Dinner From an Aquarium

It’s late afternoon at Dong Loi Seafood in Little Saigon. As Vietnamese rock music blares over the speakers, several women dressed in business suits sort through a box of lively blue crabs, trying to catch the females. “They’re meatier,” one of them tells me, plunking her specimen into a plastic bag.

At the other end of the huge white- and blue-tiled store, silvery fish glide around in aquarium-like tanks, captivating a small boy whose mother tries to lure him toward the check-out stands. The gurgling tanks house farm-raised baby catfish, tilapia and carp. An assortment of Maine and Pacific lobsters and Dungeness crabs inhabit several cement floor tanks. Everywhere you look you see displays of fish and exotic shellfish on ice, including lobster-sized freshwater shrimp from Thailand with bright, royal-blue legs.

This is nothing like a typical fish market in Vietnam, says Christine Hunynh, who owns Dong Loi with her husband, Larry. “The Vietnamese fish markets are like swap meets.” Country people bring their catches from the rivers and deltas; fishermen bring ocean fish. They set up booths in the open market, usually supervised by the family grandmother, dressed in the customary black pajamas and a conical straw hat. People wander from booth to booth to haggle with the grandmothers for what they want.

The Hunynhs once owned a thriving business that exported some of Vietnam’s fresh and saltwater bounty--the country’s main protein source--to Hong Kong and Singapore. From the 1,400-mile coastline, fishermen harvest a wealth of seafood. The tributaries of Vietnam’s two huge rivers, the Red in the north and the Mekong in the south, crisscross the land. These, along with hand-dug ponds and irrigation canals surrounding rice paddies in the countryside, yield freshwater specimens.

While in Vietnam, Larry developed contacts throughout Asia and a working knowledge of the international seafood market. But the family’s life in Saigon came to an abrupt end one evening in 1975 with reports that the Viet Cong planned to bomb the city and “re-educate” non-Communists in camps. “We had no time to take anything,” says Christine. “The streets became rivers of people rushing to the port, which was mobbed. Everyone was looking for whatever transportation out of the country they could find.”

With their small son, the Hunynhs boarded a tanker where they slept sitting up during a 10-day trip to Subic Bay in the Philippines. After about two months of living in makeshift army barracks, they emigrated into the United States sponsored by Christine’s sister, who lived in Maine. Larry found a job as a janitor and Christine worked in a chicken processing plant. But Maine’s cold weather was a shock after the hot, humid climate of South Vietnam. “I came down with everything,” Christine recalls.

Nearly two years later, the Hunynhs moved to Southern California to be with Christine’s brother. They found a rapidly growing Vietnamese community in which new restaurants seemed to open constantly. At that time, few suppliers specialized in the sorts of fish preferred by the Vietnamese.

Larry persuaded his contacts in Hong Kong that he could create a good outlet for their exports. And in 1982, with the credit his contacts extended him, Larry and Christine opened a tiny shop and wholesale business on Bolsa Avenue in the center of Little Saigon. They stocked all the freshwater fish, the eels and stone crabs Vietnamese cooks love. But it was nothing like a swap meet. You had to get the frog legs from the freezer.

During the next decade, the Vietnamese community in Southern California expanded to nearly half a million people, and in 1989, the Hunynhs opened a larger Dong Loi on Brookhurst. They added extra tanks, shelves full of condiments and more freezers, which they stocked with things such as ready-to-stir-fry squid and eel completely prepared for the hot pot. The team of countermen that stands ready to dress the live fish selected from the tanks was expanded.

There’s still nothing like this store in Vietnam. There are no pajamaed grandmothers, the customers would probably never think of bargaining, and the Vietnamese rock music is recorded in Orange County.

SHOPPING LIST

Any cook can take advantage of Dong Loi’s excellent selection. But since the store’s owners are from Vietnam, I’ve selected fish that Vietnamese would eat most often. Where possible, I’ve included the fish’s Vietnamese name.

FRESHWATER FISH

Even before the Chinese brought aquaculture to Vietnam, Vietnamese fishermen were trolling their abundant rivers and lakes for freshwater species. In Southeast Asia these are as important as ocean-dwelling fish.

