Vietnamese style fried fish with rice, slaw and tamarind dipping sauce

by Jessica Nguyen

 

Fried silver whiting in a makrut lime batter, served with a kohlrabi and sugar snap pea slaw and a tamarind dipping sauce. One of the best ways to eat fish. Give it to me fried with a whole lot of punchy aromatics, some rice and a fresh slaw and sauce and I’m in heaven. 


I was inspired by the fresh silver whiting I found at Periwinkle Seafoods. It was only $15 a kilo and I got 15 fish from that. Whilst it’s a small fish, if you butterfly fillet it, you get the perfect fillet for frying. I made a fragrant batter with finely minced makrut lime leaves, rice flour and tapioca starch and also made a spicy and zingy tamarind fish sauce that is perfect as the dressing for the slaw but also as a dipping sauce to have with the fish. The slaw was with shredded kohlrabi, a good substitute for green papaya or green mango when those aren’t in season yet and I also added in sugar snap peas and vietnamese mint to make it crunchy and punchy.

 

Serves- 4 people

Ingredients- 19

Cooking Time- 1 hour + fish filleting

Skill level- Medium, but the fish filleting is difficult


INGREDIENTS

Fried Fish

500g (7-8 fish) of whole silver whiting, butterfly filleted or  any white fish fillets

6 makrut lime leaves, stalks removed and finely minced into a powder

½ cup of rice flour

¼ cup of tapioca starch 

Pinch of salt

1 egg

1-2 cups of neutral cooking oil, ideally vegetable oil


Slaw

1 Kohlrabi, peeled and finely shredded

120g sugar snap peas, finely sliced

5 stalks of Vietnamese mint, roughly chopped


Tamarind Fish Sauce- used as the dressing for the slaw and dipping sauce for the fish

70g of Tamarind

2 tablespoons of palm sugar. You can also use brown sugar as a substitute 

1 long red chilli

½ birdseye chilli, if you want it extra hot

3 cloves of garlic

2-3 coriander stalks including the roots, finely chopped

½ cup of my Vietnamese Dipping Sauce


1 cup of freshly steamed jasmine rice per person



METHOD


Butterfly Filleting the fish


I’ve attempted to write out a how-to but I do think it’s easier to watch this video to see how I do it.

  1. Remove the scales off the fish first by sliding your knife from tail to head of the fish. Rinse off the fish and scales.
  2. Make a diagonal cut behind the fin of the fish, then slice from the tail all the way to the head along the top of the fish along the bones. 
  3. Gently pull open the fillet to separate it from the internal organs.
  4. Flip over the fish and do the same on the other side, making a mirrored diagonal cut behind the fin and cheek, then slice from the head to the tail along the top of the fish but just above the fins along the bones.
  5. Flip the fish skin side down and gently pull the spine bones of the fish up to separate them from the fillet until you reach the tail. Use scissors to snip the bone at the tail to remove the spine. 
  6. Flip over the fish, flesh side down and use scissors to cut off the fins.
  7. Rinse under water and pat dry.
  8. You can keep the fillets in the fridge for a day in between some paper towel to keep dry before frying, otherwise you can also freeze them at this point to defrost and cook with later. You want the fish as dry as possible.

 

 

 

Making the Tamarind Fish Sauce

  1. Soak the tamarind in a bowl with ½ cup of boiling water. Allow to soften for 20 minutes or place in the microwave for 30 seconds until fully dissolved. Set aside.
  2. Pound garlic, palm sugar, chillies and coriander in a mortar and pestle until you get a chunky paste. Transfer to a bowl and strain in the tamarind juice, discarding the pulp and seeds. Add in the Vietnamese dipping sauce and mix to combine. Taste and season to your liking but it needs to be a punchy, sour, spicy, sweet sauce that will be used as the slaw dressing but also as the dipping sauce for the fish.

Making the Batter & Frying the fish

  1. For the fish batter, place the makrut lime leaves, rice flour, tapioca starch and salt into a shallow bowl and mix to combine. In another small bowl, crack the egg and whisk until just combined.
  2. Heat a wok with oil and once a chopstick inserted into the oil bubbles, it’s ready for frying.
  3. Dip the fish into the egg to coat and then place into the flour mixture. Make sure the fish is fully coated in the flour before shaking off the excess flour and placing into the wok. Fry on both sides for a minute on each side or until golden brown. Remove and place onto a drying rack of plate lined with paper towel to drain off the excess oil. Repeat for all of the fish.

Assembly

  1. Place the kohlrabi, sugar snap peas and Vietnamese mint into a bowl and ladle over a few tablespoons of the tamarind fish sauce. Toss to combine.
  2. To assemble, place the rice onto a platter, add a handful of the slaw, add 2 fillets of fish and place a small bowl of the tamarind fish sauce on the side.
  3. Enjoy immediately.


Notes

  1. Add the dressing to the slaw just before serving so that it doesn’t go soggy.
  2. You can fry the fish in advance and then gently warm in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 180 degrees celsius until warm.
  3. This recipe makes about 2 cups of the tamarind fish sauce. Keep the leftover sauce in a jar in your fridge and use it for salad dressing or as a dipping sauce within the month.

 

Watch the Process

 

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