Vietnamese Caramelized and Braised Walleye caviars

For anyone who have frequently eaten Vietnamese food, I am sure you have tried the popular home dish, fish caramelized and braised in fish sauce. I bet you haven't tried this dish yet - caramelized and braised walleye caviar. 

One of the best freshwater tasting fish, the walleye is very meaty, especially in the fillets. However, as any Vietnamese would know, we don't like to cook our fish fillet. We want to keep the bones to get the richness in and then suck the bones dry. Yummy! 

We bought a few fish from the American Indians directly from their Indian Nation's water. The Iroquois Indians live on the land in upstate New York. Unbeknownst to many people, they're also great fishermen. One of family members have gotten to be good friends with them. They often seek us out when they want to sell some fish. Big walleyes are sold for $10 per piece and small ones at $5 per piece. No weight-in no scale... Sometimes they're big sometimes they're smaller... Most oftentimes, these fish are huge. He buy 20-50 fish at a time and give them to friends and family what he can't throw in the freezer. 

We received 5 huge walleyes. When we cleaned out the fish,  we saw that they were carrying eggs. Lots of eggs! The cleaned fish have been frozen. Today, we are going to have caviar. You will never get to eat fish eggs by buying fillets from the fish market. 

My wife prepared this dish much like the traditional caramelized fish dish. Here are some recipes that you can follow:

1. http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2009/08/ca-kho-to-vietnamese-braised-fish-in-clay-pot.html
2. http://www.hungryhuy.com/ca-kho-to-recipe-vietnamese-braised-fish/

(Youtube video)

As I mentioned earlier, this is one of the most popular home-cooked dishes. When my wife makes this dish, there seems to never be enough rice to share among everyone because the slightly salty caramelized eggs fit perfectly with white rice and serving of fresh garden veggies and herbs. It's even better if you let the sauce marinates deep into the eggs. Otherwise, the fishy smell may be too much for some people. 

I don't know if it's true - some people suggested that if you eat too much fish egg, it will raise your cholesterol level. How often do you get to eat this much fish egg to risk it? So I say forget about it and just enjoy your dinner! Otherwise, go out in the garden and pick some herbs to wash down the fat and ease the guilt trip. It always work for me.