* Carp: Thought to be the first fish cultivated by man, carp have been raised in China since at least 500 B.C. They live and procreate rapidly in pond water and do particularly well in the warm Vietnamese climate. With their attractive tile pattern markings, carp raised in ponds were often both ornamental and edible. For the Chinese they symbolize good fortune, abundance and wealth.

Today, carp are farmed near Riverside and brought live to the market. Valued for their delicately flavored firm flesh, they are often seen in restaurants steamed whole and served with a sweet-and-sour sauce--especially at festive occasions.

Elizabeth Bjornskov, in her “Complete Book of American Fish and Shellfish Cookery,” says you can improve the flavor of carp by thickly coating the dressed fish in a mixture of one cup salt, one cup grated onion and two tablespoons vinegar. Leave the fish covered one hour, then rinse thoroughly under cold running water one full minute. Pat dry before cooking. Whole carp may be stuffed and baked, cut into steaks and pan-fried or baked with a sauce.

* Catfish: This ugly but delicious fish thrives as well in Southeast Asia as it does in the warm waters of the United States. Dong Loi sells small live catfish farm-raised in Banning, large live catfish from Louisiana, and less expensive previously killed catfish. Catfish just out of the water have a noticeably lighter, fresher taste. Be sure to have the fishman prepare yours to suit the particular dish you’re cooking. Slippery catfish skin is difficult to work with.

Slightly rich and wonderfully flavorful, catfish suit almost any cooking style. Small, whole catfish without the head are superb dipped in flour and deep-fried or steamed with a seasoning of ginger and green onions. Catfish chunks are popular in coconut milk-based curry or other saucy dishes. Steaks from the larger fish can be baked or deep-fried or wrapped in foil and “grilled.” Skinned catfish aren’t usually successful placed directly on a barbecue grill because the skinned meat flakes too easily.

* Catfish Heads: You’ll notice a bin of catfish heads on ice close to the fish tanks. Customers who aren’t fond of catfish heads leave them behind for others who relish them in various fish soups and stews.

* Tilapia: The tilapia abundant in many Vietnamese rivers are smaller and sweeter than our farm-raised variety. Even so, tilapia rival bass as the most popular live fish sold in restaurants and markets. Prolific breeders, tilapia grow swiftly, making them inexpensive even when they’re sold live. They usually weigh less than two pounds and are best seasoned and steamed or deep-fried until the exterior is nicely crispy.

* Bass: Large numbers of silvery striped bass are farmed successfully in Riverside, just as they are in Asia. Dong Loi always has a fresh supply of this mild-tasting, meaty and versatile fish. Usually weighing about two pounds, bass are the perfect size and shape for bringing to the table whole. Some cooks stuff them.

A familiar Asian-style filling includes cellophane noodles with ground pork and dried mushrooms or lily buds. Cut tomatoes and other fresh vegetables scattered over the fish before it goes into the steamer add flavor. Steaks cut from large bass are excellent dredged in a little flour and fried in butter. When a thin golden crust forms, sprinkle the steaks with a little lemon juice and a scattering of chopped parsley.

SEAFOOD

* Crabs: Asian crabs come in all shapes and varieties, from one-inch-wide purplish-black river crabs that get plucked from mangrove trees at low tide to meaty ocean rock crabs. Dong Loi does its best to have at least three varieties of live crab (often they will be local rock crab, spider crabs and Dungeness crabs as well as live blue crabs) and assorted frozen items such as whole crab claws.

For every kind of crab there are dozens of recipes. In Vietnamese restaurants you find fresh cut-up crabs marinated in fish sauce and garlic, then deep-fried. Crab is frequently partnered with cellophane noodles, which soak up the crab’s wonderful juices. Crab is also stuffed with noodle mixtures or stir-fried with them.

Crabs and hot chiles are an unbeatable combination. Singapore’s famous chile crab--cracked and tossed with chiles and ginger in a sizzling wok--is the fare at beach-side outdoor mini-restaurants where customers sit up to their elbows in shells, sucking out the sweet, spicy crab meat.

