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3. U Minh Mammoth Hot Pot
When in U Minh, one must indulge in the famous Mammoth Hot Pot. This dish is considered the signature dish of the region. With its distinctive mammoth flavor, the broth for this hot pot is cooked using fermented fish sauce along with a hint of finely chopped lemongrass to enhance the aroma of the sauce, making it even more robust.
The U Minh Mammoth Hot Pot is always accompanied by an array of delicacies such as fish, shrimp, squid, and various types of fresh forest vegetables typical of the U Minh region, such as water lily buds, bitter vegetables, crab claws, water mimosa, and wild morning glory shoots.
4. Rạch Gốc Three-Spotted Crab Paste
The three-spotted crab, belonging to the crab family, thrives in brackish water areas. The three-spotted crabs from Rạch Gốc feed on fallen black mangrove fruits, resulting in meat that is fragrant and firmer compared to those from other regions. Although three-spotted crabs can be prepared into various dishes, three-spotted crab paste remains an indispensable flavor of the Cà Mau region. To make three-spotted crab paste, first separate the body from the shell, then use hands to tear it into small pieces, adding kumquat, lime, garlic, chili, and sugar to make the dish visually appealing and flavorful.
5. Snakehead Eel Delicacy
9. Grilled Mantodea
Grilled Mantodea is abundant in Ca Mau, and these plump mantises have become a familiar dish to the locals. There are many ways to enjoy grilled mantodea, whether with chili fish sauce or grilled... However, the rich and fragrant meat of grilled mantodea is addictive to diners after the first try.
Snakehead fish, with its smooth skin, thrives in the rivers, canals, shrimp ponds, and salt-marsh lands of Ca Mau. Snakehead fish has few bones, plenty of meat, fragrant and fatty. It can be used to prepare many delicious dishes. The most special one is sour soup with snakehead fish, which is beloved by many people in the Western Nam Bo region. A bowl of fragrant and hot sour soup with sweet and chewy snakehead fish meat, rich in flavor, dipped in chili salt or salty fish sauce, creates an irresistible allure.
11. Jumbo Shrimp
Ca Mau is the land with the highest shrimp yield in the Mekong Delta. Among them, Ca Mau jumbo shrimp is used to create many delicious dishes in this region. Ca Mau jumbo shrimp resembles regular shrimp but more closely resembles prawns, with a uniquely delicious flavor. To fully enjoy Ca Mau jumbo shrimp, you can visit places like Song Doc, Da Bac, Khai Long, Dat Mui, and Nam Can. There are many ways to cook jumbo shrimp, such as boiling, steaming with beer, steaming with coconut water, steaming with lemongrass, grilling, or stir-frying with garlic, tamarind, or dry roasting... In Ca Mau, jumbo shrimp is also dried, creating a renowned specialty dish here.
12. Grilled Finger Snails with Scallion Fat
Grilled snakehead fish is a familiar dish to many people in the Southwest region of Vietnam. Especially, if you have the chance to visit Ca Mau, remember to indulge in this dish to experience its delicious, rich, and enticing flavor. The fish, when just caught from the river, is cleaned, skewered with bamboo sticks from head to tail, then buried in a pile of dry straw, lit on fire, or inserted into the ground, covered with straw and lit until ashes remain. When the fish is cooked, remove the charred scales to reveal a fragrant and delicious grilled snakehead fish. When enjoying, peel off the meat, dip it in chili salt, and you will feel the delicious aroma, mildly spicy, salty, sweet, and fragrant.
16. Coconut water crab noodle soup
Coconut water crab noodle soup is a familiar dish to many people in the riverside areas of Ca Mau. The noodles here are handmade from rice flour and tapioca flour. When it comes to crab noodle soup, the essential ingredient is the crabs filled with roe. People often use son crabs to cook because son crabs are sweet, fatty, and create an attractive color for the noodle soup. When enjoying this dish, you will feel the richness of the broth, the sweetness of the crab meat, and the noodles that are both soft and chewy, very appealing.
17. Bitter vegetable snakehead fish porridge
Snakehead fish can be processed into many delicious dishes. For the people of Ca Mau, snakehead fish porridge is a rustic and nutritious dish. Snakehead fish porridge should be eaten hot. People often choose large snakehead fish, then wash them thoroughly, arrange them on a plate and add a few small ice cubes to 'numb' the fish. Doing this, the fish will not lose its fresh taste. Start boiling a pot of plain porridge in advance. When the porridge is cooked and seasoned with spices, people put the pot of porridge on a mini gas stove, then gradually add the 'numbed' snakehead fish into the porridge pot, adding fish just enough for the number of people eating, then continue to add fish to the pot to avoid the situation of fish becoming mushy and losing its meat. Enjoy snakehead fish porridge with some spring onions, finely chopped ginger, ground pepper, salty fish sauce, lime, chili, water spinach, and bitter vegetables.
Bottle gourd is a unique product, a rustic dish bringing the countryside flavor. For a long time, bottle gourd has made a 'brand' for the land of Ca Mau. From bottle gourd, people can create many delicious dishes such as stir-fried bottle gourd with shrimp, stir-fried bottle gourd with clams, bottle gourd served with three shrimp paste, braised pork belly, or braised carp.
April 28, 2023
