If you love the sweet and fragrant taste of snakehead fish and a hot hot pot to enjoy with your family, then get cooking right away to learn more about 2 ways to cook snakehead fish hot pot with mushrooms and a delicious sour hot pot, which is perfect for rainy days!
1. Snakehead Fish Hot Pot with Mushrooms
Preparation
30 minutes
Cooking
1 hour 10 minutes
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Snakehead Fish Hot Pot with Mushrooms For 4 people
Snakehead fish 800 gr Straw mushrooms 200 gr Bitter vegetables 200 gr Water spinach 200 gr Green onions 20 gr Red onions 1 bulb Onion 1/4 bulb Fish sauce 2 teaspoons Ginger 1 bulb Seasoning powder 3 teaspoons Sugar 3 teaspoons Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Salt 3 teaspoons White wine 1 tablespoon
How to Choose Fresh Straw Mushrooms
- Choose straw mushrooms that are round, not opened, and still in bud form.
- Black straw mushrooms will have a more delicious flavor compared to white ones.
- When gently squeezed, they should feel a bit firm, with no signs of softness or leaking.
- The shape of the straw mushrooms should be intact, avoiding any signs of insect bites or unusual spots.
How to prepare Snakehead Fish Hotpot with Mushrooms
-
Prepare the ingredients
Buy cleaned snakehead fish from the market, then wash it with crushed ginger and a little white wine to eliminate the fishy smell. After that, rinse with clean water and proceed to fillet the fish, slicing it into bite-sized pieces according to your preference.
For the onion, peel and cut into small wedges. Wash the green onion and cut it into pieces about 3cm long, leaving about 3 green onion tops to chop finely along with the purple onion.
For straw mushrooms, trim the dirty ends, soak in diluted salt water for about 3 minutes, rinse with clean water, and drain. For the vegetables, pick and wash them with diluted salt water, then drain.
-
Marinate the fish
Add the sliced snakehead fish into a bowl containing 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of seasoning, and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, then mix well.
-
Simmer the bone broth
Place a pot of water on the stove, turn the heat high. Wait for the water to boil, then add the fish head, fish bones, onion (cut into wedges), and whole scallions into the pot to simmer the broth for about 40 minutes.
Tip: You can add 2 teaspoons (or tablespoons) of fish sauce to prevent the fish broth from being fishy. -
Cook the hotpot
Place another pot on the stove, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to sauté the scallion tops and chopped shallots until fragrant. Next, add the straw mushrooms and quickly stir-fry for about 1 minute before pouring all the simmered fish broth into the pot. Turn the heat to high to bring the broth to a boil.
Then add 2 teaspoons of seasoning powder, 3 teaspoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt, stir well and adjust the seasoning to taste. At the same time, skim off the foam to make the hotpot broth clearer.
-
Final Product
You place the snakehead fish on a plate, sprinkle a little fried onion to enhance its appeal, and dip it into the hot pot broth as you eat to enjoy the fish’s flavor even more.
The snakehead fish hot pot with mushrooms has a mild sweetness from the bone broth mixed with the fresh and tender taste of the fish meat. The crispiness of the straw mushrooms, and you should also eat it with various green vegetables to enhance the subtle flavor when enjoying the hot pot. When eating, you can accompany it with vermicelli or fresh noodles, instant noodles.
Especially, the bitterness of the bitter vegetables and the refreshing sweetness of the water spinach are beneficial for the health of those who eat it, especially for the elderly.
2. Sour Snakehead Fish Hot Pot
Preparation
45 minutes
Processing
1 hour 20 minutes
Difficulty Level
Medium
Ingredients for Sour Snakehead Fish Hot Pot For 4 people
Snakehead fish 1.1 kg Pork bones 300 gr Tomatoes 3 pieces (large type) Green cabbage 200 gr Dill 50 gr Sour fermented rice 3 tablespoons Lemongrass 4 stalks Red onion 3 bulbs Seasoning powder 3 teaspoons Salt 1 teaspoon MSG 1/2 teaspoon Coarse salt 1 tablespoon Cooking oil 1 tablespoon
How to choose delicious pork bones
- Depending on your preference, you can choose pork bones from the types of bone marrow, rib bones, or tail bones at different prices. For this hot pot dish, you should choose tail bones as they will have a natural sweetness and are cheaper.
