Canarium nuts are a speciality of the mountain areas in northern Vietnam. The nutritious and tasty fruit is used in preparing various dishes, including braised fish which is often served with steamed rice.

The dish’s main ingredients include grass carp, pork belly and canarium nuts. Fish, weighing from 2.5 to 3kg, is cleaned, cut into steaks and marinated with fish sauce, sliced lemongrass and lesser galangal. Pork belly is diced into 1cm-thick bits. Fish, meat and canarium nuts are put into a clay pot with spices and cloaked in caramel sauce (a golden brown sweet liquid). The ingredients are cooked and then left to simmer until the marinade thickens to a sticky sauce. 

Ingredients for the dish are grass carp, pork belly, canarium nuts and spices such as lemongrass and lesser galangal. Pork belly is diced into 1cm-thick bits. All ingredients are put into a clay pot. Caramel sauce is used to generate the brown colour of the fish. A finished pot of fish braised with canarium nuts.

The acidity of canarium nuts is absorbed into the fish and meat to produce a mixture of savoury, sweet and sour flavours together with a rich and buttery taste. Braised fish served with hot steamed rice is really a great treat on chilly days.
 

By Tran Thanh Giang

danghuyen