I have so many wonderful childhood memories of warm summer days spent reeling in fish from the local lakes and mom making the most delicious dinner from the fish I caught. Now that we live close to some large lakes again, it’s time to get back to my childhood hobby! For my birthday, my husband booked us on a lovely bass fishing tour. With some training and an amazing boat captain/fishing guide, we were able to make quite few catches!

After all of the fishing excitement was over, we were faced with the dilemma of what to do with all of the bass we caught. Apart from giving way some to friends and family, we kept a few to cook for ourselves. When it comes to cooking fish, I of course consulted my mom, the resident expert on fish cooking. She recommended that I flash fry them and then drizzle a sauce of choice on top. I remembered a delightful crispy fish that I used to order from an amazing Vietnamese restaurant called Sunflower in San Francisco and decided to recreate the sauce flavor.

I combined some fresh basil, dried chilies, minced garlic, Vietnamese fish sauce, Vietnamese soy sauce, and sugar into a little bit of heated oil. I waited until the garlic turned golden and the sugar turned into a molasses consistency and poured the aromatic hot mixture over the flash fried bass. Maybe not exactly like how Sunflower makes it; but, it is now a new family favorite fish dish!