You can kill crabs humanely in an instant by turning them upside-down, firmly steadying them with a chopstick pressed against their middle and quickly cutting the crab all the way through behind the eyes. They’ll move for a few minutes even though they feel nothing.

When shopping for blue crabs, pick up several. Choose those that are heavy for their size.

* Bakhia: Right by the shrimp in the fish case is bakhia, a pile of something that looks like miniature toy crabs with cartoon-like faces festooned with slices of red chiles. These square, freshwater crabs from Thailand have been cured in salt. Bakhia is usually pounded in a mortar and used with lime juice to make a dressing for shredded green papaya salad.

* Duaman Rai Ngon: Next to the bakhia is a pickled salad of papaya slices, jellyfish strips and slivers of sea cucumber. You eat it at room temperature with a little fresh lemon juice.

* Giant Freshwater Shrimp (Tom Cang) : When Aussies talk about putting a shrimp on the barbie, these huge specimens are probably what they’re referring to. (Actually you need about three tom cang per serving.) They are delicious grilled over charcoal right in their shell. Slitting the underside of the shell before cooking the shrimp makes it easy to separate the head from the tail. Simply pull at the head and wiggle the tail portion until they separate.

In their “Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking,” Binh Duong and Marcia Kiesel recommend putting a fresh curry paste inside the shell before grilling the shrimp. The grilled shrimp are also traditionally served as bun tom cang over white rice noodles (bun) atop a salad seasoned with a dressing of fresh lime juice and fish sauce with a dash of sugar.

* Clams: Dong Loi’s clam selection ranges from thumbnail-sized Manilas to fist-size blood clams (so huyet) in thick, glossy black shells.

In Vietnam, clams are roasted and eaten at the beach. Vendors set up their clay charcoal braziers under colorful umbrellas and roast clams for passers-by. They also stock beer, banana fritters and peanuts. Christine suggests roasting large clams--cherrystones, blood clams, and Venus-style clams--by simply baking them in the oven in a large pan. All they need is a squeeze of lemon. Be sure to discard any clams that don’t open.

* Snails: Sea snails (oc hong) --escargots of the East--are a favored Asian delicacy. Aficionados boil them in their swirly spiral shells with salt and ginger. It’s customary to suck the cooked snails out of the shell, but they can easily be wiggled out with a chopstick if you tap the boiled shell sharply to loosen the meat. Some serve their snails with a dip made from fish sauce and grated ginger.

The freshwater snails and periwinkles, also available at Dong Loi, are cooked and eaten the same way.

OCEAN FISH

* Flying Fish: More popular in the Philippines than in other parts of Southeast Asia, these small, blue-black fish are quite bony, but some love the particularly delicate flesh. Flying fish may be baked, fried or poached. Christine suggests simmering the dressed fish in a mixture of water, fish sauce, chopped onion and garlic. Accompany the fish with plenty of rice.

* Grouper (Ca Mu) : At Dong Loi, you will find pink grouper, one of many varieties of this fish. Long oval slices of the pale, dusky rose-colored meat are displayed in the fish case. Brochettes made by marinating squares of the firm meat and grilling them over charcoal are a favored treatment. Usually the brochettes are garnished with a sprinkling of roasted peanuts and green onions. Grouper is also delicious cut into cubes and sauteed in pork fat or oil with shallots, bamboo shoots and Asian-style mushrooms.

* Ca Com: Like the fritto misto of Italy, these tiny fish are deep-fried until they are slightly crunchy after being lightly dredged in flour or coated in egg beaten with salt. Some cooks braise ca com with pickled cabbage or salted mustard greens.

* Rabbit Fish: These are thin oval fish with beautiful opalescent markings. Like a multitude of other small, slightly flat fish sold at Dong Loi (such as perch, pompano, white pomfret and silver pomfret), rabbit fish are delicious fried whole. All these fish are customarily slit in an X shape on each side and deep-fried until golden and very crisp.

