Chả Cá Thăng Long

Greaaaaat recipe. Tastes as good as it looks. The vivid green of the fresh dill fronds and the shocking yellow of the tumeric impart as much flavor as they do visual stimuli. Not that tumeric tastes like anything, but I suppose that’s debatable. Maybe it’s all psychological. How can something SO pretty not affect how you perceive its taste?

Things to note: I forgot how salty fish sauce is. I added extra salt only to realize later that it is totally unnecessary. Also, I think I’ll try broiling in the future. Perhaps cut back on some of my oil intake…

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb  firm white fish, cut into 2” pieces
• 3 tbs Vietnamese Fish Sauce
• 1.5 tsp tumeric
• 1 tbs garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ginger
• 2 tbs shallots, sliced
• 1 tbs dry dill for marinade
• black pepper
• 4 green onions, chopped in segments
• 1 small white onion, sliced
• 1 bunch of fresh dill, de-stemmed
• handful of toasted salted peanuts, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix fish sauce, garlic, ginger, tumeric,  shallots, dry dill, and black pepper. Coat and marinate fish. Cover and refrigerate ~1hr.
2. Heat oil in nonstick pan. Saute onions until just soft. Add 1/3 of the dill and all the green onions. Saute 1-2 more minutes, remove from heat and plate.
3. Drain off marinade and pat fish dry.
4. Heat remaining oil in nonstick pan on high and sear fish ~3 min each side or until golden brown.
5. Place the rest of the dill on the onions. Plate fish and top with crushed peanuts.
6. Served with rice.