Cá Kho (Vietnamese Caramelized Fish)

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Cá Kho (Vietnamese Caramelized Fish)

Cá kho (Vietnamese caramelized fish) features fish braised in caramel sauce and fish sauce to develop a beautiful color and a deep, savory flavor that complements rice very well. The fish is slowly braised to absorb the seasonings and firm up the texture while still tender inside.

Prep Time15

Cook Time2

Total Time2 15

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Servings:

Calories: 459kcal

Author: Sophie Pham

Ingredients

2.2 lbs whole mackerels or similar oily fish, cleaned and gutted (See Notes for more details)
salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 oz galangal, peeled and thinly sliced (or substitute with ginger)
2 oz shallots, peeled thinly sliced (about ⅓ cup sliced)
10.5 oz tomatoes, sliced into thin rounds (about 2 large or 3 small-medium tomatoes)
2 tablespoons fish sauce (to taste)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
black pepper
1-2 bird's-eye chilis (optional)
1 tablespoon lime juice

US Customary - Grams

Instructions

Cut mackerels into thick steaks, about 1½ inch thick. Discard the heads. You should have about 25-28 oz of fish steaks. Rub them with salt, then rinse and pat dry.
Add the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a small pot. Bring to a boil, the sugar will fully dissolve. Lower the heat to medium, continue to simmer. You will see a lot of bubbles on the surface.
The mixture will then turn from clear to yellow, and get darker as you simmer it. When it has a honey color, reduce the heat slightly. Keep watching closely, until it has a dark caramel color, turn off the heat and carefully add the remaining water. Stir to dissolve the caramel completely and the caramel liquid should have a dark amber color.
In a heavy bottomed pot, arrange a layer of galangal to cover the bottom, followed by shallots and then tomato slices, reserving just a few of them. Arrange the fish steaks so that they snuggle in a single layer. Scatter the reserved galangal, shallots and tomatoes over the fish steaks. Also add the bird's eye chili now if using.
Add fish sauce, soy sauce, the caramel liquid in Step 3 and some black pepper to the pot. The liquid should be enough to cover the fish. Add a bit more water if not enough.
Place the pot over medium to medium-high heat to bring the liquid to a boil. Once it starts to boil, add the lime juice. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pot to braise for about 1.5 hours. Occasionally spoon the braising liquid over the fish.
After 1.5 hours, open the lid. Taste the braising liquid and adjust it to your taste, but remember it will get saltier as we continue cooking.
Continue to braise the fish with the lid askew to let the liquid reduce. Turn off the heat when there is just enough sauce to coat the bottom of the pot (or sooner if you prefer more sauce).

Notes

I use two Norwegian mackerels for this recipe. You can use other similar oily fish such as pomfret (pompano) or catfish.

Traditionally, we make a thick caramel sauce, then add it to the fish along with all other seasonings and water. In this recipe, I add all the water after the caramel sauce reaches the required color to create a caramel braising liquid. The final dish will be the same, and it simplifies the steps to make the sauce.

In case the braising liquid evaporates too quickly, you can top up with additional water but make sure to add hot water. Do not add cold water while braising the fish.

This cá kho recipe is in Northern Vietnamese style. For a Southern taste, you can add sugar to the braising liquid to taste.

It is not a straightforward conversion to scale up or scale down this recipe as it also depends on the amount of liquid required to braise the fish.

Nutrition