Keyword suggestions: Minh Long Contest Golden Spoon Awards

Oyster sauce paste learn how to become a luxury dish

Wednesday, 05/20/2015 16:12

If the Japanese are confident about their sushi, which is presented beautifully and nutritious, and the Thais are proud of their spicy hotpots, then Vietnamese should be proud of our sauces.

Oyster sauce paste which is presented beautifully and tasted delicious served with a salad made of “bông điên điển” – Sesbania sesban flower

The author Doan Kiem Tran used to compare Vietnamese sauce paste as “the smell of frankincense mixed with the smell of ginger and salt; the smell of rain and sun; the smell of the mother who works hard to raise her children and the smell of the river and ocean...” in his memoirs and essays named “Từ ngõ Huế xưa”, “From the alley in old Hue”. However the sauce paste still isn’t presented often on the party table because most of organizers are afraid that it is less gracious. But there are still chefs that have a passion for sauce pastes.

The preliminary round of the 2014 Golden Spoon contest organized in Van Thanh Tourism Area on October 8^th 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City gathered more than 60 professional chefs and the “mắm hàu hoa” team - translated as the flower oyster sauce paste team - from Hoa Mua restaurant, Binh Quoi tourism area. They won the second prize.

Normally the youngest part of the top of the vegetable is very fresh and suitable to eat with sauce paste at every family meal. However, Chef Duy Vo Anh Le decided to use the flower salad to serve with the sauce paste in order to make the dish more colorful. The small and yellow Sesbania sesban flower has a curved shape, with a combination of lemon juice and sugar so that it tastes a little bit sweet and sour as well as smells inviting.

Time is as valuable as gold in the last minutes

Then the dish was displayed with a round shape like a small moon cake topped with green and purple baby broccoli. Next to it were some baby anchovies. Finally on the top was a chili flower curved into a question mark, seemingly challenging and inviting diners at the same time. It was as if to ask, “Do you dare to try me?”

About the small bowl with oyster sauce paste it is also decorated with a little bit garlic, chili and milled ginger that brought along a very good smell. These spices help to eliminate the fishy smell and also help to protect your intestine.

After trying all of these elements together, Singer and Guest Judge Nguyen Phi Hung complimented, “I was impressed by the salad. There is a great harmony between the flower and the oyster sauce paste which is beautiful as well as very delicious”.

Besides that there is another dish called “An TháiBún gà song thằn” – a kind of chicken soup with noodle - made by the team number 9, which is also a very complicated dish. The noodle is very special because it is a couple of noodles made of green bean. This is one of specialties of An Nhon Town in Binh Dinh province. Whatever you cook the noodle with such as soup with shrimp or pork or stir-fried with eel or frog, the noodle is still firm and has a fatty taste. Some local people think that because of the wind, the sun and the water from the Con River it has contributed to create this special and delicious taste for the noodle there.

The fancy and beautiful noodle is combined with the wild and rustic chicken

It is known that every 5 kg of green beans in average will generate 1.2 kg powder after refining. It takes a lot of sweat from skilled workers to pour the powder into a pan of boiling water, then remove and soak in cold water. The next step is to dry them overnight, then it will generate 1 kg of noodle. Therefore the price of this noodle in shops is at least VND 170,000 per 1 kg, and still many people buy it.

So you can imagine a bowl of this noodle with a chicken thigh – the chicken that rose wildly in the garden so its thigh is very sweet and moist - served with a small dish of fish sauce and chili. Wow how yummy it is.

In addition, cones of scallop dish served with sauce made of moringa oleifera leaves that made by Chef Duy’s team has a new taste as well as very nutritious. Chef Duy also shared his secret of how to turn the withering moringa oleifera into fresh one which is similar with Neem tree: soak its leave into warm water. Then grind a dozen of its leaves considered as the savior of the poor worldwide with a little bit salt, sweetened condensed milk and green chili. You will have a sauce with blue color and it tastes a little bit of sweetness, salty, spicy and fatty.

The cones of scallop stir-fried on the big fire so that it is just cooked slightly not over cooked then deep with this sauce before eating.

However this team still has a lot of weak points. According to Mr Sang Huy Ly, the vice president of the organizing board and Mrs Suong Thi Bui- one of the judges the dessert made of taro and “lá cẩm” – a kind of magenta leave – is quite flat and not enough sugar. The table clothes is in red color so it has a bad effect on the color of the dishes.