VIETNAMESE STYLE FISH IN GINGER AND SOY SAUCE
Gluten and Lactose-Free
Serves: 2
If you are wondering why I am calling this a Vietnamese style dish, its due to the addition of brown sugar to the sauce as I was out of my Vietnamese Caramel Sauce.
I made this with tilapia, but you can use any white fish or salmon. I plan to use cod and salmon the next two times I make this.
I did plan to whir the sauce ingredients in my magic bullet before cooking the sauce but forgot. As I had minced everything, I didn’t worry. However, I think cooking in a pot and whirring it all will give the sauce a deeper flavor.
Peter who really is not a fish lover, said, I quote “this is great” with such a look of surprise on his face!
It is a very flavorful but delicate dish which was nice. I think it would make a wonderful lunch dish for company with lemon pound cake and ginger tea.
I meant to steam this dish, but I did not want to go to the bother with the steamer and so on, so I went ahead and used a skillet, medium heat and a cold stove to begin with to make the fish. It came out beautifully.
I had made a similar dish with angel hair pasta a long time ago but could not find that recipe, so I decided to use the flavors of caramel sauce from that dish along with all the julienned vegetables to make this fish.
The oil used on the skillet is not to fry the fish, just to keep it from sticking to the skillet.
Gather up and prep all the ingredients before you begin to cook. That is an extremely important step in cooking this dish as fish cook so quickly.
Rice:
Jasmin rice - 1 c, cooked
Fish:
Any white fish or salmon – 16 oz fillet
Sesame oil - 2 t
Kosher salt – ½ t
Black pepper – ¼ t
Ginger - 1 ½" piece, julienned
Scallion - 4-5 cut into 3” sections, then julienned, 1 c
Onion - 1 small, very thinly sliced, 1 c
Carrot - julienned, 1 c
Sauce:
Olive oil - 1 T
Shallots, minced, ¼ c
Garlic – minced, 1 T
Ginger – minced, 1 t
Soy sauce – 2 T
Brown sugar - 2T
Kosher salt - pinch
Black pepper - 1/8 t
Water – 1 T
Lemon juice – 1 t
Garnish:
Cilantro or parsley – fresh leaves only (optional)
Let’s get cooking:
Cook the rice.
Pour oil into a 10” skillet and swirl to cover the bottom and set aside.
Rub the fish with sesame oil then sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in the skillet.
Mince garlic, shallots and ginger, add to a glass measuring cup along with other sauce ingredients, whisk to mix and microwave for 30 seconds.
If you don’t have a microwave, heat the oil over a small pot on medium heat, add shallots and garlic and stir fry until fragrant. Add ginger and stir for a few seconds, then add soy sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper simmer for 2 minutes and set aside for 5 minutes to cool the sauce a little bit.
Peel and julienne ginger, carrots, scallion, onion and set aside.
Spoon the sauce over the fish and place the skillet on a cold burner and turn on the heat to medium. (the food is already in the cold skillet when you place it on the stove and turn on the heat) Cover and cook for 8 minutes. When you remove the cover, be careful not to let the condensation on the cover to drip into the skillet.
Place the carrots, ginger, onion, and scallion on top of the fish cover the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Again, remove the cover being careful not to drip onto the fish and cook for 2 more minutes.
Serve while hot on Jasmin rice, (any rice of your choice works). I had fiber (vegetables), protein and starch, the plate was colorful, and it smelt divine the meal was yummy and super quick, what else was needed! A loving husband, a glass of wine and dessert!
Enjoy!