Finally, a suitably pungent vegan fish sauce! Our thanks to the informed bloggers at The Kitchn for the R&D and the recommendation. I’m making some alongside a batch of seitan I’m making later this weekend; surely enjoying vegan pad thai come Monday.

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.

A world of difficult-to-reproduce-as-vegan dishes from southeast Asia come a little closer to a delicious reality.