Fascinated by the specialty snail salad of Con market

(NLDO) - Con Market's apple snail salad has a unique flavor that captivates diners because it is mixed with fish sauce, a specialty of Da Nang.

Coming to the food stalls of Con Market in the afternoon, many tourists find it hard to resist the unique flavors of the snail stalls. There are all kinds of dishes from steamed apple snails, rice snails, rock snails... but the unique dish that is not available elsewhere is apple snail salad.

Mê mẩn đặc sản gỏi ốc bươu chợ Cồn - Ảnh 1.

Delicious snail stall, attracting customers at Con market - Da Nang

Normally, snails are processed into dishes such as steamed, stir-fried, grilled with green pepper or cooked with vermicelli soup. In Da Nang, people created a snail salad dish whose ingredients that make up the unique flavor of this dish are also local specialties.

Mê mẩn đặc sản gỏi ốc bươu chợ Cồn - Ảnh 2.

The snails are gutted and blanched in a pot of hot snail water before being prepared into the salad.

Apple snails for salad are selected from large, firm snails. After being blanched in boiling water, the snails are steamed with spices including lemongrass to create a fragrant aroma. The seller will prepare a variety of vegetables to mix the salad such as basil, coriander, lettuce... In addition, there will be shredded green papaya, thickly sliced coconut rice and thinly sliced green mango. All of these ingredients are kept separately, and only when the customer orders will they start mixing.

The most important step to create the unique flavor of this dish is probably mixing the fish sauce to mix the salad. This fish sauce is not made from fish sauce but from fermented fish sauce, a specialty of Da Nang. Thanks to the fermented fish sauce, this snail salad has a unique, rich flavor and aroma. At this stage, garlic and chili are crushed to mix with the fish sauce along with a little sugar and MSG.

Mê mẩn đặc sản gỏi ốc bươu chợ Cồn - Ảnh 3.

Fish sauce mixed with salad is fermented fish sauce, a specialty of Da Nang.

When the customer comes to order, the seller takes out the snail intestines and blanchs them once more in a pot of hot snail broth. While waiting for the snails to heat up, the seller arranges the prepared vegetables on a plate, including some herbs, lettuce, a few slices of green mango, shredded papaya, and then pours the snails on top. At this point, the seller scoops a few spoons of pre-mixed fish sauce and pours it over the snails, sprinkling some fried onions and ground chili to make the salad spicy.

Customers who eat the salad use chopsticks to mix it up so that the spices soak into the snails and enjoy. The fatty taste of the snails, the sour taste of the mango, the crunchiness of the papaya, the aroma of the basil, the rich saltiness of the fish sauce, and the spicy taste of the chili... make diners fascinated.

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The finished snail salad dish looks eye-catching and has a very rich flavor.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, owner of a snail stall at Con Market, said that the process of preparing this dish is very simple but the flavor is very unique. Not only Da Nang people, but also snail salad attracts visitors from both the North and the South.

Source