Fish Fillet with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce

Hubby declared this to be the best fish fillet he had ever tasted. Many thanks to the two sisters of Eating Club Vancouver, where I got the recipe. They in turn, got the recipe from Bittman's How to Cook Everything or The Best Recipes in the World. This dish looked easy to do, they had good reviews of this dish so I knew I just have to give it a try.

Again, some tweaks:

I used Dory fish fillets instead of Trout that JS and TS used. I could not find trout fillets in this part of the city.

JS and TS did not specify the amount of ingredients, I just "imagined" how it was supposed to taste like, and proceeded to cook it.

I did not add water to the Fish Sauce anymore.

I sauteed the onions and leeks separately from the fish. (See instructions below.)

I added the Japanese red chilli powder with sesame seeds, well, because it's my newest seasoning baby (favorite).


2 pcs Fish fillets, cut into serving sizes

1/2 C water
1/2 C brown sugar
1 T Fish Sauce
4 -5 slices of fresh ginger
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1 stalk green onion leeks, chopped
sprinkling of Japanese red chilli powder with sesame seeds
1 bunch cilantro, chopped


1. Combine water and sugar in a wok or cooking pan. Let it boil and cook until the mixture changes to a caramel color.

2. Add in the fish sauce and ginger. Everything will sizzle a bit.

3. Add in the fish. Wait for a few minutes until the bottom part changes color. Turn the fishes over. Cook the other side until all done.

4. Ladle the fish fillets into the serving plate, leaving the sauce in the cooking pan.

5. Cook the onions in the remaining sauce until softened, just a few minutes. Then add in the onion leeks. Just before turning off the fire, add in the cilantro.

6. Pour the sauce (with the onions and stuffs) over the fish fillets. Sprinkle with red chilli powder. Serve immediately.


It is very easy to prepare, easy to cook, and yet delicious to the last bite. Daughter said the more chilli powder, the more these fishies taste better! Eating Club Vancouver said, "The caramel sauce was neither fishy nor sweet (for something that was made from the combination of fish sauce and sugar). It had a great depth to it from the caramelized sugar. Yet, it was actually quite delicate and the flavour of the (trout) fish came through and shone." I could not have said it better! :)






This mouth-watering dish joins Bookmarked Recipes, a food event that features dishes we have bookmarked and cooked (or baked) from a magazine, a cook book or from another food blog. Created by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments, this is the 20th edition already! To see last week's delicious recipes, please click here.