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Quang Binh boasts not only the breathtaking Nhật Lệ beach and unique caves but also unforgettable dishes that linger in memory.
1. Quang Hoa Pancake
Quang Hoa Pancake is made from red rice, with evenly raised patterns, accompanied by various side dishes: banana fish, salad, fresh vegetables, rice paper, and dipping sauce.
The salad plate consists of banana flower, water mimosa, and sesame seeds. The salad's beansprouts are made from red beans, large and firm. The rice for the pancake is made from red glutinous rice, soaked in water for about 5 hours before grinding. Salt is used to scoop both water and rice into the mortar slowly. Grind twice until the rice is fine. After grinding, add a little salt and finely chopped spring onions into the rice batter.
The pancake molds are made by the hands of men from Quang Hoa (in the southern part of Quang Trach district), slightly larger mouth than a rice bowl, thin mold, about 1.5 cm high, with a flat bottom.
The most eye-catching dish is the banana blossom fish. The main ingredient is the semi-ripe saba bananas (a type of seeded banana), neither fully ripe nor too green. They are picked, peeled, soaked in lime or lime juice, and then thinly sliced. Afterward, they are boiled, shaped into shrimp or fish-like shapes, and each banana fish is dipped into a bowl of seasoning. Before serving, a little extra seasoning with chili and garlic can be drizzled over each slice of banana fish to ensure the flavors penetrate evenly. When eating, wrap the raw vegetables, salad, and banana fish in rice paper and enjoy with crispy rice cakes.
The best time to enjoy rice pancakes is right after they are cooked. Eat them as soon as they are finished cooking to fully appreciate the hot, fragrant aroma of the glutinous rice—it's truly wonderful.
2. Sweet Potato Candy
With the blazing sun and the sea breeze blowing over Quang Binh's land, a variety of delicious sweet potatoes have been produced. One of the specialties made from sweet potatoes is sweet potato candy. The best sweet potato candy is made from red sweet potatoes grown in fertile soil. After boiling, they are sliced and sun-dried for about 10 to 12 days, with the flexibility of the slices depending on how much sunlight they receive. Because of its appearance resembling ginseng roots and its rich nutrients, sweet potato candy is affectionately known as 'land ginseng' by the people of Quang Binh.
Sweet potato candy has become a fascinating dish for various social classes—from hardworking laborers to schoolchildren who sneak it into their school bags to enjoy during class, and even office workers who chew on it to alleviate boredom. Savoring the sweet, earthy taste of the dried sweet potato slices slowly melting on the tongue reflects the Quang Binh people's simple yet enduring spirit: enduring hardships with a hint of resilience and acceptance.
3. Sea Weed
Sea snake is a type of sea snake, small and slender, ranging from 1 to 2 meters long, with scales, smooth skin, small head, and flat tail. Sea snakes are highly valued in both cuisine and medicine. There are many types of sea snakes such as needle snakes, fish snakes, striped snakes, cotton snakes, and thorny snakes. Each type of sea snake, when processed, has its own unique aroma and sweet taste. There's sea snake porridge, spicy lemongrass sea snake, minced sea snake served with rice crackers, sea snake sausage, sea snake grilled in wild betel leaves, and sea snake stewed with Chinese herbs. Therefore, sea snake is always a favorite among tourists before enjoying other dishes at restaurants along the coast of Nhat Le.
Although prepared in various ways, the most famous are sea snake secretion and sea snake wine. Sea snake secretion (snake bile) is something that travelers from all over are curious to taste. Sea snake secretion is often mixed with alcohol, which not only has a fragrant aroma but is also believed to cure bone pain. You can easily find bottles of good wine displayed, each containing sea snakes soaked for at least 3 to 5 days beforehand.
Take a sip of sea snake wine, and you'll experience a warm, slightly bitter taste that creates an unforgettable sensation. Besides sea snake wine, sea snake rolls are also a delicious dish made from sea snakes. Cleaned and gutted sea snakes are finely minced and mixed with spices. After marinating for a while, they are rolled into small rolls and evenly fried in a pan. At that moment, you will smell a captivating aroma rising, making you crave it even before tasting! A plate of hot, fragrant, and delicious sea snake rolls will make travelers want to stay forever.
If you ever visit Quang Binh, explore famous landmarks like Phong Nha - Ke Bang, don't forget to stop by Nhat Le Beach to enjoy hot sea snake rolls or special sea snake wine!
4. Porridge soup
Perhaps similar to pho for Hanoians, porridge soup is inseparable from the people of Quang Binh as an essential breakfast dish. However, unlike pho, which can be enjoyed day and night, porridge soup is only sold in the morning. This dish is not as widely available as pho in Hanoi nowadays (from north to south, from sidewalks to shops) but is carefully selected by reputable shops or discerning diners.
Similar to the simple and sincere nature of Quang Binh people, porridge soup doesn't boast the visual appeal or complexity of pho. The noodles are rather rustic, made by kneading, rolling thin, and cutting manually, resulting in thick and coarse strands instead of the soft, thin strands of pho noodles. The broth is plentiful and has a golden hue from crab meat, rather than the clear broth of crab noodle soup.
