Home cook: Pham Thi Diem Thu
For my weekly meal of meat or fish (I’m trying to eat less meat as an experiment to prove that I can wean myself off animal protein) I simply must share with you the recipe for this delicious Vietnamese dish – Cá Thu Kho Khóm. Cá Thu also known as ikan Tenggiri in Malay or Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel. The recipe is from the south-west part of Vietnam near the Mekong Delta, a town called Long Xuyen.
Serves 3 persons
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
Tenggiri Fish (Spanish mackerel) – 400g
Pineapple – 3 slices, chopped into triangles
Small Red chili – 2 chopped finely
Garlic – 3 cloves chopped finely
Spring onions – 3 chopped into small rings (see picture below)
Spring onion leaves – chopped for garnishing
Coconut water – Water from 2 coconuts *Note you will be cooking the fish in coconut water.
Coconut oil – 2 table spoons of coconut oil
Fish sauce – (Nuoc Mam in Vietnamese or Nam Pla in Thai but I prefer the flavor of the Vietnamese fish sauce) – 5 table spoons
Lime – juice of half a lime
Brown Sugar – 3 table spoons
Method
Chop up the ingredients listed above. Note that the garlic and red chilis needs to be chopped together.
Now for the fish. I used two slices of this delicious looking mackerel.
Pour oil into a pot and add the juice of half a lime to the oil (this is supposed to prevent the oil from splashing about too much).
Then add the fish and sear both sides until golden brown (flip the slices over from time to time).
Next add the chopped garlic, red chili and spring onions and then add the fish sauce and brown sugar. Cook for 10 minutes in total (cook each side of the fish for 5 minutes).
Then add the coconut water and cook for 15 minutes.
Lastly add the sliced pineapple pieces and cook for another 10 minutes. If you prefer a less watery dish then cook for a longer period of time.
When done, take the pot off the stove and leave to cool before serving with rice. Enjoy!!! 🙂 
Photos by Pham Thi Diem Thu
