Why it works: Lemon grass and fish sauce work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 304 recipes mention both. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the fish
Chop the fish.
Pound the fish or put it through an electric blender.
Add salt and turmeric while pounding or blending until a cohesive lump is formed.
Remove any bones from the fish lump.
Boil the fish lump in water until it rises to the surface.
Remove the fish lump from the water.
Slice the fish into 1/4-inch strips.
Prepare the aromatics
Soak the onions in water.
Slice the lemongrass finely.
Put the sliced lemongrass in water, separating the rings from each other.
(Optional) Use finely chopped coriander leaves in place of lemongrass.
Assemble and serve
Right before serving, combine the fish, onions, lemongrass (or coriander), cooked oil, roasted chili powder, fish sauce, and fried onions in a bowl.
Squeeze lime over the mixture and mix well.
Add salt to taste.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lemon grass + fish saucetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together304 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Lemon grass + limetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together407 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Turmeric + lemon grasstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together144 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Turmeric + limetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together584 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the salad; boiling and shredding it gives the salad its texture.
- Lemon grass
- Adds a bright, citrusy aroma that stands out against the fish.
- Fish sauce
- Adds savory depth and salty umami flavour to the salad.
- Lime
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavours and balances the fish and fish sauce.
- Roasted chili powder
- Adds heat and a toasty, smoky flavour to the dish.
- Fried onions
- Add sweetness, crunch and savory aroma to the finished salad.
The step that matters
Pound or blend the fish with salt and turmeric into a cohesive lump. Salt dissolves and pulls out proteins from the fish, so it binds into a cohesive lump when pounded or blended. Enough working gives a firm, even texture, so the boiled fish holds together when sliced into strips.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, turmeric, lemon grass, fish sauce, lime, garlic):
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, turmeric, lemon grass, fish sauce, lime, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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