Sidra ko Achar (Dried Fish Pickle/Dip)
ご飯泥棒確定！焼き小魚とトマトの旨味爆弾ペースト
Description
A dip sauce (Achar) starring the aforementioned dried small fish 'Sidra', arguably the ultimate rice driver in Nepal. Aromatically crispy roasted small fish ground into a paste in a mortar with open-flame charred pitch-black tomatoes, massive garlic, and chili. A lump of intense umami like anchovy paste, multiplying the fish's inosinic acid (umami) with tomato's glutamic acid.
Classification: Sauce, Dip, Umami Bomb
Shops selling Sidra ko Achar (Dried Fish Pickle/Dip)
Researching
We are researching shops that sell this item.
On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Sidra(Dried small fish/JP Niboshi)
- Tomato
- Garlic
- Red Chili
- Lemon juice
- Salt
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe]
- [Roast Sidra]: Dry-roast Sidra (dried small fish) in an unoiled pan (or with a little mustard oil) until smoking and aromatic.
- [Roast Tomato]: Roast raw tomato and green chili over open flame until skins are pitch-black; peel tomato.
- [Grind]: Put roasted fish, roasted tomato/chili, raw garlic, salt, and lemon juice (or tamarind) in a Silauto (stone mortar), grinding into a paste retaining slight chunky fish texture.
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Sidra(Intense small fish umami)、Roasted tomato umami、Garlic punch
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
Remove heads/guts of JP 'Niboshi' (Iriko), pan-roast, and blend with roasted tomatoes
Pairing
Bhat (White Rice) / Dhido (Buckwheat mash) / Raksi
Trivia
When Japanese eat this Achar in Nepal, 100% are astounded: 'Why does a dish in the deep Nepali mountains hit our palates (Niboshi broth) so critically?'. A crystallization of landlocked Nepali people's obsession with umami.
Eating tips & etiquette
Served on the edge of Dal Bhat, mixed bit by bit into rice (Bhat). The perfect balance of roasted fish saltiness and tomato sourness makes mountains of rice vanish with this alone, even without other sides.
Allergen
Seafood