Motherland Monday
Cá Kho Tộ Recipe
(Vietnamese Caramelized Fish)
The best way to cook and eat the fish is from a clay pot, but if you don’t have one a wok or deep pan is sufficient.
For a vegetarian version, replace the fish with:
eggplant steaks
sweet potato steaks
Unfortunately there isn’t a vegan fish sauce option, but you can try to substitute with light soysauce or omit it completely.
For additional flavour, use Coconut Water instead of regular water.
Storytime
I used to request my mother to make this for me because it tasted so good, but this is actually a dish made when you were going through tough times and you couldn’t afford much. The fish would be fresh caught if you lived in rural areas (where my mom’s family came from).
It’s so versatile that you can also use fatty pieces of pork because it’s the fish sauce and caramel base that makes the dish - that version is called Thịt Kho. 
It’s traditionally eaten with fresh veggies (popular choices are cucumber, tomato, lettuce, cabbage, Thai basil, mint leaves, and lemon balm), a sour or slightly acidic soup, and plain jasmine rice.
