Cha Ca La Vọng: A Herbaceous Vietnamese Fish Dish That’s Just Fabulous

A bright, brilliant fish dish from the new cookbook Viet Kieu, this is laden with flavours of turmeric, dill and lemongrass and easy to throw together – as long as you make the com me (fermented rice) well ahead of time, it takes at least six days.

We often cook this on a camper cooktop, so we can keep it warm while eating, but feel free to do the same on your stove. The fish will need to marinate overnight.

Marinate the fish overnight.

Fry the fish.

To serve: Arrange the noodles, herbs, nuts, lettuce and mam tom bac around the fish, so people can serve themselves. Toss the mix in your bowls before eating, and add a squeeze of calamansi to taste.

Brewing com me is reminiscent of maintaining a Tamagotchi, with the added superstition of an old wives’ tale. Com me is a fermented condiment made with rice and native yeasts; its end state is a milky, creamy paste that is used as a souring agent. Like a Tamagotchi, it does need to be entertained and fed regularly (stirred and topped with more rice) lest it sees a miserable end. The eye-rollingly unfortunate old wives’ tale is that women who are menstruating should not open the (typically opaque) jar of com me as their eye contact would somehow kill the microbes in the ferment. In warm weather, this process will take 6-7 days, in winter expect 12–14.

Edited extract from Viet Kieu by Thi Le with Jia-Yen Lee, $60, published by Murdoch Books.

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