Canh Chua Ca Loc (Sour Soup with Snakehead Fish), Made with Monk Fruit Sweetener
Vietnamese dishesSoupsSouthern Vietnamabout 15 minutes of active cooking
Canh chua ca loc is a search for a clean sourness with the fish still in neat rounds. A good pot is clear, lightly sour, with sweet fish. The difficulty is that the fish breaks up easily and turns fishy if it goes in at the wrong moment.
Practiced cooks never drop fish into cold water. The water comes to a boil first, the fish goes in for 3 minutes and comes back out, and only then do the vegetables cook.
This batch weighs about 4.1kg, at roughly 48 calories per 100g.
Method
Scale the 800g snakehead fish, remove the guts, wash off the slime, and cut into rounds about 1.5 finger joints thick.
Put the fish in a basin with 2 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 3 teaspoons salt and half a lime, work it over for 3 minutes, then rinse several times and drain.
Cut the tomato into wedges, the pineapple into triangles, and the okra on the diagonal with the stems removed. Peel the bac ha and slice it thinly on the diagonal. Chop the herbs.
Put 50g tamarind in a bowl with 1 tablespoon hot water and mash it for the liquid.
Peel the garlic, bruise it, and chop finely.
Set a pot with 2 tablespoons cooking oil, fry the minced garlic until fragrant, then pour in 2 liters of water.
Once the water boils, add the fish, season with 5 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1/2 teaspoon MSG and 2 teaspoons salt, and raise the heat.
After 3 minutes, when the water returns to a boil and the fish is just cooked, lift it out and set it aside.
Add the pineapple, okra, tomato, bac ha and tamarind liquid in turn, cook over high heat until it boils again, then give it 2 more minutes.
Return the fish to the pot, cook for 1 more minute, add 1 tablespoon fish sauce and 150g bean sprouts, stir through, then turn off the stove.
Stir in the chopped Thai basil, sawtooth herb and rice paddy herb, ladle into bowls, and scatter over fried garlic and chili.
Tips
The water has to be boiling before the fish goes in, which keeps the rounds whole and the flavor clean.
Work the fish with salt, kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and lime for a full 3 minutes, then rinse several times.
Okra and bac ha (taro stem) go in about two minutes before the end, since long cooking makes them soft and slippery.
Peel the bac ha and slice it thinly on the diagonal so the pieces soak up the broth.
Bean sprouts and herbs go in last, with the stove turned off at once so the sprouts stay crisp.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.