Mắm Cá Lóc Chưng (Steamed Pickled Mud Fish)

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After having lunch with the spicy savory mắm cá chưng that one of friends gave, I had the urge to produce a lot to last through these cold, raining days. I used to make this dish without carrots and yam but my friend's mắm cá chưng looked so good with those ingredients; so I tried to replicate . . . with a slight embellishment.

I went hunting for ingredients in my pantry. I had 1/2 cup of Pickled Mud Fish left in the jar.  I decided to use all of it with the rest of other ingredients in my recipe below.  First, it turned out a bit salty.  I had to add just a little more of sugar, carrots and yam. I didn't want to cover up its saltiness as this is the essence of any mắm dish. To change it up a bit, I also added some vermicelli bean threads, eggs, and fried shallots. The result was a thumb's up from my mother-in-law.

In the summer time, I like to eat mắm cá chưng with room-temperature rice and fresh slices of cucumber.  In the winter, I like to enjoy it with  hot rice and my homegrown steamed mustard greens (cải luộc). It's a versatile dish that can be enjoyed with a combination of rice and veggies, but it's a dish that will satisfy the pallets of those of you who crave the spice of salt . . . and water to quench your thirst afterward.

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RECIPE: Mắm Cá Lóc Chưng 

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1/4 - 1/3 cup of Pickled Mud Fish (mắm cá lóc xay)
1 cup of ground pork
1/2 cup of vermicelli bean threads, chopped
1/2 cup of onion, chopped

1/2 cup of shredded black fungus, chopped

1/2 cup of Japanese yam, chopped

1/2 cup of carrot, chopped

2 eggs

4 tablespoons of fried shallots
1/2 tablespoon of garlic, chopped

1-2 teaspoons of black pepper

1 tablespoon of sugar
1 chili pepper, sliced

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Mix all the ingriedients in a large bowl.  Do a taste test by microwaving a teaspoon of mixture.  Adjust sugar or pickled mud fish if needed. Divide the
mixture into small bowls. Add a few slices of fresh chilli pepper on top of each bowl. Place these bowls inside the steamer.

Steam it when water starts boiling for about 30 minutes.  Use a small spoon to scoop out a spoon of mam from the bottom of the bowl just to see if it's cooked. 

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Enjoy!