Taste of Homeland: Quang Ngai Vermicelli Salad

I recently had a party at my wife's brother's house who lives in Di An town, Binh Duong province. Attending that day were people from Quang Ngai and all over the country. Everyone happily chatted and enjoyed delicious dishes skillfully prepared and beautifully arranged by the host. Among them, the humble dish of vermicelli salad (pictured) was placed next to other delicacies but was "favored" by the diners throughout the meal with sincere compliments.

Quang Ngai people living far from home, when seeing vermicelli salad, feel like meeting an "old friend", and are happy to welcome him. This dish has a unique flavor with ingredients available in the homeland of the An mountain and Tra river. It is vermicelli or rice vermicelli dried in the scorching hot days, minced pork, dried sea shrimp, lemon, chives, coriander... and spices in a warm kitchen.

Soak the white rice noodles in boiling water for a while, then dip them in cold water. After a while, take them out and put them in a basket to drain. Add a little peanut oil to the pan and boil with sliced ​​shallots until fragrant, then add the minced pork and stir well with chopsticks. When the meat is cooked and fragrant, remove from the heat. Cut the noodles into short pieces and put them on a large plate with the stir-fried pork and stir well with chopsticks.

Next, add the lightly fried shrimp and spices, chives, chopped coriander and minced garlic, add a little ground pepper, squeeze a little lemon juice and mix well. When the ingredients blend together and give off a fragrant aroma, you have a salad with rich flavor. The salad dish with the white color of vermicelli, the reddish brown of the shrimp and the light yellow of the stir-fried minced meat, dotted with the green color of chives and coriander looks really attractive.

Slowly enjoying the vermicelli salad makes life interesting. The vermicelli noodles are soft and chewy, making chewing extremely exciting. The salty taste of dried sea shrimp roasted over fire blends with the fatty taste of meat, the sourness of lemon and spices permeate each vermicelli strand, creating an unforgettable aftertaste. The aroma of chives and coriander makes the salad more delicious, full of flavor. Quang Ngai vermicelli salad exudes the scent of the fields and the vast ocean.

When life was still difficult, vermicelli salad was the "main" dish on the table of the people in my hometown because the ingredients were quite cheap. The elderly or children kindly shared vermicelli salad with each other and enjoyed the hometown dish together. Gradually, this dish appeared in daily meals, becoming familiar to the hard-working villagers. Then, those who went far away were moved and moved when receiving a gift of ingredients to make this rustic salad from relatives in their hometown. Oh! The dish is rich in flavor, imbued with the love of the countryside.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/huong-vi-que-huong-goi-bun-quang-ngai-185240301194518788.htm