a liquid similar to soy sauce but made of fermented fish. It is pretty salty, and all the salt they use. Salt shakers are not seen anywhere. In addition to plain fish sauce, almost every table will also have a small jar or pot of fish sauce with a ton of tiny sliced peppers in it. This allows you to really season things and 'kick it up a notch.'