Vietnamese Fish

This was my healthy choice at Pho Hoa-Eastwood a few nights ago---steamed Vietnamese fish with yellow beans.  The steamed fish is cream dory, a type of catfish of the Pangasius family, a relative of our Kanduli.  Cream dory or Basa fish is a native of the Mekong River Delta and its estuaries in Vietnam, it is also known as Tra in Vietnamese.  In Southeast Asia, cream dory is a common freshwater fish, but the success of the Vietnamese Basa or Tra in the US  and UK markets somehow give this fish a new level of recognition.  

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) had launched culture and propagation of this fish for our freshwater aqua-culture industry a few years ago.  It was BFAR's initiative in response to the government's Hunger Mitigation Program.  But I don't know if the poor could afford this fish or if it's easily available in the market.  And I am not sure if the cream dory in hotels and restaurants here  are still imported from Vietnam or were farmed locally.

 Posted for Food Trip Friday and Food Friday