Thursday, August 28, 2008

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.

13 comments:

tigerfish said...

Sounds easy! My turn to bookmark it :D

Anonymous said...

This looks really interesting. My husband really likes sweet dishes, and I bet he'd love this.

Wandering Chopsticks said...

Is catfish common in the Philippines? Because that's the traditional fish Vietnamese use to make this dish. :)

TS of eatingclub vancouver said...

Thanks for bookmarking the recipe! We're glad it was a hit. =)

Ruy said...

I love all the ingredients in this dish and it's easy to cook.
I've been wanting to cook some dory for two weeks now so I'll do this very, very soon.

Anonymous said...

yummy looking! wish i can sink my chopsticks into the photo right now! :D

Dee said...

This sounds great! I Molly Steven's Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Ribs and they were outstanding too. Definitely going to bookmark your bookmarked :)

Soli Deo Gloria said...

Tigerfish, Fearless Kitchen, Ruy and Dee, try this dish if you can, it's really yummy!

WC, yes, there are live catfishes here being sold in the markets. We also love catfishes. Maybe, one day, I will try this sauce with the catfish.

TS and JS, thanks again for the recipe!

Noobcook, I would love to serve this dish if you drop by! :)

Ruth Strong said...

Ning this sounds so tasty, the fish looks perfectly cooked!

Thanks for sending it to bookmarked recipes

Soli Deo Gloria said...

Ruth, I always look forward to Bookmarked Recipes! :)

Anonymous said...

I cannot wait to try this! Thanks for the recipe.

Paz

Ruy said...

I just tried this dish and posted the result at our blog. =)

Soli Deo Gloria said...

Hello Chef Paz! Hope you get to try it!

Ruy, I read your post! Galing! :)

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