The land of the West is vast with rivers and full of sunshine and wind, so dried fish can be found anywhere.
The fish is caught in the fields, in the ditches along the gardens, or on the immense Tien and Hau rivers, cut open and left to let the sun and wind of the West tighten every piece of meat.
Dried snakehead fish from Ca Mau, dried snakehead fish from Bac Lieu , dried puffed catfish from An Giang, dried pineapple fish from Can Gio, then dried long tong fish, dried frogs, dried goby fish, all kinds of dried fish, as if there is fish, there is dried fish.
Westerners are probably as crazy about salad as the Central region. Once they have the dried ones, they pick some young sầu đâu leaves, pick some young mangoes from the garden, then go inside to find some dried fish to grill over charcoal.
Sometimes the dried fish are tossed into a pile of dry straw to make it fragrant, then shredded. A bunch of young neem leaves are blanched in boiling water until they turn a refreshing green color, a little chopped or shredded mango is added, mixed with the shredded dried fish, then a bowl of tamarind fish sauce is poured on top.
The dish is so simple and rustic, but it has become a specialty without anyone knowing. Walking along An Giang or Tay Ninh in the days after Tet, bunches and bundles of young leaves with small white flowers are sold, as if inviting curiosity.
The leaves of the neem tree have a bitter taste. If you are not used to eating them, you will grimace when the bitterness fills your mouth. But then comes the salty taste of dried fish and a little sourness of tamarind sauce. Chew carefully and you will hear the flavors blend, then swallow, and feel the sweet aftertaste gradually spread out, replacing the bitter taste that slowly melts on the tip of your tongue. Some people say it is like drinking a cup of tea, bitter at first but then sweet later.
During the wandering days, the footsteps of a girl from the Central region got lost somewhere, drifting in Tram Chim, drifting in Cai Rang floating market. Trying the famous noodle soup that makes you remember, then eating hotpot with young linh fish and dien dien flowers in the flood season.
Even sipping on a piece of grilled field mouse or stir-fried shrimp with water mimosa, then grimacing at the bitter taste of early summer soursop salad.
I was so captivated by the lush green vegetables of the West that when I boarded the plane, I still brought back a lotus stem, a bag of sesban flowers, and a bundle of young leaves of sầu đâu to make salad.
Central Vietnam does not have dried snakehead fish available, nor is it familiar with the taste of tamarind fish sauce, so I made a variation of the sầu đâu salad with shrimp my mother bought early in the morning. The shrimps were just caught at the river mouth, snapping, adding some thinly sliced pork belly, then lightly grilling the dried squid, which had to be the Tam Tien dried squid.
Because this unique dish is caught by fishermen and then dried on the poles of boats drifting at sea, dried by the sun and wind of the East Sea. The sweetness of shredded dried squid, the fat of pork belly, and the firm flesh of freshwater shrimp, mixed with the bitterness of young sầu đâu leaves, I call this a salad of two regions.
A leaf that only exists in the South, has traveled thousands of kilometers to meet the shrimp and squid of the Central sea, sweet, crunchy, with a little bitterness, but the taste lingers forever.
Source
Comment (0)