Turmeric fish with spring onion and dill

February 21, 2020

Basic Vietnamese rice noodles with nuoc cham.William Meppem

easyTime:2 hours +Serves:4

In Hanoi restaurants, this dish is cooked at the table. I don't recommend doing so at home as the fish can spit turmeric-coloured juices which might stain your clothes.

Ingredients

1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp fish sauce (check gluten-free if required)
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp turmeric
juice of ½ lemon
2 firm white fish fillets (ling or similar), about 600g total, cut across the grain into 1cm slices
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small bunch spring onions, sliced on a sharp diagonal into 5cm lengths
1 cup picked dill sprigs, loosely packed
rice noodles, to serve

Method

1. Squeeze the juice from the grated ginger, combine with the fish sauce, sugar, turmeric and lemon juice and mix well. Pour over the fish pieces and leave in the refrigerator overnight to marinate and cure.
2. Heat a frying pan over high heat and add the oil. Fry the fish in batches for just a minute or so on each side. When all the fish is cooked, add the spring onions to the remaining oil in the pan and toss until lightly browned. Stir through the dill sprigs until they just start to wilt, then top the fish slices with the spring onion and dill mixture. Serve with Vietnamese rice noodles.
Tip: These two recipes make a fantastic picnic dish. Pack the cooked noodles in the base of a container and top with the cooked fish, spring onions and dill, then pack the herbs, peanuts, cucumber, lettuce and a jar of nuoc cham dressing in a separate container.
Find more of Adam Liaw's recipes in the Good Food Favourite Recipes cookbook.