Rich and flavorful, this rustic eel dish comes from the countryside.

With its unique ecosystem, Ca Mau boasts an abundance of produce, which serves as the raw material for many delicious and distinctive dishes, including those made from eels.

• Sweet potato fritters - a delicious and easy-to-make dish.
• The flavors of Ca Mau in delicious crab dishes.
• Delicious dishes made from local rice.

For people living in riverine areas, eels are a familiar sight. Ca Mau, with its intricate network of rivers and canals and numerous swamps, is considered the "kingdom" of eels.

Grilled eel marinated in salt, chili, and lemongrass is a fragrant dish with a rich, rustic flavor typical of the countryside.

For a long time, people have considered eel a nutritious food. Eel meat contains a lot of protein, iron, and vitamins A, B, etc., which help nourish the body and improve health.

Surprisingly, eel tastes delicious no matter how it's cooked, from sour soup with fermented rice, stir-fried, braised with noni leaves, to grilled with salt and chili... Just mentioning stir-fried eel or eel porridge is enough to make your stomach rumble with hunger.

The eel meat is sweet and tender, with a plump, golden-yellow belly, cooked in coconut milk, topped with roasted peanuts, coriander leaves, white onions, and the spicy kick of curry and turmeric! Just the aroma alone makes you want to try it immediately.

The braised eel with water spinach and coconut milk has a rich, sweet, and appealing flavor.

Or try eel cooked in fermented rice sauce, served with wild vegetables and banana blossoms, dipped in spicy green chili salt – it's enough to make people devour several bowls of rice.

My uncle, Mr. Thai Van Quang from Bac Lieu ward, a connoisseur of food and cooking, asserted: "Eel tastes delicious no matter how it's cooked, but the important thing is to thoroughly clean off the slime and remove all the blood vessels along its back; otherwise, the eel meat will taste fishy."

Eel cooked in sour fermented rice sauce, served with fresh water spinach, has a distinctive sweet and refreshing taste.

Actually, preparing eels also requires skill, and the way people in the South prepare eels is different from the North. While in the North, eels are usually kept in tanks for several days to remove all the slime before cooking, in the South the method is simpler; they just need to remove the slime with wood ash or clean them with vinegar.

Specifically, during the process of cleaning off the slime, the eel must be gently stretched and handled with care, like a "massage," so that the meat softens and the bones loosen, making it easier to break into pieces when picked up.

Eel is cut into pieces, boiled in a sour fermented rice sauce, and served with a rich, flavorful fish sauce dip.

On the other hand, except for stir-fried eel with lemongrass and chili which needs to be cut into chunks or small pieces, other dishes should be cooked whole to preserve the delicious flavor of the meat, especially hot pot.

Currently, eel prices are quite affordable and widely available in markets. On weekends, there's nothing better than the whole family enjoying a delicious meal together around a steaming pot of eel hotpot or other tasty eel dishes in a joyful atmosphere.

Hai Lua

Photo: HONG TAI

Source: https://baocamau.vn/beo-thom-mon-luon-dan-da-mien-que-a128639.html