Fish salad with wild vegetables
Nam O - an ancient village south of Hai Van Pass. Tourists come here not only for the peaceful beauty of the ancient fishing village, to hear the sparkling legendary stories of Chau O and Chau Ly in the past, but also to enjoy the dishes that are the guarantee of the land downstream of Cu De River. One of them is Nam O "da" fish salad.
Many people, upon hearing it, think it is a salad made from “da” fish. Actually, this is one of the ways to eat fish salad of the people of Nam O coastal village. Diners put all kinds of vegetables, fish, broken rice paper into the bowl, pour in fish sauce, then “và” in a very delicious way. Quang people often pronounce words that begin with the consonant “v” as “d”. Here, the way to eat fish “và” (a way of pushing food into the mouth) has been pronounced as “da” fish.
If you have the opportunity to visit the ancient fishing village of Nam O, try the "da" fish salad in the true fishing village style to feel your heart cool.
Someone told a funny story that a young reporter from the North, when he came to write an article about the famous fish salad of Nam O, was treated to a “old” fish salad by the locals, and immediately went home and wrote a note titled: “The famous old fish salad of Nam O fishing village”. The truth is unknown, but the gossip surrounding the fish salad tray is endless!
People here often talk about the deliciousness of their hometown's fish salad with a metaphor full of images: "Craving spring rolls, craving sausages is not as good as craving fish salad with wild vegetables". This typical coastal fish salad is often made from anchovies, herring, sardines, etc. caught fresh from the Nam O sea.
To make salad from tiny fish requires skillful techniques such as cutting off the tail, head, removing the bones, splitting in half, slicing into pieces, squeezing dry, marinating with ginger, galangal, minced garlic, rice bran...
But strangely enough, Nam O fish salad would be really unappetizing without wild vegetables.
Eat the coastal way
To... truly enjoy Nam O, people have to trek up to Hai Van forest to pick many kinds of vegetables and leaves. Wild coc leaves, dandelion leaves, myrtle leaves, dung leaves, and garcinia leaves... grow wild all over the mountains. When combined with processed fish, they will create a very unique flavor. In addition, some common leaves in home gardens such as apricot, ginseng, perilla, lettuce... are also present to help increase the taste of this delicious dish from the sea.
Nowadays, Nam O fish salad is no longer confined to fishing villages like it used to be. It has entered big restaurants. That is probably why the popular way of eating fish salad has disappeared.
Nowadays, people use rice paper as an outer layer to roll wild vegetables and processed fish into small rolls. Then dip it in a spicy fish sauce with the smell of crushed chili and garlic. That action is enough to make saliva flow, and when the fish salad is put into the mouth, it makes one exclaim.
Nam O, the ancient land of Hoa O, still has the thrilling legend of Princess Huyen Tran stopping at Mom Hac mountain to wait for the opportunity to return to Dai Viet. The Cham wells have been lying there for many years listening to the sea telling the story of the anchovy, which created the Nam O fish sauce brand. Or the story of the herring that passed through the hands of fishermen and turned into a fish salad dish rich in the soul of the fishing village.
If you have the opportunity to visit the ancient fishing village of Nam O, try the “da” fish salad in the true style of the fishing village, to feel your heart cool. Like the primeval forest growing on Mom Hac rapids, like the sound of the wind blowing from the thousand-year-old mossy rocks...
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