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

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Tuesday Apr. 29, 2025

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With all the right ingredients at hand – including the time-intensive (but worth it) fermented rice – this vibrant Vietnamese dish is relatively simple to make. Photo / Mark Chew

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.

CHẢ CÁ LÃ VỌNG RECIPE
Serves 4

500g rockling fillets or other white fish, diced into large pieces

1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying

100g dill stems and fronds, chopped into 4 cm lengths

Spring onion (scallion) batons, to garnish
Marinade

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

25g côm mè (fermented rice, see below)

10g mâm tôm bâc (fermented shrimp paste)

10g lemongrass, minced

9g fresh turmeric, peeled and minced

3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp fish sauce

To serve

250g fresh rice vermicelli noodles (or 150g dried noodles, prepared according to the packet instructions)

½ bunch perilla, leaves picked

½ bunch spearmint, leaves picked

½ bunch lemon balm, leaves picked

Crushed peanuts

½ head lettuce, leaves separated

30ml mâm tôm bâc (fermented shrimp paste), per person

2 wedges calamansi, per person, to taste

Marinate the fish overnight.

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Add the fish and gently mix until the pieces are well and evenly coated with the marinade.
Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

Fry the fish.

Bring the fish to room temperature for cooking. Meanwhile, have all your accompaniments ready.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat.
Place the marinated fish in the pan with half of the dill and fry until it starts to sear, then turn the heat down to medium until cooked.
Garnish with the remaining dill and spring onion batons.

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.

CƠM MẺ RECIPE

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200g jasmine rice

1 litre (4 cups) water

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.

Place the rice in a large bowl filled with water and gently stir the rice around with your fingertips to remove any debris and dust. Rinse the rice, discarding the water. Repeat this process three more times.
Place the rice in a clean saucepan and add the litre of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the rice is cooked and translucent. It is fine (and in fact preferable) to overcook the rice slightly, as it will break down faster during the next stages.
Drain off all the excess water into a bowl or jug to cool, reserving it for later.
Cook the rice in the pan with a lid on until all the water evaporates. Transfer the rice to a bowl and let it cool. (You can let the rice cool down in the pan, but it will take longer.)
Have a large, sterilised glass jar ready – at least 3 litres in size, depending on your feeding schedule.
Transfer the cooled rice and reserved rice water to the jar, in a ratio of 1 part rice to 2 parts rice water. Cover with muslin (cheesecloth) and leave in a cool dark place.
Stir the mixture twice a day for 1 week, until the rice becomes creamy, with a sour aroma. In warm weather, this process will take 6-7 days, but in winter expect the ferment to take 12-14 days.
Once this state has been achieved, feed the ferment every 3-4 days with 50g of cooled cooked rice, stirring it in thoroughly each time.
If the mixture starts to get too thick, add more rice water. The aim is to settle on a loose mixture of about 1 part rice to 2 parts rice water.
You can start using your com me at this stage, storing it in a sterilised jar in a cool, dark place. Like a sourdough starter or ginger bug, it will keep for years, if you do not let it die. As the com me ages over the years, you will notice that it will become whiter, thicker and creamier.