Fish sauce is that magical, secret ingredient that somehow completes any dish that it's added to. Traditional to most asian cuisines, a version of fish sauce was also used in ancient Rome. Fish sauce is obviously based on fish, so what's a vegetarian (or vegan) to do if she wants to cook Thai or Vietnamese food, for example? Can't she have some of that magical savoriness, too? The answer is yes! Read on for a fish-free version of fish sauce that uses some very interesting ingredients.
The purpose of adding fish sauce to recipes is to add umami, or depth of flavor and savoriness. Most umami-rich foods are animal based, such as bacon or fish or parmesan cheese. But there are also several vegan friendly foods that contain a lot of umami, such as seaweed, mushrooms, and miso. Fermented foods are especially loaded with umami, so soy sauce is high on that list as well.
The recipe for vegan fish sauce below is based on these ingredients and its the best one I've found so far to replace fish sauce in vegetarian/vegan recipes. If you can't find mushroom soy sauce, add a few dried shiitake to the seaweed mixture in the beginning.
Vegan Fish Sauce
(makes about 3 cups)
1 1/2 cups shredded seaweed (I use wakame)
6 cups water
6 fat cloves garlic, crushed but not peeled
1 T peppercorns
1 cup mushroom soy sauce
1 T miso
Combine wakame, garlic, peppercorns and water in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer about 20 minutes. Strain and return the liquid back to the pot. Add soy sauce, bring back to a boil and cook until mixture is reduced and almost unbearable salty. Remove from heat and stir in miso.
Decant into a bottle and keep in the refrigerator. Use one-for-one to replace fish sauce in vegan recipes.
Note: You should be able to find wakame in most health food and Japanese grocery stores. Its also readily available online.
Related: BĂșn Chay (Vietnamese Vegetarian Noodle Salad)
(Image: Dana Velden)
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Comments (15)
Cool! Thanks for this recipe. Any idea of common brands of mushroom soy sauce that I could find at the local big Asian market? Also, how long would this last in the refrigerator? Does it matter which kind of miso?
I was just wishing for something like this last week. When my current bottle of fish sauce is gone, I will have to try this. Same question as pbelardo: what are common mushroom soy sauce brands? I haven't heard of it.
Nice! I always get perplexed when I see recipes with fish sauce. I usually just use soy, but this more evolved.
And... I really hate the taste of seaweed, so any suggestions there?
http://vegoutandabout.wordpress.com/
What an excellent idea!
I'm always sad to omit/replace fish sauce when cooking fro my vegan sister.
I'm sure the seaweed flavor would not so over power a dish. Much like the taste of squished, fermented fish does not :-)
QueenOfTheFall.blogspot.com
Dear All:
The brand of mushroom soy sauce I use is Pearl River Bridge. This is the only brand I've used (I purchased a large jug of it,) so I'm not sure if it's the best but it worked well in this recipe.
I used red miso, since I was going for rich, strong flavors but I'm sure white miso will do.
The seaweed is there for the 'fishy' element and QueenOfTheFall is right: it really doesn't dominate. (Although my kitchen smelled rather seaweed-y when I was boiling it up!) Not sure what you could substitute ...
It lasts for several months in my refrigerator. I've always used it up before it has gone bad or the flavor has changed, so I don't know how it would taste much beyond 8 months or so.
I'm not a vegan but I'm going to make this anyways because fish sauce scares me. I'm always afraid it's going to tip over in the fridge or break in the bag on the way home from the grocery store.
I've used a combination of soy sauce, brown sugar and lime juice in place of fish sauce in recipes, but it just isn't the same. Thanks for providing this recipe!
I am half vietnamese and this just seems like sacrilege. Sorry but I am not buying that it is going to have the same flavor.
hellcat: You're right! It's not the same, but it is an extra boost of flavor and savoriness for those of us who don't eat fish.
OMG, you have no idea how happy I am to see this.
Thanks for this!
Thanks for this!
I love the authentic Thai fish sauce and while my mom appreciates the flavor it adds to my Chinese dishes, she just can't stand the idea of fermented fishes!
Gonna try and make this to gift her!
any idea what the shelf life would be?
I'd love to know how long this keeps too - I'd prefer to make a decent sized batch but don't want to waste it if I don't use it up quickly. Thanks for the recipe!
One thing I've added to recipes in the past when they ask for fish sauce is the indian spice asafoetida (in addition to soy sauce to provide the basic salty umaminess). The key thing that is missing from most vegetarian substitutes for fish sauce is what can only be described as the "stinky feet" flavour provided by the fermented fish (despite having been vegetarian for half my life, I actually tasted a bit of fish sauce straight from the bottle not long ago just so I could work out what it is that's missing from substitutes. It's pretty disgusting by itself, I have to say!) - there isn't really anything else like it, but if you've ever smelt asafoetida you'll know it has that pungent stinkyness that is vaguely reminiscent of smelly feet. Appetising, I know, but much like fish sauce it's surprising how something so gross can improve the flavour of food so much! I might try adding some to a little bit of this recipe as I reckon the blend of flavours might come closer to the real thing than anything I've tried so far.
Oh, how I need to make this! Fish sauce is the final frontier for me, the only non-vegan food I haven't given up.