Hanoi Steamed Carp Fish

My wife loves white meat, so she prefers chicken or fish for our daily dinner. Therefore, we eat fish about 3 times a week (I know, it’s kind of too much fish). Speaking of fish dishes, steamed carp fish is our favorite because its meat is sweet and soft.

In Vietnam, nearly every city has its variation of steamed fish. As we all know, Vietnam is a coastal and farming country, fish made up the majority of one’s diet. The dependency on fish is so strong that any large-scale natural disaster impacting fish, could also send Vietnam’s economy declining up to 20% during 1900s.

A popular dish town in Vietnam is Mui Ne. this fish town is iconic for its bamboo circular-tub fishing boats. Mui Nu also acted as a key escape pot during the Vietnam War. Many escaped on those fishing boats during the darkest nights to avoid being spotted by the communists in the nearby watch pots.

Though fish dish reflects the same background of Vietnam’s fishing culture, each region features its own way when it comes to cooking carp fish. In this article, I would like to share my personal recipe for steaming carp fish – which I learned from my grandma when I was small.

INGREDIENTS

2 lb. (1 kg) of fresh water carp fish
1 tbsp of salt
1 tbsp of pepper
4 scallion stems
1 can of beer
2-inch knob of ginger
3 fresh dills
3 fresh lemongrasses
20 fragrant mushroom

STEPS

Use a large sheet of foil, coat the fish evenly with 1 tbsp of salt and 1 tbsp of pepper.
Peel and slice ginger into thin matchsticks. Top the fish with all the ginger.
Cut the lemongrasses into about 3 cm long, smash and put them down to the bottom of a saucepan.
Steam the fish with a can of beer for 20 minutes.
Put in all the fragrant mushroom and keep steamed for 10 more minutes.
Slice the dills and scallions thinly, put them on the top of the fish in the saucepan.
Remove the fish from the saucepan, keep the liquid. Slice the fish onto a serving plate and serve.

There you go. That’s how to cook Hanoi steamed carp fish for 4 persons, with just about 15 minutes preparation and 30 minutes cooking. I hope you enjoy your cook, and please contact us if there is anything we can help.