In a bowl of porridge soup, there's a combination of fish, shrimp, pork... Among them, snakehead fish is an indispensable ingredient. After boiling, snakehead fish is deboned, stir-fried, seasoned, then added to the boiling porridge. Thinly sliced onions and cilantro are evenly sprinkled on each steaming bowl of porridge, ready to be served to customers.
Quang Binh porridge soup is also unique because it's served with finely chopped mustard greens. A steaming bowl of porridge soup mixed with mustard greens adds color and a delicious fresh taste. The slightly sweet and spicy flavor of mustard greens creates a refreshing sensation on the palate.
In Dong Hoi City, porridge soup can be served with nem chả - although these two dishes are not traditionally paired. This combination originated from farmers in Mo Trach village to add more satiety. Crispy, fragrant nem chả will entice you to taste, followed by sipping the broth and enjoying the hot pieces of snakehead fish.
5. Fish hotpot with taro
Restaurants in Dong Hoi specialize in fish hotpot with taro (some call it fish stew). Just seeing the bowl of seasoned fish placed on the table makes your mouth water. The chunks of white, tender fish are tempting and inviting. The fish is cleaned, heads and guts removed, then cut in half. Seasoning the taro fish only requires common spices like salt, chili, and MSG, but it always includes plenty of chopped garlic chives (from the onion family) minced with both leaves and bulbs.
The hotpot broth consists of ingredients like tomatoes, star fruits, mushrooms, tamarind, pickled bamboo shoots, and mustard greens. Despite its simplicity, not every place serves delicious hotpot, it also depends on the skill of the chef. Another crucial factor is that the fish must be fresh.
After chatting for a while, the hotpot is bubbling on the strong flame, then it's time to add the fish. Don't put all the fish into the pot at once; each person eats two pieces at a time, then adds more. Don't overcook the fish as it will lose its texture; just let it boil for a moment and then scoop it out into bowls. Eat it while it's still warm, don't let it cool down or it will become fishy.
6. Tapioca dumplings with river shrimp
Tapioca dumplings originally from Hue, traveled to Dong Ha and settled in Quang Binh, where they acquired new flavors, becoming the most special dish of Quang Binh province. Almost everyone passing through Dong Hoi wants to taste and buy these dumplings as gifts.
The ingredients for tapioca dumplings are simple: tapioca flour, river shrimp, wood ear mushrooms, and some other garden spices. The shrimp used for the dumplings are small ones from the river mouth, with the rich flavor of the fields and the salty taste of the sea.
After filtering, the tapioca flour is partially cooked (when the outer layer becomes transparent) while the inner part remains white and firm. The flour is then cooled and kneaded thoroughly, mixing the raw and cooked parts. This is the most meticulous step in making tapioca dumplings.
Each tapioca dumpling wraps a shrimp, a few slices of braised pork, and spices, squeezed into the shape of a small mushroom. It can be boiled and eaten immediately or wrapped in banana leaves to take away, like sticky rice parcels, for those traveling far. These wrapped dumplings can be stored for several days. When eating, steam them again to reheat. They will still be fragrant and chewy, dipped in Quang Binh's special fish sauce with slices of spicy chili for an unforgettable taste.
The best tapioca dumplings in Quang Binh are from Me Xa Dong Hoi. These meticulously crafted and nutritious dumplings are also very affordable. For just a few tens of thousands of dong, a family can have a feast or prepare a valuable gift.
7. June's shrimp paste
In the North, shrimp paste is called 'moi,' while in the South, it's called 'khuyec,' both are of the same category. In the coastal area of Nhật Lệ, June's shrimp paste is the best. There's a local saying in Dong Hoi: 'June's shrimp paste is like dragon's blood.' It's a metaphor, implying that June's shrimp paste is precious because there are few years when shrimp paste floods in during June, and for us Vietnamese, anything related to dragons or phoenixes symbolizes goodness, beauty, and rarity. At the same time, this saying also compares June's shrimp paste to dragon's blood due to its reddish color.
On the other hand, for fishermen in Dong Hoi, every June with shrimp paste means a good fishing year, especially for anchovies, a type of fish used to make excellent fish sauce. The abundance of shrimp paste attracts anchovies, mackerels, and sardines to feed; meanwhile, the shrimp paste season extends until the 8th month of the lunar calendar.
Uncooked shrimp paste is often used as a complete food without further cooking. Salty shrimp paste is left for years, often used as a substitute for MSG in cooking. In the meals of Dong Hoi's laborers, there's always a dish of salty shrimp paste, eaten with sour star fruits, a type that is both sweet and sour. It's an inexpensive dish but has a strangely captivating appeal. Shrimp paste is eaten with rice, or tomatoes with shrimp paste, or boiled pork dipped in shrimp paste, eaten with vermicelli or steamed rice cakes, all of which are wonderful dishes for the people of Dong Hoi.
