Delicious and Flavorful Catfish Hotpot with Water Lily: A Traditional Western Vietnam Recipe

How to prepare Linh Fish Hotpot

• 1

  Prepare the linh fish

  The linh fish you buy should be cleaned, scaled, head removed, and gutted, scraping the black membrane inside the fish thoroughly, then rinse the fish with clean water.

  Be careful when gutting the fish to avoid breaking the bile, as broken bile makes the fish bitter and unappetizing. If you’re not familiar, you can ask the seller to help gut it!

  Tips to remove the fishy smell of linh fish

  • Method 1: Rub the fish with plenty of salt several times, then rinse with clean water.
  • Method 2: Rub the fish with lemon juice or white vinegar and then rinse with clean water to eliminate the smell.
  • Method 3: Soak the fish for about 10 minutes in diluted white wine, then rinse with clean water.

  
• 2

  Prepare the vegetables

  Pineapple: peel, remove eyes, wash clean, and cut into bite-sized pieces.

  Tomatoes: wash clean and cut into wedges.

  Green tamarind: scrape off the white powder from the skin, then wash clean.

  Coriander: wash clean. Chili: crush. Spring onions: wash clean and cut into long pieces.

  For the hotpot vegetables: Water lily stems, peel and cut into bite-sized pieces; water spinach, cut into pieces; and pick the flowers of the morning glory, discarding the old stems. Wash all the vegetables, soak in diluted salt water for 10 minutes, then rinse with clean water and let drain.

  

  
• 3

  Cook the hot pot broth

  Add tamarind to a pot with 1 liter of water, boil for about 15 minutes until the tamarind is soft, then remove the tamarind, mash it, and put it in a strainer, pour the boiled water back into the pot to extract the sour flavor of the tamarind.

  Mix the shallots evenly with 1 spoon of cornstarch. Place a pan on the stove, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until hot, then add the shallots to fry until golden and fragrant. Set the fried shallots aside.

  In the same pan where you fried the shallots, add minced garlic and fry until fragrant, then add half of the pineapple, tomatoes and 2 chili peppers, season with 1 teaspoon of salt, and stir-fry for about 5 minutes until soft.

  Transfer the stir-fried pineapple and tomatoes into the tamarind broth, bring to a boil, season with 2 teaspoons of seasoning powder, 1/2 tablespoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and stir well.

  
• 4

  Final product

  Arrange the snakehead fish and fish balls on a plate, sprinkle some fried shallots and cilantro, chopped chili on top for fragrance. Present the types of hot pot vegetables and noodles attractively.

  When eating, add the remaining tomatoes, pineapple, fried shallots, green onions, herbs, cilantro, fish balls, and snakehead fish cook for about 10 minutes until done. Finally, dip the vegetables, and it’s complete.

  The snakehead fish hot pot is delicious and steaming, perfect to enjoy with family on rainy days. When eating, you dunk the fish in chili fish sauce to enhance the flavor.