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Vietnamese Turmeric Fish with Dill | Cha Ca

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By: Cindy Lam Lorimer
Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Cha Ca is a dish that originated in Hanoi featuring grilled chunks of seasoned fish, served with dill, scallions, and peanuts, accompanied by rice noodles and drizzled with fish dipping sauce.

Ingredients 

Marinade:

  • 3 lbs catfish filet (or any flaky white fish like halibut or tilapia), cut into 2 inch pieces
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp fresh turmeric, peeled, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 Tbsp ginger, peeled, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp galangal (can substitute with lemongrass), peeled, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp shrimp paste, Mam Tom
  • 1 Tbsp fermented rice, known as Me , or you can substitute with sour cream or greek yogurt

Ingredients:

  • ⅓ cup avocado oil, or any neutral oil
  • ½ onion, peeled, sliced
  • 3 green onions, cut into one inch length
  • 1 bunch dill, coarsely chopped, stems removed
  • ⅓ cup fried shallots
  • ⅓ cup peanuts, chopped
  • 3 green onions, chopped, flash fried in neutral oil

Instructions

  • Add all of the marinade ingredients in an electric mixer and puree.
  • Place the fish in a medium size bowl, add the marinade mix and rub together to coat the fish evenly.
  • Set bowl aside and let it sit at room temperature for an hour.
  • To make the fried shallots, in a small saucepan, heat up 1/2 cup oil and once hot add fried shallots.
  • Fry until shallots turn a light golden brown.
  • Remove shallots from oil and place on paper lined plate. Once fried shallots cool, they will be nice and crispy.
  • Using the same oil, while it's hot and removed from the heat, add green chopped onions to make green onion oil.
  • In a large cast iron skillet or large nonstick pan, on medium heat, add ⅓ cup of oil and fry half of the fish pieces for 5 minutes on each side.
  • Remove fish from pan and repeat the process with the remaining half.
  • Add more oil to the pan and saute onions and the one inch green onions.
  • Cook the onions for a couple of minutes, then add the fish and cook for two additional minutes.
  • When done, remove pan from heat and sprinkle dill, fried shallots and chopped peanuts on top.
  • Drizzle green onion oil and serve immediately.
  • I like to eat this with vermicelli noodle salad, consisting of noodles, cucumbers, julienned carrots, shredded red leaf lettuce, and fish dipping sauce. You can also eat it over rice, or wrap it with rice paper roll and dip with fish dipping sauce. 

Notes

Turmeric stains everything so please make sure to wear gloves and clean your blender immediately after use. Also, use a bowl that you don’t mind getting stained.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 491kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 134mg | Sodium: 1119mg | Potassium: 866mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 137IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 2mg

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