← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 600 g firm fish fillets (snapper, basa, cod or salmon), cut into 4 pieces
• ½ tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Black pepper
• 2 tbsp cornflour or potato starch
• 4 tbsp oil, divided
• 1 Shallot, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 500 g ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp Tomato purée (paste) (optional)
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 120 ml Water
• 2 Spring onion, sliced
• ½ bunch Coriander (cilantro) (optional)

Method

1. Pat the fish completely dry with kitchen paper, season with the salt and pepper, then dust all over with the cornflour.
2. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Fry the fish for 3–4 min per side until golden and crisp and just flaking. Lift onto a plate.
3. Wipe out the pan, add the remaining oil and fry the shallot and garlic over medium heat for 1 minute.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 min, pressing them with a spoon, until they collapse into a chunky sauce.
5. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar, fish sauce and water and simmer for 5 min until saucy and glossy. Taste: it should be tangy, a little sweet and well seasoned.
6. Slide the fish back in, spoon the sauce over and warm through for 2 min. Scatter with spring onion and coriander and serve with rice.

Tips

• Small whole fish, scored on both sides, are the classic choice; fry them a few minutes longer.
• Keep the fish out of the sauce until the end so the crust stays crisp.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Vicky Pham Wok and Kin