Simmered Ling
Description
The recipe won't take much time. This unusual way of cooking snakehead fish is very popular in Asian cuisine, especially in Vietnamese. To prepare braised snakehead, the key is making the caramel sauce (see the recipe for more details) and having coconut juice on hand. I found coconut soda in the store, and it worked out very tasty too. It's best to cook the fish in a wok, but a deep skillet or pot will also do. Serve hot.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Clean the fish and cut it into portion-sized pieces. Remove the bones and fins. In a deep bowl, mix fish sauce and brown sugar, add black pepper, minced garlic and ginger, as well as finely chopped onion. Thoroughly rub the fish with the resulting marinade and let it marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
- 2
Step 2
If you can't find ready-made caramel sauce, you can easily make it yourself. To do so, mix 1/4 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar (regular sugar, not brown) in a saucepan. Constantly stirring, bring to a boil, being careful not to burn it—the sugar should dissolve and turn into caramel. If the sauce hardens, don't worry: simply add a little water and heat again, stirring until it dissolves back to the desired consistency.
- 3
Step 3
In a kazan or a deep, thick-walled skillet, heat the olive oil and sear the marinated fish on both sides over fairly high heat (2 minutes per side).
- 4
Step 4
Then pour in the caramel sauce, as well as add the onion, ginger, and garlic from the marinade.
- 5
Step 5
Pour in the coconut juice. The fish should not be completely submerged—about halfway. Simmer the grouper over low heat with the lid closed for about 30 minutes. The sauce should not evaporate completely, so add more coconut juice if necessary.
- 6
Step 6
To the ready stewed lingcod, you can add finely chopped green onion and red chili (for those who like it spicy).
- 7
Step 7
Very tasty with rice.