Ca Kho

Today I will be making ca kho, also known as claypot catfish.  It is very similar to thit kho, the dish that I cooked in my previous blog post.  It is the most popular Vietnamese seafood dish.

The first thing I did was place three catfish steaks (totaling about one pound) and two one-inch pieces of pork belly (for extra flavor) in a small pot.  Then I poured coconut soda into the pot until all the catfish steaks were submerged.  I then added two teaspoons of nuoc mam, one teaspoon of coconut caramel, and let it cook on the stove for 30 minutes on medium heat.

After 30 minutes had passed, I turned the catfish steaks, added another teaspoon of nuoc mam, and let it simmer on medium heat for an hour (I had to cook this dish longer than my thit kho dish because I used more meat and coconut soda this time).  After another 30 minutes had passed, I put in eight whole pieces of Thai chili peppers and a couple dashes of black pepper. Then I let it simmer for the remaining 30 minutes.

The finished dish turned out exactly how I wanted it to be.  The fish was perfectly cooked; it wasn't overcooked to the point where it can easily break into little pieces.  The sauce was really good too; it wasn't too thick like my thit kho sauce.  I was afraid the sauce would be too spicy because I used a lot of Thai chili but it had just the right amount of spice to it.  This dish is meant to be eaten with white rice and I recommend pouring liberal amounts of the sauce over your rice.