The sun and wind of the white sand region of Quang Tri province do not make the culinary culture here lose its sophistication. Quang Tri's delicious dishes are rustic and simple but have unforgettable rich flavors, attracting tourists with simplicity and rusticity. Quang Tri people, no matter where they are or where they go, always feel nostalgic and graceful when mentioning the flavors of their homeland's cuisine. The dishes here are closely associated with the culture of each village and land name, which has created a unique culinary culture that cannot be found anywhere else. To understand more about the people and culture of this land, do not forget to explore Quang Tri cuisine.
Bed-Shape Fish Porridge
Unlike other provinces, Quang Tri fish porridge is cooked with rice flour, wheat flour or tapioca flour with snakehead fish. The snakehead fish must be large, firm, shiny black, fresh, and still alive. Local people call it fish porridge, while visitors from far away often refer to it as bed-shape porridge. This is a dish often served by locals to guests.
Fish Porridge - Photo Phan Hoai An
Porridge is made from delicious snakehead fish meat and rice flour noodles. A pinch of rice flour noodles, a little fragrant snakehead fish, green onions, fresh chili are main materials to make the porridge. The hot, spicy taste of chili pepper makes the dish more unforgettable than ever. Rice flour noodles are attractive because of the characteristic flavor of rice flour or tapioca flour and snakehead fish. The cook must choose delicious rice, soak it overnight to bloom and then grind it into flour.
When enjoying fish porridge, visitors will feel the sweetness, the rich, salty taste of the fish that has absorbed the spices, the delicious and the spicy taste of pepper and chili. This is a specialty dish of Hai Lang district, Quang Tri province.
Bau Trang Jumping Baby - Shrimp
Bau Trang Jumping Baby - Shrimp originates from Bau Trang - a small pond located in the large Bau Thuy U area, in Vinh Tu commune, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province. This is a dish that the Vietnam Record Organization (VietKings) has just announced in the top 100 specialty dishes and top 100 outstanding specialty gifts of 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam for the 5th time, 2021-2022.
Ingredients for this famous dish include: herbs, green mango, green pepper, chili, garlic. And most importantly, a lot of lemon. Because lemon has the effect of cooking the shrimp, at the same time creating a sour and spicy taste for the salad to be more attractive.
To make this Jumping Baby-Shrimp dish, the shrimp caught from Bau Trang must be fresh and alive. After being taken out of the basin and soaked in salt water for about 10 minutes, the shrimp will be put in with ingredients such as herbs, parsley, green mango, green pepper, chili, garlic that have been chopped. Diners will squeeze a lot of lemon juice into the basin containing the shrimp, quickly cover the lid to prevent the shrimp from jumping out, shake it well so that the shrimp absorbs all the spices and enjoy. It is very simple and quick to have a famous shrimp salad that anyone who comes to Bau Trang wants to enjoy once.
Bau Trang Jumping Baby-Shrimp - Photo Phan Hoai An
Phuong Lang Rice Cake
Phuong Lang village is located in Hai Ba commune (Hai Lang district, Quang Tri). Phuong Lang Rice Cake has long been a specialty associated with the village's location. Whenever the name Phuong Lang is mentioned, people immediately think of the famous delicious rice cake.
Like rice cakes in other regions of the country, the main ingredient for making rice cakes in Phuong Lang is rice. After being washed, the rice is soaked in water overnight. Early the next morning, people will proceed to grind the rice into a watery dough, then spread it over boiling steam. The way to spread the cake is very simple: use a piece of cloth of moderate thickness, spread a layer of dough on it, then place it on the steamer, cover the pot of boiling water. After a while, take the cake out. The cake must be spread not too thick but not too thin. After spreading, the cakes will be stacked on top of each other. Let the cakes cool before using or can be used immediately. When using the cake, the seller will separate each cake, roll it up and put it on a plate.
Rice cake – Photo: Phan Hoai An
Served with rice paper are raw vegetables, strong fish sauce, pepper, chili and of course, boiled or grilled pork.
Buffalo meat with Troong leaves
The dish is named after two main ingredients that make it special: buffalo meat and Troong leaves. Buffalo meat is nutritious and can cure many diseases such as back pain, swollen legs, rheumatism, etc. Some people even say it is better than beef. The buffalo meat used to make this dish must be young buffalo meat so that during the processing, the buffalo meat remains soft, not broken and the meat still retains its sweetness. Trong leaves have a spicy taste, a characteristic aroma when eaten with buffalo meat. Therefore, everywhere has its own way of preparing buffalo meat, but nowhere has the same taste as in Quang Tri.
