Fried Tilapia with Ginger Scallion Soy Sauce

It's been quite a good minute since I've made a decent update hasn't it? I'm sorry I have not posted much in the past few months. Please bare with me! I'll admit, most of it definitely is due to some laziness, but in the more recent months - work has become overwhelming. By the time I come home, I just want to quickly have dinner prepared. Documenting takes time and these days, there's very little time (or I'm just not using time wisely).

Well, this dish - was inspired by one of my favorite dishes from Golden Harvest, Braised Tilapia - a whole deep fried Tilapia, braised in a flavorful sauce.

One of dad's most treasured moments are family dinners, so I'm beginning to try out new recipes and make the usual dishes more exciting. With everyone on different schedules and not being able to sit down altogether how we used to, I'm beginning to treasure them too!

Well, lets get to the recipe shall we?? :D



Prep: one shallot thinly sliced, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, 1/2 tbsp. of palm sugar (you can used brown or regular sugar), 1 knob of ginger - cut into matchstick size, Scallions cut into 1.5 in. pieces.


The fish: Scaled, gutted, cleaned, scored on both sides, and patted dry with paper towels.


Give the entire fish a dusting of flour (seasoned with some salt). I found it easiest to do this by laying out a piece of aluminum foil that I could toss away after I've shaken off all the excess flour.


For the sauce, start by browning the shallots and garlic in a little bit of oil on medium heat.


Take the sauce pan off the heat and add in chili flakes.


Add the palm sugar, return the pan back to the stove and on low heat, melt the sugar.


Deglazed with 1/4 cup of soy sauce. Add the ginger and let the sauce reduces for a minute or two.


I recommend using this soy sauce. It's light and flavorful.


Mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch or tapioca starch (or flour) with 1/2 cup of water. Add to sauce. Turn heat up to medium high.


After 4 minutes the sauce will have a smooth thick consistency. Taste and adjust to your liking. Add scallions and chopped chillies.


While making the sauce, you can begin frying the fish. I fill a shallow fry pan with enough oil to cover half the fish. When the oil is hot enough, fry the fish on medium-high heat. Give the fish about 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. When cooked, remove onto a shallow plate (to hold sauce) lined with paper towels.


Remove the paper towels and pour sauce over. Garnish with cilantro, fried shallots and more chopped chili peppers. Serve with steamed white rice.

Simmered Fish | Ca Kho Xup

I learned how to make this from my mom a couple years ago. It's kinda like sour fish soup (Canh Chua Ca) meets braised fish (Ca Kho). The ingredients are similar to those of the soup, but with a small amount of cooking liquid like a braise. You can tweak it with your choice of vegetables normally used in sour fish soup (pickled mustard, bean sprouts, celery, etc).





Prep Vegetables: Sliced shallots, crushed garlic, cut scallions, sliced pineapple, tomatoes, and sliced bamboo shoot. I like to use the young yellow bamboo shoot (fresh or canned), not the sour white bamboo shoot for the dish.


A clean firm fish cut into steak size pieces and seasoned with fish sauce, sambal chili paste, salt, black pepper, and chili flakes. I'm using my favorite fish, Pompano.


As usual, infuse the oil, shallots, and garlic. Heat oil first, brown the shallots, add the garlic, and then a little sambal chili paste. (careful - sambal paste might start spattering in the oil!)


Add the pineapple.


After a quick stir of the pineapple, move the mixture to one side area of the pan to make room for the fish. Sear the fish steaks.


After searing the fish, layer the shallot/pineapple on top of the fish and deglaze with 1 cup of water.


Layer on the bamboo shoot and a sprinkling of chili flakes.


Layer on the sliced tomatoes.


Cover and simmer until the fish is cooked; about 10 minutes depending on the size.


Garnish with cut scallions and or cilantro.


Serve with rice. Simple flavors and refreshing!

Fried Fish & Tomato Sauce | Ca Chien Sot Ca

I'm back! A little earlier than expected...still behind at work though.

One of my new favorite dishes to make. Steeping fried fish right in a tomato sauce. Cook books and online recipes usually have the tomato sauce poured over the fried fish...but I like the flavor the fish picks up when it cooks in the sauce.


Prepare: chopped scallions, a few cloves of crushed garlic, and 2 finely diced tomatoes.


