Rambling about Quang Nam's meatballs

Meatball dish in the Quang Nam death anniversary meal. Photo: Illustration

Usually, people wrap “moc” when there is a death anniversary. It is a dish of chicken gizzards mixed with wood ear mushrooms, vermicelli, eggs, and a few peanuts with spices. All are wrapped in banana leaves, tied at one end with very thin bamboo strips. Then boiled or steamed.

The meatballs must be eaten hot to fully appreciate the flavor of this creative delicacy. The fatty but not greasy taste of chicken liver, the crunchy texture of gizzard (stomach), chopped wood ear mushrooms blend with the soft, clear vermicelli noodles and the combination of eggs and spices.

The package of meatballs when opened is fragrant and colorful. The good thing is that the ingredients used to wrap the meatballs are very... ordinary. Sometimes, it is also a way of making use of the savings inherent in the Central region. But strangely, it creates an irresistible flavor.

Quang Nam is a land famous for delicious chickens such as Tam Ky, Deo Le, Dai Loc... That's why Quang people like to use chicken and duck giblets to wrap meatballs.

But if you are in a pinch, you can use minced pork liver instead. Use duck or pork instead of chicken. If you don’t have cellophane noodles, you can use dried rice noodles instead…

Only the spices remain unchanged. Later, Quang people added frog meatballs and eel meatballs. The recipe is still the same, but the meatballs have a new flavor.

In the memories of many Quang people far from home, chicken meatballs and vermicelli on the offering tray are like a bit of childhood love. Because when sitting at the tray, adults will open the meatballs package, cut them into many pieces, then prioritize serving the elderly and save some for the children. Because the meatballs are soft, fatty, fragrant, and there is no fear of choking on the bones. Sometimes, eating meatballs since childhood can still remember the taste decades later.

Once in Saigon, when meeting fellow Quang Nam people, someone asked: So, which of the two came first, the “moọc” of the Thai people? Many people think that the “moọc” of the Thai people comes from the mountains down to the sea, and from the North to the South, the Thai people are at the source!
The Thai people in the Northern highlands often use animal meat such as pork, chicken, squirrel, stream fish, crushed rice with some spices such as "mac khen", lemongrass... then wrap in dong leaves and boil.

Thus, the Quang Nam dish has a similar format to the Thai dish “moọc”, but is different in ingredients and spices. Perhaps, following the footsteps of migrants, each dish travels through different lands, and when it is destined to stay, it will embrace the eating and living habits of that land to create its own flavors.

Is Quang Nam meatballs dish in that situation?

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