Buffalo meat with Troong leaves – Photo: Phan Hoai An
The combination of young buffalo meat and wild leaves growing all over Quang Tri brings a very special spicy taste. There are 2 main dishes that are most popular: grilled buffalo meat and stir-fried buffalo meat with wild leaves. People who like the sweet, soft, fragrant taste of buffalo meat with its original flavor should order grilled meat with mustard greens, green pepper, chili and soy sauce mixed with chili. People who want more flavor should order stir-fried meat. Every dish is extremely delicious. Especially buffalo meat with wild leaves is great to eat on cold rainy days.
Mai Xa Mussel Vermicelli
Mai Xa Mussel Vermicelli is a specialty from Mai Xa Village, Gio Linh District, Quang Tri Province. This dish is in the Top 100 culinary dishes and typical specialties of Vietnam (2020 - 2021).
Mai Xa Mussel Vermicelli is named after its birthplace - Mai Xa Village. This is a dish with a very unique flavor, imbued with the folk culture of Mai Xa Village. Called mussel vermicelli, this dish is mainly made from the "baby mussel”, which looks like mussels but is darker in color.
Mai Xa Mussel Vermicelli - Photo Phan Hoai An
The dish of vermicelli with shallots and garlic is served with fish sauce, ginger. The bowl of vermicelli is served with the refreshing taste of the broth, the sweet aroma of the meat mixed with the smell of fried shallots, coriander and the spicy taste of chili.
When eating, add a bowl of fresh chili salt and ginger, so that it is really spicy and yummy, this is truly a Quang Tri dish that cannot be found anywhere else.
My Chanh cassava cake
Cassava cake is a rustic dish, the ingredients are easy to find, so if compared to delicacies, this dish is not special. However, the most famous in Quang Tri is My Chanh Cassava cake, because when mentioning My Chanh Cassava cake, it has a unique flavor - one of the delicious dishes of Quang Tri with the flavor of home, as a reminder for those who are far away from home to always remember their homeland. Cake made from grated cassava with fillings that can include pork, chicken, shrimp, green beans, mushrooms, etc. and wrapped in fresh banana leaves.
My Chanh Cassava cake - Photo Phan Hoai An
When steamed, the cake is shiny with fat and has a fragrant smell of banana leaves. The cake crust is not sour or strong but very light. Looking at each small, transparent cake, revealing the red-pink shrimp inside, it is indescribably attractive. The Cassava cake has a bright orange color of shrimp, filled with an ivory-white shell, soft, chewy, and more delicious when served with chili fish sauce. The cake is carefully wrapped, small enough to eat. According to the villagers, "The cake is small so that when served on the tray, the diners always feel like there is not much, they will eat it all, so they will not get bored at first sight. That is, the dish does not overwhelm or overpower people". This is also a typical specialty that Quang Tri people use to give to friends as gifts.
Gio An Watercress
Rau xa watercress is a specialty of Gio An land, Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province. This vegetable grows close to the rocks, growing entirely on the cool underground water flowing from the ground of a thousand-year-old well. Farmers do not use any fertilizers or pesticides so the vegetables are very fresh and clean.
Gio An watercress - Photo Phan Hoai An
Watercress can be prepared in many different ways: cooked in soup with fresh shrimp, boiled and dipped in shrimp paste, used as raw vegetables or stir-fried with beef. But perhaps the most delicious is stir-fried with beef. Watercress is a rustic specialty of Quang Tri, imbued with the Gio An countryside. Although rustic and simple, if you enjoy it once, you will remember it forever because of its rich and delicate flavor.
Spring rolls in Sai market
Spring rolls in Sai market is a specialty of the hometown of the late General Secretary Le Duan, one of the most outstanding and closest students of President Ho Chi Minh, in Trieu Thanh commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province. According to the locals, Spring rolls in Sai market is the "standard" food taste, a specialty of Quang Tri. This is a familiar dish to locals, on holidays and Tet, it usually sells out very early, about 1 to 2 weeks before Tet.
Spring rolls in Sai market - Photo Phan Hoai An
Spring rolls makes diners "easily addicted", even though they are made from lean pork, little pork skin, and spices are tightly wrapped in banana leaves to ferment naturally. The interesting thing that makes this dish special is the dipping sauce. The dipping sauce for spring rolls is prepared very specially: Peanuts, pork are ground finely, add a little fish sauce to thicken, add enough spices to make a thick, delicious dipping sauce. When eating, people in the Central region often roll with raw vegetables, green bananas, cucumbers, thinly sliced mango, and roll it with rice paper. All blend together to create a harmonious and extremely delicate flavor.
Besides the above dishes, if you visit this land, you should also try the dishes that have made Quang Tri famous such as: hearts soup with lemongrass, jackfruit noodles, jelly cake, etc. To have a truly memorable trip in the beloved land of Quang Tri. Don't forget to enjoy the rich and unique cuisine here!
IPA
