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Chả Cá Thăng Long (Vietnamese Turmeric Fish with Dill)
Prep Time
25 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
35 mins
 
Course: Main
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Servings: 6
Author: Claudia Brick
Ingredients
  • 900 g white fish , such as gurnard or tarakihi
  • 2 tablespoons rice bran oil or other neutral oil with a high smoke point
  • 2 teaspoons white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon  fish sauce
  • 1 small shallot , finely diced (about 4 tablespoons)
  • 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 1 heaped tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic , minced
  • 2-3 tablespoons oil for cooking (such as rice bran oil)
  • 1 large bunch of dill
  • 8-10 spring onions , chopped in 2 cm lengths with the white parts sliced in half again lengthways.
  • 3/4 cup roasted peanuts , roughly chopped
  • 300 g dry rice vermicelli noodles
  • decent handful of mint (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup), roughly torn
  • decent handful of vietnamese mint (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup), roughly torn
  • 1 bunch of coriander , stems chopped finely, leaves chopped roughly (about 1 - 1.5 cups)
Nuoc nam dressing:
  • 4 tablespoons lime juice
  • 3-4 tablespoons white sugar
  • 4 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1-2 red chillis , finely chopped (depending on how hot they are and your heat tolerance!)
  • 2 cloves of garlic , minced
  • 4-5 tablespoons water
Instructions
  1. Mix the first measurement of oil, sugar, salt, fish sauce, shallot, turmeric, ginger and garlic together in a bowl. Chop the fish into chunks (around 3-4cm), add to the spices and toss to coat. Leave to marinade for half an hour to a couple of hours before cooking.
  2. In the meantime, make the nuoc nam dressing. Dissolve the sugar into the lime juice and add the fish sauce, chilli, garlic and water. Stir to combine. Taste to adjust the seasoning of fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. You want a nice blend of sweet, sour and salty.
  3. Before cooking, prep the spring onion, chop the dill roughly and roast the peanuts and chop roughly.
  4. Cook the rice vermicelli noodles according to package instructions and set aside.
  5. Heat the oil in a large pan on high. Add the fish along with any remaining marinade to the pan (you might have to cook these in 2 lots if there is not enough surface area for all of the fish to ensure the pan stays hot enough) and panfry until golden brown and cooked through (roughly 2-3 minutes on each side). The key here is getting the pan hot enough so you get lots of crispy brown bits!
  6. Add the spring onion, dill and peanuts and sauté for a couple of minutes until the greens wilt slightly and the peanuts are coated in the fish marinade.
  7. Plate the fish mixture on top of a bed of rice vermicelli noodles, top with mint, vietnamese mint and coriander and serve with nuoc nam dressing.