"Hey everyone! Come to Thap Muoi region!"

(DTO) Formed in conjunction with the history of the development of the Dong Thap Muoi ecological zone (Dong Thap province), the local cuisine is distinctly rustic, reflecting the richness of the region's unique ecological products:

"Hey everyone! Come to the Thap Muoi region!"

"Fish and shrimp are readily caught, rice grows naturally and is readily available."

The natural environment of the Dong Thap Muoi region is incredibly rich in various products. Photo: MY LY

When visiting Dong Thap Muoi, tourists can not only enjoy dishes made from various types of fish and wild vegetables, but also savor delicious and unique dishes created by the local people using readily available ingredients, such as: cobra snake cooked with mung bean porridge, grilled snakehead fish wrapped in young lotus leaves, linh fish sour soup with water hyacinth flowers, grilled rat... These dishes are simply prepared but very nutritious, carrying the flavors of the countryside.

First and foremost is the dish "sour fish soup with wild jasmine flowers".

Snakehead fish cooked in sour soup.

The water hyacinth is just as delicious as any other dish.

Linh fish - a specialty during the flood season.

During the flood season, paddling a boat through the vast expanse of water, casting a few nets, one can catch a bountiful haul of fresh snakehead fish. While waiting, people steer their boats along the banks of the water hyacinth to pick the bright yellow flowers. With that, the ingredients for sour soup are ready; adding some herbs, sawtooth coriander, cinnamon, dill, and a few chili peppers makes for a wonderfully fragrant and delicious pot of sour soup.

On a cool afternoon, enjoying a steaming bowl of sour fish soup with water hyacinth flowers by the rice pot, accompanied by a dipping sauce… all blended together to create the wonderful flavor of the Dong Thap Muoi region that cannot be found anywhere else.

Sour fish soup with water hyacinth flowers creates a wonderful flavor.

Another specialty of the Dong Thap Muoi region worth mentioning is snake dishes. Snake is a favorite dish of gentlemen, especially at parties in the countryside. All types are delicious, but the best is "cobra snake cooked with mung bean porridge".

Tiger onion cooked with mung bean porridge

Delicious, indescribably refreshing and invigorating.

Enjoying a steaming bowl of snake and mung bean porridge, you'll experience the chewy texture of the snake skin, the sweet taste of the snake meat, the rich creaminess of the mung beans, and the spicy aroma of the fish sauce – what could be better?

The rice harvest season in the Dong Thap Muoi region coincides with the field rat harvest season. A bunch of field rats, a charcoal grill, unripe mangoes, unripe bananas, and herbs can be used to prepare grilled rat. The sweet, fragrant taste of the rat meat, combined with the aroma of the fresh herbs, the salty, spicy dipping sauce, and the sourness of the mangoes, makes it a dish you can eat again and again without getting tired of it.

One must-try specialty when visiting Dong Thap Muoi is "grilled snakehead fish wrapped in young lotus leaves".

"Catch a snakehead fish and grill it."

"Prepare a feast with white wine to entertain a friend from afar."

Grilled snakehead fish is a rustic dish that requires no preparation (meaning no scaling, no scraping off the slime, no gutting, and no seasoning). Once the fish is cooked, it's removed, the burnt scales are scraped off, revealing a golden, dry skin, and inside is fragrant white fish meat.

To fully appreciate the deliciousness of grilled snakehead fish wrapped in young lotus leaves, it must be served with vermicelli, cucumber, fresh vegetables, and a tamarind fish sauce dip. The slightly bitter and crunchy texture of the lotus leaves, the slightly astringent taste of the fish skin, the naturally sweet and fragrant flavor of the fish meat, and the tamarind fish sauce combine to create a unique and satisfying taste that you can eat again and again without getting tired of it.

This fermented fish stew is a rustic dish, rich in flavor, a hallmark of the Southern region of Vietnam.

And it would be a great oversight not to mention the braised fish with fermented fish paste dish, as it most fully represents the local specialty, embodying the rich style of the Southern region. This dish incorporates almost all the natural products of the area, from various types of fish, eels, shrimp... braised with fermented fish paste made from snakehead fish or carp, served with various natural vegetables such as bitter greens, water spinach, elephant ear leaves, water morning glory..., and especially water lilies and water chives, which are two indispensable ingredients.

If you want to eat water lily stems and fermented fish sauce stew...

Then go to Dong Thap to eat to your heart's content.

Visiting Dong Thap Muoi is like returning to the roots of history, admiring breathtakingly beautiful and indescribable natural scenery, breathing in the fresh, cool air, gazing at the vast rice paddies, endless melaleuca forests, and fragrant lotus fields. Visitors will also enjoy the flavors of rustic dishes made with readily available natural ingredients, easy to prepare, delicious, and very healthy. This is the unique culinary characteristic of Dong Thap Muoi.

HONG LE

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/-ai-oi-ve-miet-thap-muoi-a233877.html