Ngachin

Ngachin

Alternative names	sour fish, pickled fish
Place of origin	Myanmar (Burma)
Associated cuisine	Burmese cuisine
Main ingredients	fish, boiled rice, salt
Similar dishes	Ngapi

Ngachin (Burmese: ငါးချဉ်; lit. 'sour fish'), also called pickled fish, is a traditional fermented fish product used in Burmese cuisine. Ngachin consists of raw freshwater fish, which is pressed with a mixture of cooked rice gruel and salt as it ferments, and is traditionally packed in taungzun leaves.^[1] Bronze featherback is typically used for ngachin, although other freshwater varieties like rohu can be substituted.^[1] The version using shrimp is called bazunchin (ပုစွန်ချဉ်, lit. 'sour shrimp').^[2]

Ngachin is popularly served in a Burmese salad, mixed with garlic, shallots, fresh chillies, coriander and served with rice.^[3] In Madauk, ngachin is commonly served in mohinga, a rice noodle soup.^[3]

In popular culture

Ngachin is the subject of a popular Burmese proverb, "homemade ngachin tastes better" (ကိုယ့်ငါးချဉ် ကိုယ်ချဉ်), reflecting the shortcomings of personal biases.^[4]

See also

• Burmese cuisine
• Shrimp paste
• Fermented fish

References

1. "ပဲခူးငါးချဉ်စျေးကွက် ဆက်လက်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးနေ". Department of Consumer Affairs (in Burmese). Retrieved 2021-12-30.
2. "ပဲခူးမြို့ရှိ ငါးချဉ်လုပ်ငန်းများတွင် ဓာတုဆေးဝါးများ သုံးစွဲနေခြင်း ရှိ၊ မရှိ စစ်ဆေးမည်". The Farmer Myanmar (in Burmese). Retrieved 2021-12-30.
3. Kyaw Lin Thant (2016-05-04). ""မဒေါက်" ငါးချဉ်". MyFood Myanmar (in Burmese). Retrieved 2021-12-30.
4. "Top 10: Myanmar proverbs". The Myanmar Times. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2021-12-30.