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Preparation
1 hour
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Processing
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Western-style Fish Hot Pot For 4 people
Basa fish 300 gr Pork belly 300 gr Roasted pork 300 gr Shrimp 300 gr Squid 300 gr Garlic 4 cloves Fermented fish sauce 100 gr Fermented linh fish sauce 100 gr Pineapple 100 gr (fragrant) Horn chili 1 piece Lemongrass 3 stalks Shallot 6 bulbs Fresh coconut water 500 ml Eggplant 2 pieces Annatto oil 3 tablespoons Salt/ seasoning powder A little Rock sugar 2 teaspoons Fresh vermicelli 500 gr Accompanying vegetables A little (water spinach/ pumpkin flower/ bitter vegetables/ lotus flower/ water hyacinth/ water fern)
Tools for Implementation
How to Choose Fresh Ingredients
How to Choose Delicious Fresh Shrimp
- When buying shrimp, you should choose those that are still alive and healthy, with a transparent shell and the characteristic smell of the sea.
- Fresh and delicious shrimp usually have a firm shell, with the head and legs tightly attached to the body, the joints on the shell move flexibly, and they are not slimy when touched.
- Avoid buying shrimp with spread tails, straight and unusually plump shapes, as these are often injected with weight-increasing substances, which are not good if consumed.
How to Choose Delicious Fresh Squid
- Fresh squid will have a shiny color, alternating between milky white and dark brown, and when touched, it feels firm with good elasticity and has a mild, characteristic smell of the sea, not a strong, unpleasant odor.
- Additionally, delicious fresh squid usually has tentacles tightly attached to the body, with clear eyes that are not bulging out and the pupils inside are easily visible.
- Do not choose squid with eyes that have turned cloudy or are leaking yellow fluid, as they are no longer fresh.
How to choose fresh and delicious pork belly
- When buying pork belly, you should choose pieces with a dry outer layer, pink-red lean meat, and fat that is tightly attached to the lean meat, feeling elastic to the touch.
- To avoid being tired of the taste and to make it more delicious, you should select pieces of meat with a balanced ratio of lean meat and fat, and when smelling it, it should have a normal fragrance, not fishy or unpleasant.
- Avoid choosing pork belly that shows white specks like rice grains, or meat that has a pale color and feels mushy to the touch. This indicates low-quality meat that may be contaminated.
Suggestions for buying delicious and quality fish sauce
- To choose delicious and safe fish sauce, you should buy from reputable brands that have been assessed for food safety with a license issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, packaged carefully with information about ingredients, origin, expiration date,…
- To avoid mistakenly buying fake and low-quality products, you should purchase fish sauce from reputable supermarkets or food stores or on the bachhoaxanh.com e-commerce site.
- The price range for 400g of fish sauce is 30,000 – 131,000 VND/jar (price updated in September 2021).
- Additionally, you can also make fish sauce at home simply, using the recipes shared by TasteVN below.
How to make Western-style fish sauce hotpot
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Cook the fish sauce
Place a pot on the stove, add 500ml of filtered water, 500ml of fresh coconut water, 100g of snakehead fish sauce, and 100g of linh fish sauce, stir well and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the water boils and the fish sauce dissolves, then turn off the heat.
Next, place a filter over another pot and slowly pour the cooked fish sauce into it, filtering through the sieve to remove the fish bones.
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Preparation and boiling of seafood
To remove the fishy smell from the squid, soak it in a diluted saltwater mixture for about 5 minutes, then rinse it with clean water, and cut it into bite-sized pieces about the length of a finger, using scissors to create flower shapes.
For the basa fish, if you want to save time, you can ask the seller to clean and cut it for you, so when you get home, you only need to remove the fishy smell by rubbing it with salt, scraping the surface of the skin with a knife to remove the slimy substances, and then rinse thoroughly with water.
Shrimp should have their antennae cut off and be washed clean.
Next, place a pot on the stove, add 1 liter of water, bring it to a boil, then add 3 peeled and smashed shallots along with the shrimp, boiling for 3 minutes over medium heat until the shrimp are cooked. Remove the shrimp, then add the squid.
Continue to boil for another 2 minutes until the squid is cooked and firm, then remove it. Finally, add the basa fish and blanch it for about 3 minutes until the fish flesh is firm, then turn off the stove and take it out.
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Prepare the remaining ingredients
To eliminate the unpleasant smell of pork belly, soak the meat in diluted salt water for about 5 minutes, then rinse with clean water, drain, and cut into thin slices suitable for eating.
Crush the lemongrass, chop 1/3 of the stalk finely, and cut the remaining 2/3 into short pieces about the length of 2 fingers.
Peel the remaining shallots and garlic, crush them, and chop them finely. For the pineapple, you can ask the seller to peel off all the skin and eyes, then use a knife to cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Wash the eggplant, remove the stem, cut it in half lengthwise, and slice it diagonally into pieces about 1/2 finger thick, then soak the sliced eggplant in a bowl of diluted salt water for about 3 minutes to remove the sap before rinsing it with water.
Wash the chili pepper, slice 1/3 of it, and shape the remaining 2/3 into a flower.
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Stir-fry pork belly
Add 3 tablespoons of annatto oil into the pot, along with the minced garlic, lemongrass, and shallots, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes until the annatto oil is hot and the ingredients are fragrant.
Add the sliced pork belly and 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning powder. Stir well over medium heat for about 4 minutes until the pork belly is firm.
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Cooking the Hotpot Broth
After the pork has been seared, pour in all the shrimp, squid, catfish broth, and filtered fish sauce.
Cover the pot, cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes until the broth boils, then add the chopped pineapple along with smashed lemongrass cut into pieces, and season with 1.5 teaspoons of seasoning and 2 teaspoons of rock sugar.
Continue to simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes until the pork belly is tender. Add the cleaned eggplants. Stir well, then ladle the hotpot into a smaller pot.
Add the cooked squid and shrimp along with the fresh herbs for serving, and it’s ready to serve; just heat it up and invite everyone to enjoy!
Don’t forget to garnish with sliced chili and carved chili flowers to make the dish more delicious and appealing!
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Final Product
The Southern Fermented Fish Hotpot, once completed, will have the enticing aroma characteristic of fermented fish and special catfish. When eaten, the broth is rich and sweet, complemented by the crispness of the fresh herbs and the cooked squid, making the dish even more appealing.
Additionally, when you eat the shrimp, the sweet and chewy flavor blends with the soft, delicious, and fatty texture of the fish. Dipping it in a bowl of spicy fish sauce makes it even better! Try it now!
With just a few simple steps, you have completed the delicious and appealing Western-style fish sauce hotpot for the whole family to enjoy tonight. Hope the above instructions are helpful. Wish you success!
