Nature has particularly bounteous in Hậu Giang, providing water loaded with minerals that is home to the most delicious thác lác fish (clown knife fish) compared with other regions in the country. The flesh is fragrant, firm and crisp-skinned.
Healthy dish: Thác lác fish cooked with bitter gourd is very good to cool down heat from inside the body and helps to improve weak patients.
Chả cá thác lác (fried thác lác fish), one of specialties of Hậu Giang, is a dish every
visitor should try when visiting the southern province.
The
dish is the pride of Hậu Giang people, according to Huỳnh Thị Phượng, 66, who
has sold the fish for several decades.
"I
sell several hundreds of chả cá thác lác
a day to locals and visitors, including foreigners,” said Phượng.
Unusual: The special fish and its meat pounded into a pork ball.
She
said that to make a good dish, she often woke up early in the morning to go to
the seashore to buy fresh fish - meaning the meat is firm, the eyes look pure
and green while the gills are light red. “Fish with red eyes, and soft meat is
not suitable for making chả,” said
Phượng.
The
fish can be made into soup with bitter gourd, steamed, braised, fried and used
in hotpots. Phượng said chả cá thác lác
was available in restaurants and at luxury parties. It was also a good gift for
relatives and friends.
Hanoian Bùi Thu Nga told us that she was happy
to join Phượng make the dish by cutting off all the lean meat and then mixing
it with dried onions, garlic, peppers, MSG, sugar and salt to clear out any
fishy smell for an hour. It is then placed in a stone grinder and regularly
pounded until the meat is thick and pink-while before shaping it into small
balls and frying them until they turn yellow.
“The
dish should be eaten with rau ngổ
(rice paddy) and mùi tàu (sawtooth)
to add taste,” said Phượng.
Apart
from chả cá, she also invited Nga to
enjoy thác lác fish hotpot with
bitter gourd. “It is a great dish that you should try,” she added.
Ingredients
include broth stewed from pork bones, vegetables and herbs, but spinach and rau đọt choại (a local herb). They are
all tossed into the broth for five minutes before eating.
The
hotpot is eaten with vermicelli or noodles. The crispy and sweet fish is dipped
into a bowl of fish sauce with chili. It’s unforgettable.
“I
really enjoy the aroma of the broth, herbs, and crispy bitter gourd. I think all
gourmets would fall for it," said Nga.
Nga
is right. My family also enjoyed the dish as she gave me a package of steamed chả cả thác lác, telling me to fry it
before eating.
She
also taught me to cook one more dish made from the fish. It is crispy fried thác lác fish mixed with chili and sả (lemongrass). The fish cut into
pieces and mixed with spices and citronella for an hour and then dry it under
the sunlight for half an hour before frying. "No one can hold his/her
appetite when it’s fragrant and aromatic flavored flying around," she
said.
The
dish is very suitable at a reception of visitors or sipping a glass of wine,
Nga said.
Foodies’ favourite: Fried chả cá thác lác is so tasty and delicious that it lures all gourmets.
Herbalist
Nguyễn Văn Tuất of the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine, said stewed thác lác fish with bitter gourd helped
cool the heat from inside the body. He said it was good for patients with blood
hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol and loss a sleep.
Because
it is sweet and has no strong elements it is also very good for blood
circulation and the kidneys. And, last but not least, it helps reduce pain from
patients with rheumatism, and laxatives.
Minced
thác lác fish is particularly good
for slow growing children, pregnant women and weak elderly people.
By VNS