SEAFOODS.

When the Vietnamese talk about seafoods, they do not mean "sea" foods, they actually mean "river" foods. Vietnam landscape is made up of a narrow strip of land in the middle and  capped by two deltas at both ends. In the North is the Red River delta and in the South is the Mekong delta. The two rivers, not only function as superhighway for the people in the regions, they also provide a bountiful source of fish, shrimps, crabs and other "sea" foods. Riverfoods were preferred over seafoods because the meats taste sweeter and more moist. It was told that some people living in the country side in the South do not necessary have to have a job, they can get by with picking up the rice grains falling on the ground and fish at the creeks and rivers.
There are many ways to cook the seafoods, but I like to mention here two popular grilled fish dishes, one from the North and one from the South. To  prepare the Northern grilled fish, you cut the fish fillet into 2" pieces, marinate them with turmeric, ginger, galangal, shrimp paste, a little lemon juice and sugar. If I remembered it right, in the streets of Saigon, people broiled the fish over charcoal fire. However, in a TV show I saw recently, the fish was stir fried in a skillet with lots of oil and served on the same skillet at the table. I have tried this method and  it did not bother me. It was certainly a lot easy and convenient to prepare the dish this way, besides, the fish was very moist. However, for the purists, you would miss the smell and the taste of charbroil. It is simpler to prepare Southern grilled fish. Catfish is the preferred for this dish. They just seasoned the whole fish, from head to tail, with salt and pepper, wrap it in banana leaves then buried it in hot charcoal.  Here in the US, I saw some people wrapped the fish in aluminum foil and cook it in the oven. I use frozen catfish fillets, brush both sides with a solution of soy sauce, sesame oil, cherry wine, ginger, black pepper and put them in a hot oven until fork tender.  Both Northern and Southern grilled fish are served with sort rice noodle, leaf lettuce, cucumber, basil, cilantro, green onions heated up in oil. Prepared fish sauce, "nước mắm pha", are used for dipping sauce in both cases. The North Vietnamese would prefer to use a mix of shrimp paste, lemon juice, sugar for dipping sauce.


 




CÁ NƯỚNG TRUI(Southern style grilled fish)                           CHẢ CÁ (Northern style "grilled" fish)