This Vietnamese-inspired bowl has a lot of soul. Dover sole to be exact, which is a delicate, tender, flaky white fish that bakes quickly. If you can't find Dover sole you can use a similar white fish, such as Rockfish or Cod.
I bake the sole for this recipe because it's easier to keep it in one piece while I slide a spatula under it to remove it from the baking sheet and place in the bowl. You can pan fry it, but it just won't be as easy to keep together. It's great coated with olive oil, salt, almond flour, and seasonings and then pan-fried on both sides.
In this recipe I coat it with just blanched almond flour and a bit of salt and bake for 10 minutes. I stay low key on seasonings because they'll be other flavors coming from the Nuoc Cham sauce and pickled daikon and carrots added to the bowl. One of my favorite sources of crunch and flavor is the addition of pickled daikon radishes and carrots.
I like drizzling Nuoc Cham sauce over the fish and my rainbow salad (recipe below). If you're not into fish sauce, try my sweet chili sauce or the dressing to this salad. Another addition is to add some cauliflower rice or another type or rice to the bottom of the bowl to soak up the extra sauce and round out the bowl for mealtime.
To finish the bowl I add a Vietnamese or Japanese mayonnaise. If you have Vietnamese mayo, like the kind that goes on Bánh Mì sandwiches, that works well here. Really any kind of mayo you have will work, and you can make your own and swap in rice vinegar and a few other ingredients to make it more authentic.
You don't have to eat this bowl with chopsticks, I just like to think it goes well with them and seems more authentic than a fork, and looks good in photos. To be honest, after I shot the picture I ate the bowl with a fork. Enjoy!
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