- You should choose bones that are moderately large, with lean meat and little fat. The meat should be a pinkish-red color, without any unpleasant odor, not slimy, and should not have a pale green color or dark bruises.
Note: You can buy sour fermented rice at the market, reputable food stores, or you can make it yourself at home following the instructions suggested by TasteVN below.
How to prepare sour snakehead fish hot pot
-
Prepare and simmer the bones
Use coarse salt to rub the pork bones and rinse them with clean water. Then, blanch the bones for about 2 minutes in a pot of boiling water on the stove, remove them, and rinse again with clean water to eliminate dirt and the unpleasant smell of the meat.
Place a pot of water on the stove over high heat, and add all the pork bones to simmer for the broth.
-
Prepare other ingredients
You buy pre-prepared snakehead fish at the market, when you get home, you just need to rub the fish with coarse salt, then rinse it with clean water. Next, use a knife to cut the fish into slices about 3cm wide and rinse again with clean water. The head of the fish is put into a pot of bone broth.
For vegetables, wash them with diluted salt water, then proceed to cut as follows: tomatoes cut into 4 wedges, lemongrass and shallots smashed and finely chopped. Mustard greens cut small about 1.5cm wide. Dill cut off the roots and chop finely.
-
Stir-fry tomatoes
Place a pan on the stove, add about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to fragrant the minced shallots.
Next, add the minced lemongrass, stir-fry until the lemongrass is golden, then add all the prepared tomatoes and stir-fry for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Finally, add 3 tablespoons of sour tamarind and stir well for 2 minutes.
-
Cook the hotpot
You pour all the stir-fried tomatoes into the pot of simmering bone broth, stir well with 3 teaspoons of seasoning, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate.
Wait for the hotpot broth to boil, then season to your taste and turn off the heat, sprinkle with dill (chopped).
Tip: If you want the hotpot broth to have a beautiful color, you can add a little turmeric powder as well as some satay chili to enhance the spicy flavor, making the hotpot more appealing -
Final product
The sour snakehead fish hotpot has a characteristic sour and fragrant taste of fermented rice mixed with the sweet and tender flavor of snakehead fish, and the aroma of dill. You should enjoy this hotpot with various green vegetables to enhance the sweet and light flavor of the broth.
When eating snakehead fish, you should dip the leaves into the hotpot broth to feel the sweet taste of the fish more, dipping it into salty fish sauce with a bit of mild chili is just perfect.
Tips for Successful Preparation
- It is necessary to clean the fish to remove the fishy smell and slime before cooking.
- Simmering fish bones or heads should only be for 30 minutes, then remove them; avoid simmering too long as it will make the bones mushy, at which point you need to filter the broth to avoid getting fish bones while eating.
- Use some ingredients like lemongrass and shallots sautéed before cooking the hot pot; you can even use turmeric powder or satay chili to enhance the flavor of the dish.
How to Choose Fresh and Delicious Snakehead Fish
- Choose wild snakehead fish because it has a sweeter taste and firmer meat, not mushy.
- Select a wild snakehead fish weighing under 1kg and still alive before preparation.
How to Clean Snakehead Fish Without Fishy Smell and Slime
- Carefully remove all internal organs of the fish, especially the gills to avoid fishiness when cooking.
- You can use salt, lemon (or vinegar), betel lime, rice water, or white wine to scrub the surface of the snakehead fish after cleaning, then rinse with clean water.
See more:
Hope this article brings you a delicious snakehead fish hotpot with mushrooms and sour. Wishing you success in your cooking!
*Compiled and referenced information from 2 YouTube channels: Hồng Thanh Food and Handmade VN.
