Thai Crispy Fish with Green Mango Salad – Yam Pla-Duk Fu (ยำปลาดุกฟู): In Memory of the Pla Called Duk
This unique salad is one of those things that make me go, “Man, this is why I love Thai food!” The combination of a crispy, airy nest of fish meat and a tart, sweet salad of fresh green mango just cannot be beat. There are so many textures and flavors going on; yet they all work together so beautifully you can’t help but thinking that whoever first thought this up sure was bright. Beer drinkers nationwide would probably want to have that person sainted also for, this Thai crispy fish with green mango salad has got to be one of the most loved classic “drinking foods” of all time.
Yam Pla Duk Fu [1] is also a great party dish not only because your guests will go nuts over it, but also because the crispy fish part can be prepared in advance, frozen or refrigerated, then popped into the oven to be re-crisped just before serving. Come serving time, all you have to do is make the green mango salad to go on top of the crispy fish.
But first, the name.
This crispy fish and mango salad goes by the Thai name Yam (salad – rhymes with “numb”) Pla (fish – rhymes with “ma”) Duk (a type of fish – rhymes with “look”) Fu (fluffy – identical with “fu” in kungfu). But sometimes, as you may have seen in some Thai restaurant menus, it also goes by the more recent and less common Yam Pla Fu.
The reason for the emergence of the duk-less variant? You see, way back when, catfish (pla duk) was the only fish traditionally used to make this dish. Hence the “duk” in “pla duk,” (literally “duk fish”) which specifies that it is not just any old fish but catfish.