Snakehead fish salad (snakehead fish salad) is an mixed salad that is extremely delicious, attractive, and nutritious. Let’s join TasteVN into the kitchen to learn 2 ways to make delicious snakehead fish salad to treat the whole family!
1. Snakehead fish salad
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Preparation
15 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Snakehead fish salad For 4 people
Snakehead fish fillet 300 gr Cucumber 1 piece Green mango 500 gr Water spinach 100 gr Garlic 10 cloves Small chili 3 pieces Horn chili 2 pieces Ginger 1 root (20gr) Vietnamese coriander 2 sprigs Rice paddy herb 2 sprigs Cilantro 2 sprigs Vinegar 2 tablespoons Rice wine 3 tablespoons Roasted peanuts a little Sea grapes 50 gr Cooking oil 1.5 tablespoons Garlic oil 2 tablespoons Fish sauce 3.5 tablespoons Palm sugar 2 tablespoons Salt/pepper a little
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to choose fresh pennywort
- There are 2 common types of pennywort: small-stemmed and large-stemmed. You should choose small-stemmed pennywort as it is firmer, crisper, and more flavorful than large-stemmed pennywort.
- Choose fresh pennywort with tender green or dark green leaves, juicy stems, and no black spots or white dots on the leaves.
How to choose fresh green mangoes
- You should buy mangoes that are very green and sour; the dish will be crisper and more appealing once finished. Avoid mangoes that show signs of ripening or are ripe, as they will be bruised and not tasty when mixed in the salad.
- You should choose hard green mangoes with a white powdery skin, dark green color, fresh green stems, and may have sap.
- Avoid soft green mangoes, as these are usually picked too early and have been stored for a long time. When eaten, these fruits will taste bland, not fragrant, and the flesh will be mushy.
- For this salad dish, you should choose four-season mangoes or keo mangoes for better taste.
How to choose fresh cucumbers
- You should choose cucumbers that are bright green, fairly uniform in color, and have no dark spots or yellowing, as these are signs of cucumbers that have been stored for too long and are starting to spoil.
- You should choose straight cucumbers, with little to no curvature. Cucumbers that are elongated and uniform in size are the hollow type, which will be crisper and tastier than short and round cucumbers.
- Choose heavy cucumbers, firm, with smooth skin, without any bumps, and prefer smaller ones as they are sweeter than larger cucumbers.
- You should not buy cucumbers that bulge out, are large in the middle with small ends (or vice versa) as these are mature cucumbers with many seeds, hard, and not tasty.
How to prepare Snakehead Fish Salad
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Prepare the snakehead fish
Fillet the snakehead fish you bought and soak it in diluted salt water for about 10 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly with water and let it drain.
Next, use a knife to cut the fish into bite-sized pieces about the length of a finger.
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Prepare other ingredients
Peel the garlic, smash it. Peel the ginger, cut it into strips, and then mince it. Peel the cucumber, slice it, and then cut it into strips.
Wash and chop the cilantro. Pick the leaves of the Vietnamese coriander, wash it, and cut it into small pieces. Wash and chop the mint.
Remove the seeds from the chili, and cut it into strips. Peel the green mango, and shred it finely. Remove any yellow or spoiled leaves from the pennywort, wash it, and let it drain.
Wash the sea grapes several times with water to reduce the saltiness, then soak the sea grapes in a bowl of ice water for about 10 minutes, then take them out and let them drain.
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Marinate the fish
Marinate the fish with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil.
Mix well so that the fish absorbs the seasoning, and marinate for about 10 minutes.
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Prepare fish sauce
Add 10 cloves of garlic and 3 chili peppers, crushed, into a mortar, and then put them into a bowl.
Add minced ginger, 2 tablespoons of palm sugar, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 2 tablespoons of vinegar to the bowl, and mix well.
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Fry the fish
Place a pan on the stove, turn on medium heat to heat the pan, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, and spread it evenly to coat the pan, then add the fish and sear for about 2 minutes until the fish meat firms up.
When the fish meat starts to firm up, add 3 tablespoons of rice wine along with a bit of minced ginger, and shake the pan to coat the fish with the wine.
Cook for about 5 minutes until the wine seeps into the fish and the water is reduced, then add 2 tablespoons of the prepared fish sauce mixture into the pan.
Continue to shake the pan to ensure the fish absorbs the seasoning, turn off the heat, and transfer the fish to a plate.
