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Preparation
30 minutes
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Cooking
40 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
The stir-fried eel dish with a rich and unusual flavor will surely make a delicious stir-fried dish for you to show off your cooking skills to your family. Let’s get cooking right away with this dish using the extremely simple recipe shared by TasteVN below!
Ingredients for Stir-fried Eel For 4 people
Eel 1 kg Glass noodles 50 gr Dried wood ear mushrooms 50 gr (moc nhi) Coconut milk 160 ml Tomatoes 2 fruits Cilantro 10 gr Rice paddy herb 10 gr Lemongrass 2 stalks Garlic 5 gr Bird’s eye chili 2 fruits Seasoning powder 1 teaspoon Fish sauce 1 teaspoon Curry powder 1/2 tablespoon Spices a little (sugar; monosodium glutamate; salt) Cooking oil 2 tablespoons
How to choose fresh, good ingredients:
How to choose fresh eels
- Choose eels that are of medium size and have two distinct colors, the belly part is yellow and the back part is black because they are all caught from rivers, canals, or ponds, so their meat will be fragrant and firm.
- On the contrary, very small eels will not taste good, or very large eels (with a black belly) are mostly farmed eels, so their meat tends to be mushy and not fragrant.
How to choose good tomatoes
- Natural ripe tomatoes have a plump skin, bright red color. If you look closely, you will see tiny specks in the flesh through the skin. When cut open, the inside will be bright red, with pulp and white seeds.
- You should choose firm tomatoes, avoid soft ones as they spoil quickly.
- If the stem of the tomato is bright green and firmly attached to the body, it indicates that the fruit is naturally ripe.
- Compared to naturally ripe tomatoes, those treated with chemicals usually lack aroma, are not red, and are quite hard. When cooked, these tomatoes become mushy very slowly, have little pulp, and a pale red color.
How to choose good wood ear mushrooms
- You can choose black wood ear mushrooms in either dry or fresh form.
- Preferably choose wood ear mushrooms with large, thick ears and fewer small mushrooms at the base.
- The color of the mushrooms should be a dark amber, slightly shiny (for the top side of the mushroom) and coffee with milk color (for the bottom side of the mushroom).
- For dried wood ear mushrooms, avoid those that look too black, as they may become mushy when soaked in water and are less crunchy.
How to prepare Stir-fried Eel
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Preparing the eel
After buying the eel, cut off the head, use a knife to scrape off the slime, then chop the eel into bite-sized pieces. Next, rub the entire body of the eel with salt, rinse with lemon juice, and finally wash thoroughly with water and drain.
Tip: You can also use kitchen ash or vinegar, wine to eliminate odors. Alternatively, placing the eel in a pot with warm water and covering it for about 10 minutes can significantly reduce the slime of the eel.
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Prepare the other ingredients
Wash the lemongrass, chop the thick part at the bottom finely, and cut the small part at the top into small pieces.
Chop the garlic and half a chili finely. Leave the remaining chili whole.
Prepare the tomatoes thoroughly, then cut them into wedges. Wash the Vietnamese coriander and sawtooth coriander.
Soak the mung bean noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes until they bloom and soften, then cut into pieces.
Wash the dried mushrooms thoroughly under cold water to remove dirt, then soak them in water for about 30 – 45 minutes until they bloom and soften, then rinse and slice.
Correct way to soak dried mushrooms
- Do not soak the mushrooms for more than 3 – 4 hours, as soaking too long can cause them to produce toxins harmful to health.
- Only soak dried mushrooms in cold water, do not soak in hot water as it will generate many unhealthy substances.
- After soaking, rinse the mushrooms with clean water to remove dirt, then cut the stems and prepare as desired.
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Marinating eel
Marinate the eel with 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, 1 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of curry powder, and chopped lemongrass.
Mix well and marinate the eel for about 30 minutes for the flavors to absorb.
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Stir-frying eel
Heat a pan on the stove, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add minced garlic, chili, and lemongrass to sauté until fragrant. When the lemongrass, garlic, and chili become aromatic, add the marinated eel to the pan, tossing the eel on high heat until the eel meat is firm and cooked about 80%.
Tip: While stir-frying, you should only toss the pan gently, avoid stirring the eel too many times with chopsticks as it can cause the eel meat to break apart.
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Stir-fried eel with coconut milk
When the eel is firm and cooked evenly, add coconut milk.
Continue to stir-fry the eel with coconut milk for about 5 minutes, until the coconut milk boils again, then add the shredded wood ear mushrooms and cut mung bean noodles, cook for another 2 minutes and then turn off the heat. Finally, use scissors to cut coriander and dill into it, and stir well.
Serve the eel on a plate, decorate it nicely to complete the dish.
Tip: Do not cook the coconut milk for too long as it will cause the coconut milk to separate, and the dish will lose its delicious taste.
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Final product
The stir-fried eel after completion has an appealing golden color. The eel meat is soft and sweet, combined with the rich and fragrant coconut milk, creating a delicious and savory dish. This dish is wonderful when served hot with bread or rice!
See more
The dish stir-fried eel with hot rice is nothing more appealing. Let’s get into the kitchen to make it and share your product with TasteVN!
*Refer to images and recipes from the YouTube channel: Wife’s Kitchen
