Ba Khia mixed with garlic and chili, grilled snakehead fish, a fried mouse with fish sauce… are rustic dishes, often present in the meals of Westerners.

Ba Khia mixed with garlic and chili : Ba Khia bought blanched in boiling water and then washed, removed apricots and bibs, then split in half, also removed, mixed with lemon juice, sugar, garlic and chili, and left for about 30 minutes. evenly absorb the seasoning. When finished, the dish can be put in a box, covered with a tight lid, placed in the refrigerator, and eaten the next day. Mixed three slices served with hot or cold rice are suitable.

Roasted copper crab with tamarind : Crab washed, set aside bricks, remove bibs, split body in half and marinate with salt, pepper, sugar, minced garlic. Pickled tamarind to get the juice. Roast the crab with minced garlic, add the crab pieces and stir-fry, add tamarind juice, salt, and seasoning to taste. Stir well, until the crab turns red, it is cooked. Sweet and sour taste blends in each piece of fragrant, fatty crab for a delicious feeling. This dish can be served with steamed white rice.

Steamed snails with green pepper : Snails bought and soaked in water to wash rice to release all dirt, then washed. Westerners often steam snails in a bowl to keep the heat longer. Lemongrass cut into pieces at the bottom of the bowl, put snails on top, add some filtered water, green pepper. Steam the snails for about 10 minutes until just cooked to keep the characteristic sweetness and crispiness. This dish is dipped with lemon chili salt, green pepper salt or lemon pepper salt to feel enough sour, spicy, salty and sweet.

Grilled mudskipper with salt and pepper : This fish gives a lot of meat, sweet, chewy, boneless. The fish is still fresh, leave the whole fish, wash the mud, marinate a little salt and chili, satay, then place on a charcoal grill with medium heat. When the skin is just golden and fragrant, the fish is cooked. This dish will be dipped with salt and pepper or tamarind fish sauce with raw vegetables.

Fried field mice with fish sauce : As a specialty of Westerners, after cleaning, hamster meat will be marinated with spices and delicious fish sauce, let it soak and then fried in a pan of boiling oil. However, in order to keep the crispiness of the meat, when frying, let the fire simmer until fragrant and turn golden. This dish is served with lemon chili salt to stimulate the taste.

Grilled snakehead fish : Clean snakehead fish, pierce a bamboo stick from mouth to tail, then stick it in the ground and spread dry straw around, grilling until the fish is cooked evenly. When the straw fades, the fish will be scraped off the outer scales to avoid peeling skin. Grilled snakehead fish dish will be eaten with raw vegetables, and rolled rice paper dipped in tamarind fish sauce.

Stir-fried with copper shrimp is a typical type of cotton, in addition to being used to cook sour soup and hot pot, Westerners often use fried rice with copper shrimp. This dish is simply stir-fried with non-aromatic garlic, high heat, seasoned with a little spice. After stir-frying, the cotton will have a crispy aroma combined with the sweetness of shrimp, sweet and sour fish sauce served with hot rice.

Linh mad classic fish hot pot: A typical hot pot dish of the river region has quite simple ingredients and methods. Especially, reishi fish must be very fresh, young dandelion flowers, sour tamarind seasoned with coriander, fried garlic to create a characteristic aroma. The dish scored thanks to the fatty fish meat mixed with the sweet taste of classic cotton and the rich hot pot sauce.

Mam Kho : This is a rustic dish with a rich flavor often found in family meals in the Southwest. The dish is attractive thanks to the aroma of fish sauce, fish mixed with lemongrass, fried garlic, sweetness from bacon, goby or howling fish, squid … combining all the flavors from accompanying vegetables such as water lily, Come on… When eating, put the sauce of the braised fish sauce in a small bowl, add hot peppers and squeeze a lemon to dip the raw vegetables.

Banh Xeo : Western people’s pancakes are usually poured in a large pan with a crust made from rice flour mixed with a little beer for a crunchy aroma and coconut milk to make the cake more fat. Various fillings include pork, shrimp or shrimp, squid, mushrooms, bean sprouts, coconut or cassava roots… Dipping sauce made from the delicious fish sauce with fresh coconut water, lemon, chili, garlic, sugar… with Carrots and white radish cut into sweet and sour pickles. Banh Xeo is often served with lettuce, fenugreek leaves, cauliflower, mustard greens, basil, herbs…

photo: Khanh Thien