The bowl of fish noodle soup is attractive in color, aroma, and taste with crispy fried fish fillet soft and sweet inside. This dish is easy to please your taste buds in the Hai Phong cold autumn weather.
Ingredient
- 1 large tilapia (1-1.2kg)
- 1 fly skeleton or tubular bone (500 gr)
- 1 branch of ginger
- 1 onion
- 4 dried onions
- 3 – 4 tomatoes
- Vegetables served with: Malabar spinach, celery, dill, green onions, lettuce, split water spinach…
- Toppings: Fish cakes, squid cakes, stir-fried fish intestines…
- Spices: Fish sauce, salt, rock sugar, dried shrimp paste, seasoning powder, vinegar (or sour tamarind), pepper.
- Fresh tangy vermicelli
- Cooking oil
- Dried shrimp, squid beard (optional) stewed in broth
Making
Preliminary treatment
- Clean the fish, scrape off all the black film, then rub with lemon and salt, wash and drain. Use a sharp knife to filter the fish fillet, tilt the knife to cut into bite -sized slices, then place in a thin basket and dry completely. This is the secret to avoid oil splattering when frying fish and crispy golden fish without needing to cover it with flour. Wash the fish head and bones and set aside to cook the broth.
- Soak the fly bones or tubular bones in diluted salt water for 30 minutes to clean, then blanch and wash again. Grill the bones and fish bones with a little ginger and crushed dried onions until fragrant. Grilling helps the broth to be fragrant and clear, giving it a beautiful color without being fishy. Some people can lightly fry the fish bones, but the broth is greasier.
- Peel the mosquito net, slice it and soak it in diluted salt water to prevent itching, then take it out, wash it and let it drain. Take the roots of celery, cut off the old stem, remove the leaves, wash and cut into pieces to release the fragrant essential oil (this way is more delicious than cutting the celery). Wash the tomatoes, cut them into a cross shape, then blanch, peel, and chop them to stir-fry to color the broth. Wash the herbs, drain them, and cut them into small pieces.
Process
- Cook the broth: Boil a pot of water, remove the bones and simmer first. Then, add the fish bones and simmer together, add dried shrimp or fragrant roasted dried squid beard (if any) and a little ginger, dried onions, and grilled onions. Season with a little salt and simmer over low heat, open the lid, occasionally skim off foam if any, so that the broth is clear and fragrant and naturally sweet. When the broth is almost done, add washed dill and onion roots to increase the aroma and effectively eliminate fishiness. Filter the water and set aside.
- Frying fish fillets: Slowly heat the pan until the heat spreads evenly, add cooking oil and then increase the heat to medium. Wait a few minutes and see if the tip of the chopsticks is bubbling a lot and it’s hot. Divide the fish fillets into batches and then spread the fish pieces out to fry. During the frying process, always keep the temperature stable, avoid adding oil halfway, because it will reduce the boiling temperature, affecting the crispiness of the fish. When frying the fish fillet, keep it intact so that one side of the fish is crispy. Depending on the thickness and size of the fish fillet, 12-15 minutes. When one side is golden and crispy, turn it over and fry the other side. Fried fish is naturally golden on both sides without needing to be soaked in turmeric powder or crispy fried dough, but the inside still retains the rustic, naturally sweet flavor of the fish.
- To color the broth: Sauté onions, add minced tomatoes, season with a little salt, and stir-fry with spicy Northern chili sauce. When the tomatoes are soft, filter them through a sieve and add them to the pot of broth to create color, discarding the tomato bodies. Season the pot of broth again (fish sauce, salt, dried shrimp paste mixed with filtered water, seasoning powder, add a little rock sugar to soften the taste). Slowly add tamarind juice or vinegar to create a sour taste to your taste. The broth stands out by its light red-yellow color, harmonious sour, spicy, salty and sweet taste. When eating, you can feel the deep sweetness and faint aroma of fish.
- Toppings (optional): Crispy fried thin fish cakes, squid cakes and basa fish intestines marinated in turmeric and stir-fried with ginger, fried sausage add flavor to the dish.
- Presentation: Boil the noodles in boiling water until hot then put in a bowl. Quickly blanch the celery, arrange it on top, add fish cakes, squid cakes, fried sausages, crispy fried fish fillets, sprinkle with onions and dill, then ladle the hot broth into the bowl and spread it in a circle, gently submerging the bowl and enjoy. . When eating, add steamed chili, garlic vinegar, and optional pickled bamboo shoots.
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- Finished product requirements: Spicy fish noodle bowl combines both color and flavor that attracts at first sight with fried fish that is crispy on the outside but still soft and sweet on the inside, fatty fish cakes, fragrant squid cakes, and crispy fish intestines. rich… rich broth, eye-catching light yellow-red color. This dish is served with chopped raw vegetables to help balance the taste.
Attention:
- Fish fillets need to be patted dry or completely drained before frying to avoid splashing grease. If the weather is sunny, marinate the fish fillet with a little salt and then leave it on a basket to dry for a bit to drain and tighten the surface, making sure there is no oil splashing when frying. This is also the way that coastal people often do with all kinds of fish. Fish should not be breaded and fried until crispy because if it is breaded, when poured with hot broth, the shell can easily break and become mushy , tasteless and lose the natural aroma of the fish.
- The broth is a combination of the natural sweetness and depth of fish bones, clean, pre-cooked pork bones simmered with dried shrimp and squid whiskers (optional, if any ) . The broth is simmered over low heat, and the lid is opened to keep the water clear. You should simmer the bone broth first and then add the fish bones later because the fish bones simmer faster.
- Depending on your taste, you can adjust the toppings to serve such as thinly sliced mackerel, fried and marinated in tamarind fish sauce, sugar, pepper, and paprika, or fish cakes, squid cakes, stir-fried basa fish intestines…
- Raw vegetables served with the dish can also be adjusted according to taste. Some places chop lettuce, some restaurants chop cabbage mixed with banana flowers, split water spinach…