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Fermentation Atlas

Fish and seafood from Myanmar

Ngachinငါးချဉ်

sour fish eaten in salads (ngachin thoke) or fried. Made in 5 steps over 2 days – 3 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 2–3 days (Rizaldo 2024). Salt is 1.5 % (Rizaldo 2024). Lactobacillus plantarum group and Lactobacillus farciminis, L. futsaii, L. reuteri do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysReported[worldfish2024]Ferment
Salt1.5 %Reported[worldfish2024]Mix fish with rice, salt and pounded garlic
AciditypH 4.5–4.9Measured[nktm2015]Ferment
DocumentedFish and seafood2 days – 3 daysMore fish and seafoodMore from Myanmar

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
freshwater fish: spotted barb, tilapia, rohu, tinfoil barb
cooked rice (non-glutinous in Lower Myanmar, glutinous in Shan State)
salt
garlic
dried chilli
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 3 days

Start
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What changes: Rice is boiled and left to cool

Step 1 of 5
Boil rice and let it cool
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus farciminis
W. paramesenteroides
Pediococcus pentosaceus
Lactic acid bacteria

Brown rice in the Inle market process; Shan State uses glutinous rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ngagyin-chinMade from mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala).
  • Ngaphae-chinMade from featherback (Notopterus notopterus), the nga hpe fish.
  • Shan vinegar ngachinFish firmed in vinegar and mixed with rice: a quick ferment, like Japanese hayazushi (Ishige 1986).
  • Ngachin-ginFish pieces and small shrimp wrapped tight in leaves with rice as travel food (Ishige 1986).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Ngachin means "sour fish" (nga + chin). Lower Myanmar uses non-glutinous rice and Shan State glutinous rice (Ishige 1986).

  1. [ishige1986] Ishige N. 1986, Narezushi in Asia (Study of Fermented Aquatic Products 2), Bull. Natl Mus. Ethnol. 11(3), pp. 645-646paper
  2. [nktm2015] Nant Kay Thwe Moe et al. 2015, lactic acid bacteria and GABA in Myanmar fermented fish (ngachin), Fisheries Sciencepaper
  3. [worldfish2024] Rizaldo, Aung and Akester 2024, Quality of fermented fish in Myanmar, WorldFish (annex samples 003, 004 and 010)other