Caramelised fish in young coconut juice

By: Luke Nguyen
From: Luke Nguyen's Greater Mekong
Serves: 4
Photographer: Stuart Scott

Basa is a type of catfish that is not too popular outside of Vietnam, as it comes frozen all the way from the Mekong Delta and it is really affordable — so it’s perceived as being a cheaper, inferior fish. With this in mind, I travelled to Chau Doc to sample the fish fresh and judge for myself. A local fish farm kindly gave me one to cook up, and I was pleasantly surprised: I caramelised the basa with pork and coconut juice and it came out wonderfully. It had very few bones and its white fresh had a light, firm texture that stayed very moist once cooked. If you can’t get fresh basa, use fresh silver perch or cod instead.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
500g	basa, silver perch or cod cutlets
60ml	vegetable oil
2 tablespoons	shaved palm sugar
2	garlic cloves, finely chopped
200g	boneless pork belly, finely sliced
200ml	young coconut juice
4	spring onions, julienned, white part only
1/2 teaspoon	freshly ground black pepper
1	red chilli, sliced

Marinade

Quantity	Ingredient
1	garlic clove, chopped
1	red asian shallot, diced
1 tablespoon	shaved palm sugar
2 tablespoons	fish sauce
1 teaspoon	sesame oil
2 tablespoons	oyster sauce

Method

Combine the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the fish and turn to coat in the marinade, then cover and marinate for 10 minutes. Drain off and reserve the marinade.
Place a wok or frying pan over low heat. Add the vegetable oil and palm sugar and cook until the sugar has caramelised, stirring slightly.
Add the garlic and pork belly and stir-fry for 15 seconds, then immediately add the marinated fish.
Coat the fish with the caramel, then add the reserved marinade and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the coconut juice and simmer for a further 6 minutes, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface.
Serve sprinkled with the spring onion, pepper and chilli.