Grilled fish with turmeric and dill (Cha Ca)

I first ate this dish at Dong Que, in Footscray, across from the Footscray Market.  I was totally smitten with it, the combination of the fish, the turmeric and the dill.  I was surprised to find dill used in Vietnamese cuisine.  


I researched some recipes and found that the fish used is catfish, a Vietnamese freshwater fish, also known as Basa.  I haven't cooked too much fish because I've never been too sure  how to cook it and have had some pretty ordinary results.  I found some Basa fillets at Little Saigon Market.  I've also seen Basa fillets in the major supermarkets.  The other main ingredient, dill was a little difficult to find.  I walked around the market and to a couple of stores in the area that sell fresh vegetables, it was Sunday so Footscray Market wasn't open.  In my hopeless Vietnamese I mentioned the dish I was cooking and found out that dill is call thi la.  That helped, a lot.  I was directed to a lady at the back of the market unpacking a box of herbs and there was my thi la.  


Cha Ca
(adapted from The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le)


300g (approx two fillets) Basa (catfish)


Marinade:
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon minced or grated galangal (some recipes suggested ginger or galangal powder)
2 tablespoons ground turmeric 
1 tablespoon chopped dill
Salt and pepper to taste


Rice flour
Oil for frying
Bunch of dill


Stir fish sauce and sugar together until dissolved.  Add the remaining marinade ingredients.  Add fish, cut into 2 or 3cm pieces to the marinade and leave for about 20 minutes.


Tip rice flour into a shallow dish, then dredge the pieces of fish in the flour to fully coat.


Add oil to a pan, heat and fry the fish pieces.  When cooked, top with dill.  

Marinading fish

Fish pieces coated with rice flour

Cha Ca ready to eat!

I cooked some noodles and made a salad platter to have with my Cha Ca, but not pretty enough to photograph, plus by bun needs some tweaking I think. I will definitely make this again.  Really delicious, really easy and what I couldn't eat for dinner was perfect eaten cold the next day!!


This is my entry to Delicious Vietnam #9, hosted by Indonesia Eats.  Thanks, as always to Anh from A Foodlovers Journey and Hong and Kim at Ravenous Couple who devised this event.  Read Indonesia Eats round-up to see other entries.


More about Delicious Vietnam.

Dinh Son Quan, Footscray

A good people watching and street watching place!

I have been to Dinh Son Quan so many times and finally have got organised to write about it!

Banh Cuon

Whenever I passed Dinh Son Quan and their bain marie, I would see these soft noodle rolls.  Eventually I found out that it was Banh Cuon.  I had it for the first time at a Thanh Tam in Richmond.  At Thanh Tam it was served with Banh Cong, so at Dinh Son Quan, I ordered the Banh Cong too.

Banh cong

Banh Cuon with banh cong (mung bean cake) and cha lua (pork loaf)
($8.00)

Moving the salad reveals Banh Cuon

As with most dishes I have eaten at Dinh Son Quan, this was delicious.  Over the Banh Cuon was a great lush salad of shredded carrots and cucumber, mung bean sprouts, mint, coriander, perilla and fried shallots.  The dish was served with dipping sauce to tip over the salad.  A bargain at $8.00!!  This place is a keeper, inexpensive food and only one dish so far that I probably wouldn't order again.

Lots more things to try!!

I have tried the Banh Xeo from Dinh Son Quan which was okay (Dong Que has a really tasty version of Banh Xeo).  I have had Bun Bo Hue at other places but not here, so am keen to rectify that.  Tom Yum I've had at plenty of Thai places.  Just need to do some research and find out what the remaining dishes are...and try them!

See more reviews here:

Lauren at Footscray Food Blog

Kenny at Consider the Sauce

Dinh Son Quan
Little Saigon Market
Nicholson Street
Footscray


Open every day, breakfast and lunch.