The Food Addicts

One of the things my mom always prepared at home was her popular garlic fish sauce – something we use to dip many kinds of fish and vegetables in. If you aren’t a big fan of fish sauce, this recipe is definitely much more mild and will go great with rice dishes or vermicelli noodles. So last night, we prepared a really simple dinner since we didn’t have that much left in the fridge (time to grocery shop and restock!). Although you’d think the tilapia fish was the highlight of the dinner, it was really the fish sauce. Reason being is that there was no seasoning involved with the fish – just pan fry. The fish sauce is what gives the fish its flavor when you dip it. This is one of the many simple and healthy meals I had while growing up, so it’s still a part of me now. Hopefully you can use this garlic fish sauce recipe to enjoy some Vietnamese cuisines!

The ingredients you will need: fish sauce, 5-10 cloves of garlic, 1 thai chili, sugar, chili paste, lemon, and warm water.

From the previous picture, I had combined the garlic, chili, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar in the mortar and pestle. Then I mushed it until it looks like this.

Then add half a lemon juice, 2 cups water, about half a cup of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of chili paste, and 3-4 more tablespoons of sugar. Mix it all up and taste. Some people prefer it to be more salty, or more sweet, so it's up to you. I just eyeball ingredients and taste until desired.

We topped our pan fried tilapia with some fresh tomatoes and cilantro. Simple as that!