Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

This version of bún kèn, a deeply delicious street food specialty of Kiên Giang Province in southern Vietnam, comes from the chef Diep Tran, who traveled to the region while researching “The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook,” written with Cuong Pham and Tien Nguyen. The dish is built by infusing fish stock with aromatics and coconut cream, then ladling this fish curry over rice noodles and topping the bowls with fresh herbs, vegetables and a drizzle of sweet and salty coconut nuoc chăm. While you can often find yellowtail collar at Japanese and Korean markets in the United States, Ms. Tran suggests using a snapper head or grouper head, or any small whole fish that isn’t too oily, if you can’t get your hands on collar. —Tejal Rao

Featured in: Fish Sauce Is Good For Just About Everything. 

Adapted from “The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook” by Cuong Pham, Tien Nguyen and Diep Tran

2 hours, plus soaking and fermenting

1 hour 15 minutes, plus up to 3 hours’ soaking

Tejal Rao, Alfonso “Poncho” Martinez

5 hours, plus soaking and cooling time

Tejal Rao, Larry Flax, Rick Rosenfield

30 minutes, plus time for pizza dough

Tejal Rao, Heather Sperling, Emily Fiffer

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