Culinary specialties in the highlands of Quang Binh

Chut people's rice

Com boi is a specialty dish of the Chut people in Minh Hoa district. This dish has been passed down in folk songs of the people since ancient times: " When it rains, the water flows all around/If you don't get married, who will pound rice for you to eat?"

The ingredients used to make Com Boi can be corn or rice. The Chut people soak corn in water for about 2-3 hours, then take it out to drain and pound it in a mortar. After mixing the corn flour with a little water, it is kneaded thoroughly, fluffed up and then put in a steamer to simmer for about 1 hour. When the rice is cooked, the Chut people will scoop it into a mold and form it into a piece of rice boi to eat when traveling. If you want to eat it right away, pour it into a sieve.

For the rice dish made from rice, people wash the rice with hot water, the other steps are the same as with corn flour. If there is fresh cassava, wash it, peel it, pound it, squeeze out the water, then mix it with corn flour, rice flour and knead it well, then put it in a steamer to cook it into rice dish. The Chut people in Minh Hoa often eat rice with snails caught in the stream and wild eggplant, sweet potatoes cooked with fish soup.

Stone crab

Stone crabs are also called Khe by the locals, and live in the streams of rocky mountains. In the summer, from dusk to dawn is the time when crabs start to crawl from the rocky mountains to the streams. At that time, people invite each other to catch crabs.

Processing stone crab does not require much spices, just steam, boil, grill with lemongrass or cook soup with wild cassava leaves. When cooked, stream crab has a pinkish-yellow color mixed with cockroach color, with a characteristic aroma. The crab is served hot on a plate, dipped in white salt and chili. Not only is the stone crab beautiful, but the meat is firm and has a rich aroma.

Grilled fish

Cool fish is a specialty of the Khua and May people (a local group of the Bru-Van Kieu ethnic group) in the upper Gianh River. On important occasions or to welcome distinguished guests, the Khua and May people must have cool fish caught in streams on their dinner trays.

The Khua and May people often catch mackerel at night. The common tool for catching mackerel is a sharp net. The people process mackerel into many dishes such as braised, fried, and made into sour soup, but the most delicious is still grilled over hot coals. When preparing mackerel for grilling, the Khua people do not remove the intestines because the intestines of the mackerel are very healthy and have a sweet and bitter taste on the tip of the tongue.

Grilled mackerel is fragrant, fatty, and has very few bones. Break each piece of grilled mackerel into your mouth, chew slowly to feel the deliciousness, fat… until the last piece. Just eat it once, diners will never forget the delicious taste of this fish.

Male snail

There are many male snails in Minh Hoa, they often live in streams with clean, clear water sources. Local people often catch snails to process into many different dishes, but the most popular dish is boiled snails.

Boiled male snails are dipped in lemongrass salt and chili salt. When eating, pick at the grapefruit thorns, the snails taste very delicious. The snail broth can be used to cook potato vegetable soup or other sour soups, very rich and delicious in the hot season.

In addition, male snails are also processed into fried snails, snail sauce dipped with rice paper (rice paper) that diners will remember forever after eating it once.

Ant egg soup with vermicelli leaves

Ant soup is made from the eggs of black and yellow ants that nest on tall trees. This is a unique dish that is only available in Minh Hoa in the spring, because the vermicelli plant grows in the forest and only produces leaves in the spring. Minh Hoa people collect ant eggs, clean them, and cook them with vermicelli leaves.

To make sour vermicelli soup with ant, there must be a very elaborate step of fermenting the vermicelli leaves. Young vermicelli leaves are cut into thin strips and put into a ceramic jar, add a little salt, apricot sugar, pour in warm water at about 15 ^degrees Celsius and cover tightly, then place next to the stove for about 3 days. When the jar of vermicelli leaves has turned from green to apricot yellow and has a fragrant smell, take it out to cook with ant eggs. The pot of ant egg soup with vermicelli has the rich taste of ant eggs and the sour taste of vermicelli leaves, very delicious and unique.

Eating ant eggs must be done slowly and leisurely. The eater should savor each bite to fully appreciate the rich, slightly sour taste, carrying the flavor of the mountains and forests.

Nowadays, the dish of ant eggs cooked with vermicelli leaves of the people of Minh Hoa highland has become a specialty that attracts tourists from all over the world during the annual Full Moon Festival in March.

Unique culinary culture of the Northwest region

Source: https://baodantoc.vn/dac-san-am-thuc-o-vung-cao-quang-binh-1718954041749.htm