Often, a sauce composed of sauteed vegetables is served with the fish, or they can be accompanied with a platter of lettuce, fresh herbs and nuoc cham dipping sauce. Some of the cooked fish is rolled mini-burrito style into lettuce with fresh herbs and lightly dipped into the sauce. Alternatively, these fish may be grilled and eaten in the same fashion as the fried fish.

CONDIMENTS AND GARNISHES

* Fish Sauce: Every Asian country has its own slightly different version of fish sauce. Nuoc mam is its name in Vietnamese while it is called nam pla in Thailand, tuk trey in Cambodia and patis in the Philippines. Some may have to adjust to the rather strong aroma of this clear sauce made by salting tiny fish and drawing off the fermented liquid. Without it, the cooking would lack its particular character.

In cooked foods, the fishy taste of the sauce disappears, mingling with the flavors of the dish. Fish sauce is the major ingredient in nuoc cham, the dipping sauce almost always present on the Vietnamese table. Nuoc cham blends lime juice, sugar and chile, a combination that for some is addictive. Nuoc cham usually accompanies simply grilled, steamed, or fried fish.

* Tuong Bac Cu Da: You find jars of this soybean- and rice-based sauce in the grocery section at Dong Loi, but, believe it or not, it’s produced in Virginia. Tuong bac cu da doubles as a marinade and dipping sauce, and Christine suggests blending a little sugar into it before marinating fish for 15 to 30 minutes. The fish may be cooked wrapped in foil in the oven, or by steaming. Accompany the fish with a dip made from the tuong bac cu da, finely minced ginger, garlic and sliced green onions.

* Catfish Paste Spices: Among the various seasoning mixes carried at Dong Loi is the gia vi thit & ca kho to (also labeled Oriental spices for catfish paste). You sprinkle the mix over skinned chunks of catfish, saute them in a little hot oil and add coconut milk blended with a little sugar. In place of the coconut milk, Christine uses Coco Soda, a coconut-flavored soft drink that comes in cans.

* Pickled Shrimp: Whole small shrimp are pickled in vinegar with hot pepper along with angel hair-fine carrot and radish. The mix is a wonderful piquant garnish for all sorts of dishes. Sometimes it simply adds flavor to a bowl of rice.

The following recipes are adapted from “The Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking,” by Binh Duong and Marcia Kiesel (Prentice Hall).

NUOC CHAM DIPPING SAUCE 1 tablespoon white vinegar 1 tablespoon water 1 to 2 small red fresh chiles, minced, or 1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup bottled fish sauce (nuoc mam) 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 2 cloves garlic 1 small carrot, finely shredded, rinsed and squeezed dry, optional

Heat vinegar with water in small saucepan. If using crushed hot pepper, add to vinegar mixture. Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in sugar. Add fish sauce, lime juice and stir well. Squeeze garlic in press or crush in mortar and add to mixture. When sugar is dissolved, stir in fresh chiles and carrot.

Serve at room temperature. Store in covered jar in refrigerator up to 3 days.

CURRIED JUMBO SHRIMP About 12 tom cang (freshwater shrimp) or more 4 cloves garlic 2 small fresh red chiles, chopped 2 teaspoons sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro 1 teaspoon Vietnamese curry paste or powder 1 tablespoon oil 4 servings boiled white rice

With scissors, snip lower legs off shrimp. Turn over and slit underside of shell from tail to head. Set aside.

Place garlic and chiles in mortar and pound to coarse paste. Add sugar and salt and pound to finer paste. Stir in cilantro, curry paste and oil.

Gently pull open shell of each shrimp, and--dividing coriander paste evenly--push some down back of shrimp under shell. Squeeze shell closed around shrimp. Fill remaining shrimp in same manner. Cover and marinate at room temperature at least 2 hours or in refrigerator up to 4 hours.

Grill shrimp over medium heat until shells are charred on one side and shrimp is cooked halfway through. Turn and grill other side. Serve at once with white rice. Makes 4 servings.

Dong Loi Seafood, 13900 Brookhurst St., Garden Grove, (714) 534-1410; also 9717 Bolsa Ave., Westminster, (714) 531-1071. Both shops open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.