Vietnamese fish with jewelled parsnip rice


I love fish and I had such high expectations when starting on this dish, Vietnamese braised fish, but I was sorely disappointed. Granted, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but the main difference was swapping sugar for honey and that shouldn't have had such a big impact. It was edible, but I wouldn't make it again. To tell you the truth, I debated whether to blog about it or not, but I thought it would be fair to share that not all my cooking adventures go according to plan.

When my disappointment reached a peak at serving time, my supportive other half was ever so kind. It can't work out every time and yes, it is still worth trying new things, or we would keep eating the same dishes over and over again.

If I share the exact recipe and own up to my amendments, someone out there may have better luck. The rice was nice though, but that was my own recipe.

Vietnamese fish
1 lb fish steaks such as cod or salmon (I used both)
2 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp sugar, divided (I used honey)
2 tbsp onion, minced
2 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp oil
3 spring onions, chopped
1.5 cup coconut water (I used 1 cup coconut milk)
chilli
pepper

Jewelled rice
parsnips, turn into rice
cucumber, finely chopped
red onion, finely chopped
pine nuts, toasted
pepper, finely chopped
fresh mint and parsley


1. Place the fish fillets in a marinade made from the fish sauce, onion, garlic and half of the sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes.


2. Blitz parsnips into rice. Place in a bowl with pierced cling film and cook in the microwave for 5 minutes. 

You can use any vegetables suitable for alternative rice or cook normal rice, if you prefer a more substantial meal. Vegetable rice can also be roasted in the oven or cooked in a frying pan.


3. Add the remaining sugar (this is honey) to a frying pan and cook while stirring until it turns dark brown. To stop the caramelisation, add oil and stir.


4. Brown the fish fillets in the sugar-oil. 

Part of my issue was probably that the fish wasn't completely defrosted and it leaked a lot of liquid at this stage. The fillets didn't brown, but they cooked anyway.


5. Add the coconut water or milk. 

As my pan already contained liquid from the fish, I added less milk that the recipe stated and that was still too much.


6. While waiting for the fish to braise, prepare the rice jewels.


7. Also prepare the spring onion and the herbs.


8. Add the jewels and herbs to the rice. Blend well.


9. Toast the pine nuts and add to the rice. 


10. Add spring onion and chilli to the fish.

No, this does not look nice, but a taste test was more positive than I had expected. It was sweet and coconutty, but not overpowering.


11. Dish up and hopefully enjoy it more than I did. 

I had one piece of each kind of fish. The cod soaked up more of the flavour, but I much preferred the texture of the salmon. Would I make this again? Not the fish, but the jewelled rice was nice.

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