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Mixing salad
Add cucumber, green mango, cilantro, Vietnamese balm, mint, chili, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce mixture, and 2 tablespoons of garlic oil into a bowl and mix well.
Arrange the pennywort on a plate, add the mixed salad on top, then place the fillets of snakehead fish, and sprinkle some roasted peanuts and seaweed to finish.
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Final product
The plate of snakehead fish salad is truly eye-catching and appealing with the sour green mango, crunchy cucumber, tender fish meat inside, and crispy outside.
Adding fresh seaweed soaked in rich flavors combined with roasted peanuts’ creaminess and the light aroma of various herbs.
This is indeed a refreshing and nutritious salad, isn’t it? Show off your cooking skills to treat the whole family.
2. Live snakehead fish salad
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Preparation
20 minutes
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Cooking
20 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Live Snakehead Fish Salad For 10 people
Snakehead fish 1.5 kg (2 fish) Ginger 500 gr Garlic 200 gr Green chili 100 gr Accompanying herbs A little (Vietnamese coriander/ Vietnamese balm/ fig leaves/ basil/ perilla leaves) Fermented rice 200 gr Shrimp paste 4 tablespoons Roasted rice powder 100 gr Salt/ monosodium glutamate A little
What is Fermented Rice? Where to buy Fermented Rice
- Fermented rice, also known as fermented cooked rice, is a basic spice in Vietnamese cuisine. This traditional spice has a sour taste and a very distinctive aroma, often used in many dishes such as hot pot, braised dishes, sour soup, crab noodle soup, fermented rice buffalo meat, snails cooked with beans with green bananas.
- You can buy fermented rice at liquor stores, grocery stores specializing in Northern foods, large supermarkets, or you can make it at home according to the recipe from TasteVN.
How to prepare Live Snakehead Fish Salad
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Prepare the snakehead fish
To clean the snakehead fish and eliminate its fishy smell, when you buy it, wash it thoroughly, scale it, remove the gills, fins, tail, and gut it, then rub a little salt all over the fish.
After that, use a knife to fillet the fish, removing the skin. Use paper towels to dry it off, then slice the fish into small bite-sized pieces.
The head and body of the fish after filleting should be minced to make the dipping sauce.
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Prepare other ingredients
Wash the galangal, slice it, then pound it in a mortar. After that, take half of the minced galangal, squeeze it to extract the juice, and then sauté it in a pan until fragrant.
Chop the green bird’s eye chili. Peel and thinly slice the garlic.
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Make the dipping sauce
The fish fillet has been minced, put it in a pot and marinate with 200g of fermented rice, finely chopped galangal, chopped green chili, 4 tablespoons of shrimp paste, and 2 tablespoons of monosodium glutamate.
Mix well and then cook on the stove for about 20 minutes until the dipping sauce is cooked, season to taste, and turn off the heat.
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Mix the fish
Add toasted rice flour to the cut fish, add 2 tablespoons of monosodium glutamate and the fried galangal, mix well with your hands and you have completed the fish salad.
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Final product
You take a little fig leaf, Vietnamese coriander leaf, and a bit of perilla, grab a little fish, add a slice of raw garlic, a few slices of green chili, roll it up and dip it in dipping sauce to enjoy!
The fragrant and slightly bitter taste of the leaves combined with the pungent taste of raw garlic, the spicy taste of green chili, along with the sweetness of snakehead fish mixed with the rich flavor of the dipping sauce is really enticing, isn’t it?
How to choose fresh and delicious snakehead fish
- Choosing wild snakehead fish is the best because it has firmer, sweeter, and more fragrant flesh than farmed fish.
- You should buy fish that are slender, long, and feel firm to the touch, not soft.
- Do not choose fish that show signs of a foul smell, soft and unelastic flesh, pale color, or bruised belly.
How to clean snakehead fish to remove slime and eliminate fishy odor
- You must remove all the fish’s internal organs and clean the scales thoroughly.
- Use lemon juice or diluted rice vinegar mixed with water, then soak the fish for about 2 – 3 minutes and rinse with clean water to help remove some of the fishy smell.
- Or after cleaning the fish, you can soak it in rice water for about 15 minutes to help eliminate the fishy smell.
- Using coarse salt to scrub the fish and then rinsing it with water is also a good way to reduce the fishy smell.
See more
So, the detailed recipe for 2 ways to make snakehead fish salad is done. It’s quite simple, right? Wishing you success in your cooking!
*Refer to images and recipes from the YouTube channel: BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE TV and Culture & Cuisine VN
