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Preparation
30 minutes
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Processing
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
On hot and stuffy days when you’re tired of rice, nothing is better than having a bowl of flavorful tilapia noodles for your meal. Let’s get cooking and show off your cooking skills with this soup dish to treat the whole family!
Ingredients for Tilapia Noodles For 4 people
Tilapia 1 fish Noodles 1 kg Pineapple 1 fruit Tomatoes 5 fruits Ginger 1 piece Dill 2 sprigs Green onions 3 sprigs Red onions 4 pieces Cooking oil 7 tablespoons Tempura flour 3 teaspoons Cornstarch 1/2 tablespoon Fish sauce 1 tablespoon Vinegar 1 tablespoon Common spices a little (seasoning/ salt/ monosodium glutamate)
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to choose fresh tilapia
- Large tilapia should be used for soup, while smaller fish are better for braising as they will absorb the spices more easily. Frying small fish will be great, as the bones will be very crispy, making it very enjoyable to eat.
- When choosing fish, select those with a round body, which indicates they are male tilapia, as they have more flesh, and the meat is firmer and fattier.
- In addition, the fish you buy should still be swimming, have clear eyes, red gills, and shiny skin to ensure it’s fresh.
How to choose fresh, delicious tomatoes
- You should choose tomatoes with smooth, shiny skin, plump and juicy, bright red color, and with green stems.
- Avoid choosing fruits that are bruised or have small black spots, or have uneven colors of both green and red.
- If you touch them and they feel too soft or too hard, or if there is juice flowing out, you should not buy them as they may be spoiled.
How to choose delicious pineapples
- Choose pineapples that have a bright yellow color from the crown to the tip of the fruit. Avoid choosing those with uneven colors, dark brown spots, yellowing, or uneven red colors.
- It is best to select round and short fruits, as they usually have more flesh compared to long ones.
- When holding, it should feel heavy, and when you press lightly, it should not be too hard or too soft.
- The more spaced and larger the eyes of the pineapple, the sweeter the fruit, and sometimes it can have a uniform green color.
- You should smell the fragrance of the ripe pineapple.
- The top part of the pineapple should be bright green.
How to Prepare Tilapia Noodle Soup
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Prepare the tilapia
You rinse the tilapia in water, then cut off the fins, scale it, remove the gills, and gut it before soaking it in diluted salt water for 15 minutes. After that, rinse it again in clean water 2 – 3 times and let it drain.
When the fish is drained, you fillet all the meat and cut it into bite-sized pieces, keeping the bones and head to make the broth.
How to Clean Tilapia Without Fishy Smell
- Step 1: After buying the tilapia, rinse it clean 2 – 3 times with clean water.
- Step 2: Clean out the inside of the fish, remove the gills, and ensure all the bile and guts are thoroughly cleaned.
- Step 3: Use a knife to cut off the fish fins and scrape off the scales.
- Step 4: Use a little salt (or lemon) to scrub the body and belly of the fish clean.
- Step 5: Soak the fish in saltwater (you can also add some vinegar or a little alcohol).
- Step 6: Rinse the fish 2 – 3 times and let it drain.
See details: How to Clean Fish Without Fishy Smell
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Prepare Other Ingredients
You wash the tomatoes, cut 3 into wedges, and cut 2 into thin strips. Peel the pineapple, remove the eyes, wash it, and cut it into small triangular pieces.
Wash the dill and chop it finely. Cut the roots off the green onions, wash them, and chop them finely. Peel the shallots and slice them thinly. Peel the ginger, smash it.
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Simmer the broth
Add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to the pot, when the oil is hot, add half of the chopped shallots and sauté until fragrant. When the shallots are golden, add the fish and stir well with 1 teaspoon of seasoning, then add 1 liter of water. Next, add ginger, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
To keep the broth clear, make sure to skim off the foam that rises to the surface. After 15 minutes, remove all the bones and ginger.
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Fry the fish
Add 3 teaspoons of crispy frying flour to the cut fish along with 1 tablespoon of water, then mix well to let the fish absorb the seasoning.
Add 4 tablespoons of cooking oil to the pan, when the oil is hot, add the fish and fry over medium heat. To ensure the fish is golden and crispy, remember to flip the fish regularly!
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Sautéed Tomatoes
Put 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in the pan, when the oil is hot, add the remaining shallots and sauté until fragrant. When the shallots are golden, add the finely chopped tomatoes and stir evenly until the tomatoes are cooked.
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Cook Catfish Noodles
Add the sautéed tomatoes to the broth, stir evenly, and season with 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of seasoning powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate. To suit your family’s taste, you can adjust the broth seasoning to your preference!
Next, add the tomatoes and pineapple and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Finally, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and stir well.
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Final Product
Catfish noodles may sound strange but are very appealing, with fresh noodles, a sweet and sour broth, and delicious tomatoes and pineapple. Topped with dill and green onions, and crispy fried catfish makes you want to eat forever without putting down your chopsticks!
A pot of bún cá rô phi fragrant and rich will surely make your whole family rave. Wishing you success!
*Refer to images and recipes from the YouTube channel Minh Hiền – DAILY COOKING.
