Food for Lent: Fish Sausage

I had a hard time during looking for something to cook during the Lenten Season. I vowed not to eat meat so my only option was to cook fish and vegetables. Unfortunately, fresh fish is “rare” in the area where I stayed in Thailand. I was also a picky fish eater. I only eat the familiar fish like the bangus and tilapia.

Because of these constraints, my diet during the Lenten Season consisted of eggs, fish balls, Mama noodles and vegetables. One day, while I was in the grocery, I chanced upon this:

Minced fermented fish from Big C.

I had second thoughts in buying the minced fermented fish because it was new to me. I didn't want to buy food that I might not like because I will just throw them away.

So, I walked around the grocery to check the fish balls, walked around to check the frozen fish and then checked the fish balls again. I decided in the end to buy the minced fermented fish because I was already satiated with the fish balls.

I called the minced fermented fish as fish sausage because it looked like a regular sausage. I was not sure if the fish meat is packed in pork intestine to prevent them from falling apart.

I sliced the fish sausage then I fried them. It was very easy to cook. I finished cooking it after few minutes.

One piece of the fish sausage is enough for a cup or so of rice.

It tasted good enough that I bought another pack. The minced ferment fish doesn't taste good as the regular sausage but it is a fine alternative for the pork, beef and chicken meat during Lent.

Noodle Time at Victory Monument

Victory Monument is not much of a tourist attraction. Tourists don't go there to marvel at the tall obelisk in the middle of the rotunda. They go there either to ride vans going to the provinces or taste yummy Thai foods.

Victory Monument is a busy place, thanks for its being a transportation hub. Thus, it also became a sort of Thai street food hub.

The busy Victory Monument.

One of the stall that I noticed is the one located near the escalator.

I had a hard time communicating with the lady at the food stall. She couldn't understand English so I just pointed at the food that I wanted. The lady just motioned me to go to the tables near the stall.

I'm ignorant of the scheme when eating at this place. I actually didn't need to go to the stall. All I need to do is to sit at the table and then somebody will come to get my orders.

The waiter immediately brought a metal cup with crushed ice. There is no free water so I was forced to buy a bottle of it.

It was about an hour before the usual evening rush so the place is not yet crowded. I bet that this restaurant has plenty of customers, based on the number of tables that they have.

My short wait was over and this is what I got:

Looks yummy!

I noticed some chicharon (deep-fried dried pork rind) on my table.

I'm sure that it is to be mixed with the noodles. I know, however, that I have to pay extra if I'll open a pack of chicharon. So, as a cheapskate, I didn't try chicharon with my noodles.

So what's the verdict? I say that it tastes good! The soup is not spicy but just perfect to my palate. It has pork meat and coagulated pork blood (in Philippines we call it betamax). At first, I thought that the white things in the dish are squid meat. I realized then that it is the noodles, which are short and fat but tasted bland. The soup tastes OK but I think I tasted better ones in a noodle shop inside a mall also in the vicinity of Victory Monument.

I paid around 50 Baht for the noodles and the bottled water. I guess it is still cheap for this kind of street food.

I am not sure if this dish is the famous Thai boat noodles. Maybe I had to go to certified Thai boat noodles shop near Victory Monument to see the difference with this noodles that I just tasted.