Vietnamese Turmeric and Dill Fish - “Cha Ca Thang Long” Recipe
This is a delicious and super iconic dish of Hanoi, Vietnam- Vietnamese turmeric and dill fish.
Super easy and so colorful and tasty! Just marinate some turmeric and then simply pan fry fish with scallions, onion, and dill.
This popular noodle bowl is served with vermicelli noodles and either a fermented shrimp paste sauce or a garlic’y fish sauce aka nuoc cham (or use both sauces like how my family does it)!
This dish is typically made with snakehead fish in Vietnam but you can use any firm white fish. Catfish, tilapia, cod, haddock, hake, monkfish, grouper, snapper, or sea bass will also work. And if you’ve been watching my channel, we also use salmon as well!
INGREDIENTS
1 Cod thick filet (or any firm white fish. Catfish, tilapia, cod, haddock, hake, monkfish, grouper, snapper, or sea bass will also work)
1 tbs turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 tbs oil
HERBS
2 scallion bunches (sliced into 1” sections)
2 1/2 cups of dill tops (remove hard stems, loosely chop), save another 1/4 cup of dill for final garnishing
GARNISH
Chopped peanuts (optional)
Fresh dill (reserved)
Fresh herbs (optional mint and cilantro for garnish)
*Optional Mam Tom Sauce (or serve with Nuoc Cham Sauce):
2 tsp fine shrimp paste
1 tsp sugar
3/4 fresh squeezed lime juice
4 garlic cloves minced
2 thai red chili peppers (finely chopped)
PREPARATION
Clean fish, rinse, and at dry. Then cut into small nuggets about 1x2” or so.
Combine turmeric, salt, in large bowl and mix. Add fish and gently combine/toss (you want all the fish nuggets to be evenly coated in Turmeric). Marinate in fridge for minimum of 30 minutes in fridge.
Optional Mam Tom Sauce: To make “mam tom” sauce- combine all the sauce ingredients and mixing well. Set aside.
OR make Nuoc mam for your vermicelli bowls (I like to use the nuoc mam with a little of the mam tom sauce).Boil the vermicelli noodles according to package directions, rinse, drain and set aside.
In a large cast iron skillet add about 3-4 tbs of cooking oil and set over medium heat. When the oil is hot and glossy add the fish and pan fry the fish. Make sure to carefully flip all the fish pieces to make sure they are all evenly browned on all sides (about a couple min on both sides). There should be a nice super thin layer of oil to the bottom of the pan, if pan looks dry add a little more oil to the pan so the fish can pan fry nicely without sticking to the bottom of the pan.
When the fish is just about done, add the scallions, onions and the dill and gently mix for a min or two (don’t overcook the onions or dill, it should look fresh and onions should be a little crisp and dill a bright green color) then remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.
Garnish with crushed peanuts, fresh herbs (optional) and serve with a side of vermicelli noodles, nouc mam cham and mam tom sauce.