Tilapia, or pla nil, can now be considered the fish that best matches the current economic situation, given its mass production in a closed farming system and even in fish-breeding baskets along the rivers.
And due to mass production, the fish can be made available constantly and quickly, and the price is cheap. People can get pla nil with a large amount of meat and few bones as a cooking ingredient for various kinds of food. Pla nil is fish for the middle-class and the poor, who might see no need getting freshwater fish, which can be quite expensive, and there is little
difference in quality.
Unfortunately, a lot of people dislike pla nil, as they believe the fish is not tasty and has a muddy smell from ponds or farms. Such a widespread belief has never been proven.
In fact, the muddy smell from pla nil is not from the pond or farm but from the fish itself, just like other types of farm fish such as pla salit, striped snakehead fish, pla krai and especially catfish that usually stay and feed themselves in the mud. No one
despises these fish or think they smell bad.
Certain types of fish have distinct smells that people like, such as pla salit (gourami), particularly for its stomach fat, which releases a good aroma when fried. Pla salit is usually sun-dried for a day or two because the drier it is, the more fats are released from the meat. More fat means better taste.
Pla tapien (common silver barb) has lots of bones with little meat. But the smell from its stomach fat makes it a favourite, especially when fried or cooked in salty soup.
Sheatfish is among the most expensive freshwater fish.
Striped catfish is also cheap, but less popular due to the strong smell of fat found in its meat and its stomach. The fish can usually be found at temples that have a connected waterway to rivers or canals. At temples, people give them food and bread so they might not feel like eating it. In the past, people prepared red curry with morning glory and added fish meat, but now it has been replaced with streaky pork.
Those are examples of fish with strong smells that people typically say no to; these include snakehead fish, spiny eel, eel and naked catfish. Despite the smell, there are tricks to beating these odours.
For example, in the preparation of curry soup with snakehead fish, boiled fish meat is mixed with red chilli paste before being put in hot water, followed by fresh vegetables and other seasonal ingredients. That makes the sour curry free of the fish’s unpleasant smell.
A method of grilling is used with catfish to cut its strong smell. Or for curry with catfish, finger roots are added to reduce the smell. The catfish can be cooked by frying with hot chilli paste, together with bergamot leaf, young pepper and chilli. Other ingredients -- such as galangal, lemon grass, chilli, parsley and basil -- are put together in hot and spicy soup with catfish to lessen the smell. And for mackerel, fishermen cook it with boiled rice by adding galangal, fish sauce and celery for improved aroma.
Reducing the odour of pla nil is easy and can be done by stuffing Thai herbs such as lemon grass, galangal, onion and garlic inside its stomach, before wrapping its body with salt. After a perfect grill, the fish will give a pleasant smell.
Pla nil can also be cooked by frying with garlic and salt. Slices of pla nil can be made into a fritter dish or a larb (meat salad) dish.
The price of pla nil as of now is around 70 baht per kg; sea bass, 140-160; snakehead fish, 100 baht; salmon, 350 baht; and sheatfish, 400-500 baht.
Pla nil is cheap and fits well with most people's financial situation. And the belief that pla nil has an unwanted muddy smell is nonsensical.
