Canh Chua Ca (Sweet and Sour Fish Soup) with Ca Kho To (Caramel braised Fish in Claypot)
Contributed by 2019 Catch and Cook winner, Huan “Solo” Lee
Huan comes from a lineage of restaurant owners and has been cooking and foraging his whole life. It was a very close first place finish to Matt Bond’s Crispy Rockfish Filet over Dirty Rice and Malaysian Crab Curry.
Canh Chua Ca (Sweet and Sour Fish Soup)
Ingredients
1 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves of crushed garlic
2 bulbs of lemongrass roughly crushed with flat of knife (reserve the bulbs only chop off grassy upper portion of the stalk)
2 tbsp. Asian tamarind concentrate or fresh peeled if available
2 cups of fish stock
2 cups of chicken broth
1 1⁄2 tbsp. Vietnamese fish sauce
1 tbsp. sugar or lump of rock sugar if available
1 roughly 12 oz. Whole fish head-on or cut into steaks
1 cup cubed fresh pineapple
2 Tarot Stems chopped into 1/2" slices maybe substituted with 2 celery stalks if Tarot is unavailable
8 oz. okra fresh or frozen, cut into 1″ pieces
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 plum tomatoes, cored, cut into wedges
4-6 Sprigs of Ngo Om (Rice Patty herb)
Method
Heat oil in a 6-qt. stockpot over medium heat. Add garlic, lemongrass and tamarind, stirring, until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of fish stock and 2 cups of chicken stock, and bring to a boil, add sugar and stir into soup. Reduce heat to medium-low, add fish and pineapple, and cook until fish is just cooked through, about 6 minutes. Fish can be steamed ahead of time, meat separated from bone, and added to soup for those sensitive to whole fish presentation or for easier boneless consumption. Season with fish sauce to taste.
Add okra, tomatoes, and tarot stems cook until tender but firm, about 2 minutes. Just before serving Add sprouts and ngo om (rice patty herb). Remove from heat, divide soup among bowls, serve with rice.
Ca Kho To (Caramel braised Fish in claypot)
3 tbsp sugar for caramel sauce
2 tsp cooking oil for caramel sauce
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 thinly sliced shallot
12 oz. fish filleted and slice into bite size or whole dressed fish maybe used
1/4 cup of coconut water
2 thinly sliced serrano peppers
4-6 Sprigs of Thai basil
Cooked white long grain rice
Method
1. Heat 3 tbsp of sugar in a saucepan until liquid and browned, reduce heat and stir in 2 tsp cooking oil until combined, set aside.
2. Heat oil in 4-qt claypot or dutch oven. Add crushed garlic and shallots stirring til soft and fragrant. Reduce heat to medium and carefully arrange fish without overlapping into pot, drizzle sugar and fish sauce to cover entire surface of fish do the same on other side after flipping, cook fish over medium heat for 3 minutes on each side, if using filleted fish carefully flip so pieces remain mostly whole.
3. Reheat previously prepared caramel sauce until liquid carefully pour over fish covering all surfaces, add 1/4 cup of coconut water and braise in covered claypot or dutch oven additional 5-8 minutes on medium heat occasionally stirring the fish carefully so braise sauce is uniformly spread over surface of fish and until sauce is reduce by about half.
4. Pick leaves off of sprigs of Thai basil and add sliced serrano peppers, spreading both over braised fish, braise additional 2-3 minutes until peppers and basil are wilted. Garnish with a sprig of Thai basil and serve with rice and complimentary soup below.