Stew basa fish (Cá basa kho tộ)

 

The cooking of this dish is fairly simple. Here is the recipe for 500gr of basa fish: 

First, you marinate 20 minutes basa fish with fish sauce (3 tbsp), salt (1 tsp), sugar (2 tbsp), fresh chilli (2 pieces), chopped shallot (1 big piece), chopped garlic (3 big cloves), pepper (generous). 

Then, on a hot pot, you pour a little oil with some sugar (2-3 tbps). When sugar is brown, put basa fish into it, piece by piece, then pour the whole marinade sauce in. Finally, pour 50ml of water in and stew at small fire for 1 hour. Put some slices of leek onion to enhance the flavour.

Do not cover the fish with any lid. Just turn on a fan exhaust above the stove and wait till the fish is brown and the sauce gets thicken.

Use something like a spatula to carefully take the fish out and put onto a plate. The fish should not be too salty or too sweet. All flavours (salty, sweet, spicy) must be balanced. If any, prioritize the salty.