Fish soup with basil leaves

Sea bream is delicious no matter how it's cooked: grilled, steamed, in sour soup with tamarind leaves, tomatoes, and taro stems... Sour soup with sea bream and white basil leaves is especially unique.

Perhaps in the distant past, coastal farmers in the sandy regions couldn't cultivate the typical spices they use daily. Simply put, tomatoes were only available in winter, and pineapples in the summer... they weren't available year-round like today. Therefore, necessity is the mother of invention. A bowl of fish soup made with scad, anchovies, and other small fish could be made from ingredients found in their humble little gardens, such as a few spring onions, sour leaves, taro stems..., along with some basil, mint, and coriander. This simple, rustic dish has remained delicious to this day.

Tilapia is a type of fish that used to exist, but it was mistakenly categorized as an omnivorous coastal fish, so I noticed that few people ate it at the markets in the 1980s. Back then, due to the smaller population and abundance of fish, people even looked down on green snapper, stingray, shark, and barramundi... and of course, tilapia. Now it's different; all of them have become delicious specialties.

There are several types of sea bass, such as spotted sea bass and black sea bass, with spotted sea bass being tastier. Sea bass live near the shore, feeding on seaweed and silt, so their meat has a distinctive flavor: a seaweed aroma, both fragrant and slightly pungent, making them addictive. Since the introduction of cage aquaculture, sea bass have become even more abundant. They cling to the cages, feeding alongside the other fish when young, and as they grow, they stay, resulting in tastier and fattier meat.

Despite its distinctive and delicious aroma, sea bream has a fishy taste, making it best suited for grilling with chili or steaming with strong spices. For sour soup, it must be combined with strongly flavored herbs, and perilla leaves are the top candidate. Sea bream soup cooked with perilla leaves creates a very impressive flavor. The tender, fragrant fish is infused with the aroma of perilla leaves, making the soup and pieces of fish incredibly aromatic. A bowl of sea bream soup with perilla leaves is delicious, sweet, and rich in flavor from the broth to the fish, so anyone who tries it once will want more. Try your mother's sea bream soup with perilla leaves to experience the rich flavors of the sea in your hometown.

TRA MY

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/doi-song/am-thuc/202407/canh-ca-dia-la-e-bbf7321/