(Muinetourism.vn) -  Dried fish salads is a familiar dish of local people in the coastal city of Phan Thiet (Binh Thuan province). Visitors can not only enjoy the dish but also learn how to make it with simple raw materials like dried fish, herbs, green mango, cucumber and fish sauce.

 

(Photo: Nguyen Vu)

 

Although dried fish salad is quite simple and easy to make, it’s really delicious. Dried fishes to make this dish could be sardinella, selaroides leptolepis (or yellowstripe scad), sciaenidae…. Along with dried fish, the dish consists of green mango, raw vegetables, cucumber, garlic and last but not least, fish sauce made in Phan Thiet city. To local people, dried fish salad could be a dish in their daily meal or a delicacy for their guests.

Dried fish, after being grilled on hot charcoal (or fried with oiled pan) will be shredded into pieces, mixed with Phan Thiet fish sauce, sugar, pounded garlic and capsicum. After that, the mixture should be left alone for a while so that the spices can permeate it. Next, the dish will be completed by adding vegetables, julienned green mango, cucumber, roasted peanut and fried onion.

With rich source of seafood and high sunshine level, Phan Thiet has delicious dried fishes all year round. Therefore, you can enjoy this rustic dish at any season in Phan Thiet. Dried fish salad is popular not only in locals’ meals but also in menus of most of famous seafood-stands and restaurants in streets of Phan Thiet city center and Mui Ne ward, such as Pham Van Dong, Pham Ngoc Thach, Ton Duc Thang, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, etc.

Nguyen Vu

Translated by Van Thao