Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa Vietnamese Restaurant - Alhambra.Or you can also make Canh Chua Tom (Vietnamese Sour Shrimp Soup).Ĭa Bong Lau Nuong voi Mo Hanh (Vietnamese Roasted Catfish with Scallion Oil)Ĭa Chien Sot Ca Chua (Vietnamese Fried Fish with Tomato Sauce)Ĭa Hap Gung Hanh (Vietnamese Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallions)Ĭa Kho To (Vietnamese Braised Catfish in a Claypot)Ĭha Ca Thang Long (Vietnamese Hanoi-Style Turmeric Fish with Dill)
Ngo om has a taste and scent like fresh cumin. Add fish sauce to taste.Īfter maybe 15 minutes, when the fish is fully cooked and the veggies have slightly softened, taste soup again and add fish sauce if needed.Īdd bean sprouts and ngo om when the soup is almost done since they cook almost immediately. Leaving the lemongrass in big sections makes it easier to find and to remove from the soup later.Īdd tomatoes, pineapple, bac ha, and okra and let simmer. I like to leave them in so they can flavor the soup even more. You can either remove the lemongrass stalks at this point if you don't want to have to do that while you're eating. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to medium to simmer, and scoop out any excess foam. Then, leaving the ingredients in the pot, fill your stock pot 3/4-full. Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese Fish Sauce), to tasteĢ stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut diagonally into about 3-inch segments or big enough to make them easy to remove from the soup potĪdd a few drizzles of oil to your pot and saute shallot, garlic, tamarind, and lemongrass until fragrant. They also sell it in paste or liquid concentrated form. I used catfish but tuna and salmon work well too.Ģ to 3 stalks of bac ha (Vietnamese taro stem) or celery if you can't find it, peeled and sliced along the diagonalĪ dozen or so okra pods, sliced in 1-inch segmentsĪ few sprigs ngo om (Vietnamese rice paddy herb) or rau ram (Vietnamese coriander)Ģ tblsp tamarind (I buy seedless tamarind in blocks. How disconcerting.Ģ to 4 fish heads, tails, or fillets. And the way it's sung on the video is totally not how I was taught. I always thought it was a children's song. Those were the only lyrics I remembered of this song from 6th-grade outdoor school at Trout Creek. I don't know what's up with me and childhood songs lately. Demento song and watch the video on YouTube. You'll also need pineapple, beansprouts, shallots, garlic, tamarind, tomatoes, okra, lemongrass, and bac ha.Īnd let's not forget the most important ingredient. If you can't find it, you can substitute with celery stalks but it won't be quite the same. You can find bac ha at most Asian grocery stores. That's what helps soak up all the flavors when you add bac ha to whatever you're cooking. I peeled the thin outer layer and sliced them on the diagonal. Although it may resemble elephant ears, make sure you've got the alocasia odora variety or else it'll irritate your bowels.
The plant you see below is the aforementioned bac ha. There aren't any hard or fast rules, it's simply fish soup with veggies. The sour part of the canh chua comes from tamarind, and is offset by the sweetness of pineapples. The veggies and soup broth are often spooned over rice too. If you're cooking it with the whole fish, often the fillet portions will be scooped out and placed on a dish of fish sauce and chili peppers so you can enjoy the meat alone with rice or wrapped up in banh trang (Vietnamese rice paper). It's especially good with large fish heads such as tuna or salmon or sturgeon. It's a good way to use up every part of the fish. You can eat it as is, or spooned over rice. Canh chua ca can be made with fish heads, or whole fish, supplemented by lots of veggies. Original post below the picture.Īs I promised in my previous post, here's my recipe for canh chua ca (Vietnamese sour fish soup).
#FISH HEADS FISH HEADS EAT THEM UP YUM UPDATE#
I chopped off the head and tail and decided to update the photos from this old recipe. Updated from the archives September 25, 2009:Īfter a recent trip home, my mom sent along an entire steelhead salmon.