Fish kidney curry

Fish kidney curry

Here’s a dish that might sound strange: fish kidney curry or แกงไตปลา [gaeng dtai bplaa]. A Southern Thai dish, it is usually spiced accordingly. In other words, it is extremely spicy. According to the Royal Thai Institute dictionary:

TAI PLA ไตปลา (noun): word for the collection of organs in a fish’s abdomen of certain fish eg mackerel, including the gills too, which are pickled in salt and used in certain foods eg a curry called GAENG TAI PLA แกงไตปลา; the fish’s kidneys which are organs in the top of the abdomen connected to the fish’s backbone.

Locally, it is called pung bplaa which means fish belly, so there is some confusion over exactly what part of the fish is used.  Either way, we know it’s something from the inside that most Westerners wouldn’t normally eat!  All in all, it is pretty tasty, but being a typical curry, I’m not sure how to really differentiate it from others.