In addition to shrimp paste, there is also shrimp paste fish sauce. To collect shrimp paste fish sauce, carve a hole in the middle of the vat surface with a bowl and a few hours later, you will have half a bowl of fish sauce. Shrimp paste fish sauce may not be as fragrant as fish sauce, but it is sweeter and richer, making it a 'specialty' in the cuisine of discerning eaters in Dong Hoi.
8. Poor fish salad
The poor fish belongs to the cartilaginous fish family like sharks, giving birth to live young instead of laying eggs. The poor fish is all meat, with fatty liver, delicious flesh, though its skin is rough (hence called rough fish), has a fishy smell, but scraping off the skin with boiling water like scraping a pig removes the fishy smell, leaving the flesh white as cotton, looking appetizing.
Making poor fish salad with broth, raw vegetables, and a sip of wine is a beautiful appetizer; while stewed with turmeric, honey, and ginger is a nourishing dish. Traditional medicine practitioners in Dong Hoi advise poor patients to eat poor fish stomachs after recovery, without the need for tonics, saving money.
Choose and buy pregnant poor fish, cut open the fish's belly to remove the bag of fish fry, leave it intact to avoid breaking, rinse with warm saltwater (not too hot), cook rice porridge, when it's almost done, add the bag of fish fry, stew well, add seasoning like pepper and onions, and you have a comprehensive yin-yang tonic. After the illness, just eat 5 or 7 times like this and you will be healthy.
9. Fermented shrimp paste
Lep fish is a small type of fish, its body is narrow as its name suggests; soft and flabby due to its soft bones, and its flesh is fatty. People only use lep fish to make fish sauce or grill it fresh over charcoal.
Making lep fish sauce doesn't involve as many steps as other fish sauces. For example, to make tuna or mackerel fish sauce... people have to cut the fish into pieces, salt them for a while, then take them out and mix them with a layer of roasted cornmeal or rice flour, wrap them in leaves, put them in a jar, tie them with string, and store them for a few months before they become fish sauce.
As for lep fish sauce, often called sour fish sauce, it means a kind of fish mixed with salt, pressed for just a few days to produce the final product. Lep fish sauce is mixed with fat, garlic, and paired with jungle vegetables (a type of wild vegetable, with large stems, growing straight along the riverbanks, streams, or mountain valleys) which locals highly favor.
10. Tram mushroom soup
At Dong Hoi market (Quang Binh), buyers and sellers are always bustling. According to mushroom sellers, this type of mushroom is not available everywhere and every season. Tram mushrooms often grow on the slopes of hills or along the banks of streams, are round like chicken eggs, look plump, and have a dark purple color; larger ones have a dark brown - the color of ripe berries; older mushrooms only have a dark brown color. Each year, tram mushrooms only have two seasons around April and July, in the lunar months of August. It's called a season, but in reality, the time is very short, only about five to seven days after each rain.
According to the experience of housewives, tram mushrooms can be cooked in many dishes such as porridge, stir-fried with other ingredients, but perhaps the most popular and familiar dish with people in Quang Binh is tram mushroom soup.
Processing tram mushrooms is quite elaborate. First, remove the sticky soil layer at the base, gently peel off the brown membrane on the mushroom cap with a knife. To reduce bitterness and stickiness, soak the mushrooms in diluted saltwater and rinse them thoroughly or blanch them in boiling water and rinse with cold water, then drain. However, for those who appreciate the bitterness, it should be left intact; only when it's truly bitter can it be fully appreciated. After marinating shrimp and pork, heat the pot and stir-fry the onions until fragrant, add the pork and stir-fry briefly, then add the peeled shrimp and stir evenly before adding boiling water. Then add the mushrooms and wait for the water to boil again, add vegetables until cooked, then turn off the heat. Season with spices to taste; young betel leaves, minced wild betel leaves, adding a little will give the soup a very distinctive aroma. Tram mushroom soup can be cooked with various types of vegetables, but it's often cooked with sweet potatoes because their refreshing taste somewhat reduces the bitterness.
11. Pancake
At first glance, the pancake looks similar to the southern-style crepe. The difference lies in its larger size, crispier texture, more elaborate preparation, and especially the accompanying dipping sauce (locals often call it broth) that carries many flavors.
The flour used to make the pancake must be selected from good quality rice, finely ground, mixed with water to form a thin batter. To make the pancake crispy when fried, a little cornstarch is added, along with chicken or duck eggs, a bit of turmeric powder to give the pancake a beautiful color and more nutrients.
The filling of the pancake consists of finely chopped pork shoulder marinated with spices, shrimp peeled and lightly prepared, with a hint of live market vegetables. When frying the pancake, attention must be paid to the heat of the fire to ensure that the pancake is crispy and golden. The dipping sauce must have a distinctive flavor, a rich fragrant aroma. To make a dipping sauce like that, you need pork shoulder, tomatoes, pineapple, biscuits, roasted peanuts...
On cool days, enjoying a piece of hot, fragrant pancake wrapped with fresh vegetables, dipped in flavorful broth, surely one will understand why it has such an interesting name.
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Source: Travel Guide by Mytour – Via: ngoisao.net
MytourJune 28, 2013
