Braised Sea Bass Claypot/ Ca Kho To

Of course, you all know I love food. I love baking, I love cooking, I love eating, I love gawking, I love just the smell of it all. My ultimate favorite type of food though, is Vietnamese. It's probably because I am Vietnamese, but hey, we have some good eats.

This dish is one of my absolute favorites! It's fish that is caramelized in a claypot so it's sweet and salty at the same time; the ultimate combination, I think. Traditionally it is made with catfish, but at my work they upscale it and make it with Chilean Sea Bass so I decided to give that a try. It was still just as delicious and uberly buttery and rich. The perfect accompaniment with rice, especially with all that deliciously sweet sauce.
Braised Sea Bass Claypot/ Ca Kho To

Yields: 4 servings

For the caramel:

1/4 cup water

2 tbsn. sugar

For the sauce:

1 tbsn. oil

2 shallots, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup coconut water

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 lb. sea bass filets, about 1/4 inch thick

Black pepper, to taste

3 - 5 dried thai chilis

1 green onion, julienned (for garnish)

Clean the fish filets and pat dry. Rub the filets with black pepper, to taste; set aside. In a medium saucepan, add the oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and lightly brown, about 1 minute. Add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce and heat over medium heat until begins to bubble and reduces slightly, about 5 - 7 minutes, then turn off the heat and set aside.

In a medium sized pan, combine the sugar and water for the caramel sauce. Heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves and starts to brown. As soon as the sugar mixture turns a light brown, add the filets and sear the fish on each side for 1 - 2 minutes. The sugar mixture should be darker in color and caramelized on the fish filets.

Remove the fish and add to a claypot (which is traditionally used but not necessary) or keep in the same pan. Cover with the braising sauce then add the thai chilis and cover. Cook on medium high heat for 5 - 7 minutes or until fish is cooked through and flakes easily. Top with the green onions and serve with rice. Enjoy!

Steamed Sea Bass in Black Bean Sauce

It's Friday, and for me that means fish fridays. Well not always fish fridays, sometimes cheese pizza fridays, or fruit-filled fridays or crusty bread fridays. Basically, no meat fridays. In the past, I haven't been so good with finding good meals to eat on Fridays that consisted of no meat. Well those times have changed...

Mmmm steamed sea bass. We have a similar dish like this at the place where I work so when I had some sea bass on hand, I decided to try it out. This recipe is INCREDIBLY simple and easy to boot. I highly recommend it if you are short for time and want a delicious dinner!

The results were simply fabulous. Tender, perfectly flaky fish with some great delicate flavor. Some reviews said that they didn't like this dish because it wasn't full of flavor but that's what I like about it. It's a beautifully light fish with the perfect amount of flavor, just really simple and yummy.
Steamed Sea Bass with Black Bean Sauce

Yields: 4 servings

Original recipe can be found here.

1 1/2 lbs. sea bass filets, about 1/4 inch thick

3 tbsn. black bean sauce

1/2 inch ginger, cut into matchstick pieces

2 green onions, cut into 2 inch pieces

1 tsp. peanut oil (I used sesame oil)

cilantro or more green onion (to garnish)

In the bottom of a steamer, add 1 inch of water and place the steaming rack on top. Heat over medium high heat to boil the water. If you don't have a steamer, place 1 inch of water in a wok or frying pan and place a rack on top of it. Place the fish in pyrex dish and spread the black bean sauce over it. Then scatter the green onions and ginger on top. Drizzle the oil over the fish, then place the dish on top of the rack. Cover and steam for 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Remove from steamer and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!

Perfectly flaky sea bass!

Mmmm I love Fish Fridays!

Simplicity at its best.