A huge benefit of travelling for work is being able to try new and different foods. Today’s dish was inspired by something I had at a Thai restaurant in Toronto, Canada. We ordered a whole sea bream cooked in a banana leaf and was served with lettuce cups, vermicelli noodles, and a sauce.
I decided to put a Vietnamese spin on this dish, by making Ca Chien Xa. Ca Chien Xa is a lemongrass fried fish. I always have minced cooked lemongrass in my freezer because it is so much easier to handle than fresh lemongrass. It still has all the flavor of fresh lemongrass with half the amount of work.
I have never cooked a whole fish before. When I was a child, my parents would steam a whole fish rather frequently, but I had never seen them fry one. Surprisingly, frying the fish was really easy! Once you put the fish in the hot oil, DO NOT touch or move it until it’s ready to flip. If you move it too early, the coating will fall off!
Keep your fish in your butter lettuce, not the floor,
Your favorite alternative chefs, K & T
Vietnamese Fried Fish Wrap
Ingredients
Fish
- 1 – 1.5 lb whole tilapia
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ cup lemongrass minced (see note)
- 3 cloves garlic crushed and minced
- ½ tsp ginger grated
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup cornstarch
1 head butter lettuce
3 oz. vermicelli noodles, cooked per package instructions
Sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1½ tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 thai chili minced
Instructions
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Clean the fish and pat it dry. Cut 3 – 4 diagonal slits on each side of the fish.
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Combine salt, pepper, turmeric, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.
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Rub mixture all over the fish including the slits and inside the fish, then sift cornstarch evenly over the fish.
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Using a non stick pan, heat up vegetable oil over medium low heat. Place fish in the pan and cover with lid for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and let the fish cook for 1 – 2 more minutes to get a crisp.
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Flip fish and cover with lid for another 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and let crisp for 1 – 2 more minutes again.
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Remove the fish from the pan and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
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Combine all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
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Serve fish with lettuce leaves, vermicelli, and fish sauce.
Recipe Notes
I use frozen lemongrass because it’s a lot easier to deal with than fresh lemongrass.