When it comes to the flood season, everyone immediately thinks of linh fish. When the water overflows the fields, the first young linh fish of the season appear. Young linh fish follow the water into rivers, canals, and fields and gradually grow up.
Harvesting young linh fish.
Usually starting around the 10th lunar month, at this time the water gradually floods, the linh fish have grown, are fat, and rich in nutrients. They are about the size of a thumb, with a light blue back, a flat, round body, pale yellow fins and tail, and small, soft, silver scales.
On that drifting journey, linh fish grow and reproduce as they go. At the beginning of the flood season, linh fish are as small as the tip of a chopstick, so people call them young linh fish. The fish are not yet grown, so their bones are soft and their bellies are fatty. Young linh fish at the beginning of the season are very delicious when stewed with coconut water.
Vegetables served with linh fish.
The fatty taste of the fish mixed with the sweet aroma of coconut water makes the dish different. The dried linh fish is braised in a clay pot, eaten with white rice, simple but rich like the hospitality of the Western people.
The finger-sized fish can be cooked in sour soup with water mimosa flowers, water mimosa, water lily, or fried crispy, fried in flour and dipped in tamarind fish sauce or braised in fish sauce. The dish of linh fish dipped in water mimosa flowers vinegar is also worth enjoying.
No need to scale the fish, just put it in a bamboo basket and rub it lightly, clean the intestines, season with salt, sugar, MSG, pepper and minced garlic. The vinegar must be home-raised to be delicious, to have a light sour taste.
Catching linh fish in flooded fields.
In addition to the water mimosa, this dish must be eaten with wild water lilies (only about 1 meter long) to enhance the flavor of the dish. Put the linh fish in a pot of boiling water, add the vegetables, and cook until just cooked to retain the sweetness.
The sweetness of the fish, the crunchiness of the water mimosa and lotus flowers, the sourness of the vinegar, the spiciness of the chili and pepper combine to create an unforgettable aroma.
Fishermen and farmers along the river banks catch linh fish using many means such as: nets, traps, traps, drop nets, spread nets... In the past, because there were so many linh fish, people measured fish with iron baskets like rice.
Fried young catfish.
Most linh fish are used to make fish sauce or fish sauce on the spot. To transport linh fish far away, it must be transported by boat with nets on the sides so that the fish can still live in the natural environment.
The longer the linh fish is fermented, the tastier the fish sauce becomes. Linh fish sauce is especially delicious thanks to the fermentation of fresh fish. People in Chau Doc, Tinh Bien, An Phu (An Giang) are very famous for making linh fish sauce and other freshwater fish sauce.
To enjoy the specialty of linh fish in the flood season in the true style of the Western people, you just need to sit on a sampan, or on the edge of a rice field, a hut, under the green canopy, listening to the wind blowing, adding a few lines of vọng cổ to the soul, that is the true style of the West.
Catfish hotpot.
On this September 2nd holiday, enjoy a pot of new rice, sour soup with linh fish and sesban flowers with the locals, or sip a piece of crispy fried fish and drain a glass of rice wine. There is no better feeling than this.
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/den-an-giang-mua-nuoc-noi-nem-dac-san-ca-linh-non-tru-danh-192240831093839963.htm
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