Your choice of a firm fish. Whole fish should be scaled and clean. Score the skin and season with salt on both sides. I like to deep fry a whole fish, but for the small sized fish I'm using, I decided to pan fry. If you choose to use fillets - pan fry those as well. You get the texture and flavor of a fried fish without the extra oil.


Add a few tablespoons of oil to a fry pan (enough to thinly coat the bottom surface of the pan).


On medium high heat, fry one side of the fish for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.


Flip the fish and fry the other side until brown. Don't over cook because they will cook some more in the sauce.


Remove onto plate lined with paper towels.


Set a pan to medium heat and add a table spoon of oil. Infuse the scallion whites (use shallots if you can), then add crushed garlic, and then the pepper flakes. Add them in the order that needs the most time to cook, if you add them all at once, the pepper flakes will burn before the garlic and scallions cook.


Deglaze with the diced tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of water. Season with salt, more pepper flakes, fish sauce and soy sauce to taste. Give it a stir.


Add the pan-fried fish to the sauce. Cook for 3-5 minutes, scooping the sauce over the fish as it simmers.


Garnish with the scallion greens (cilantro also if you have). Serve with rice.

Fried Fish w/ Fish Sauce for Dipping | Ca Chien Cham Nuoc Mam

Here I go again with another easy dish! Haven't had this in a while. I'm using Tilapia, but if I had one, I'd got with the Pomfret.



Scale and gut the fish (Tilapia is pretty easy compared to some other fishes!). Score the skins of both sides. Pat dried with paper towel and season both sides lightly with a little bit of salt.


Heat a pan with oil on Medium High heat.


When the oil is hot, slide in the fish. Let one side fry for about 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.


Flip the fish to fry the other side, another 5 minutes or until gold brown. I then flip it again to give the first side a quick fry before removing it onto a plate lined with paper towels.


Serve with rice and a spicy fish sauce for dipping (crushed garlic, cut up thai bird chili peppers, fish sauce, and lime juice)

Steamed Fish w/ Ginger, Scallion, & Garlic | Ca Hap Gung Hanh Toi

A dish I learned from Dad and one I enjoy making because it's so easy.

I'm using striped bass, tilapia works great too.




Scale, gut, and clean the fish (the unpleasant part). I also like trimming off the fins. Score the skin of the fish a couple times diagonally for even cooking. Season both sides with salt, stuff the belly with onion slices and steam on a shallow heat-safe plate.


While the fish is steaming, prepare the vegetables. You'll need minced garlic, match-stick ginger, cilantro, and scallions cut into 1.5 in.


When the fish is cooked, take it out of the steamer, pour out the liquid, and discard the onion from the belly.


I transfered one of the fish to a separate plate (make sure it's shallow enough to hold the sauce) and added half of the scallions greens (saving the other half for the other fish).

Making the sauce for ONE fish - *on med-lo heat the entire time:



In a small pan, heat up some oil. Fry the scallion whites. After the scallions brown, add the garlic.


Let the garlic lightly brown, add the ginger. Add hot chili flake and about a tablespoon of sambal chili paste.

Deglaze with 1/4 cup soy sauce and a tablespoon fish sauce,.  Let the sauce reduce for 30 seconds or so.  Add3 tablespoons water and simmer for another 30 seconds (adjust to taste).  Turn off heat and add the greens of the scallions.


Pour the sauce over the fish. Scoring the fish prior to cooking also helps the fish absorb the sauce. Garnish with cilantro and fried onions. Serve with rice.

Fish Spring Rolls | Goi Cuon Ca

Feels good to come home and someone has already cooked dinner! Came home the other day, opened the door to the house, smelled something delicious cooking and breathed a sigh of relief. I was tired and not in much of a mood to cook, but ended up making a dish anyway. Big brother was firing up a pot of Ca Kho To. I'm guessing after my attempt, he'd show me he could do better.


If only you could take a whiff of this stuff =)
Last night we made spring rolls:


Prepare mix of lettuce and herbs, I used green leaf lettuce, mint, and cilantro


Small vermicelli noodles


Meat from boiled mackerels, take the time to carefully remove small bones


Roll up lettuce, herbs, noodles, and fish in a rice paper


Serve with a dipping sauce (garlic, fish sauce, chopped chilies, lime juice, and a little water)