Papaya road

My new acquaintance told me that when you go to An Giang, you have to try the local cuisine. For example, if you want to drink palm juice, go to the Lady Temple; if you want fermented fish noodle soup, go to Chau Doc market. But for papaya salad, you absolutely have to go to Phnom Pi.

Phnom Pi village is located in Chau Lang commune, An Giang province. There's a stretch of road, probably only a few hundred meters long, that has dozens of stalls selling pounded papaya salad. Tourists call it the "Papaya Salad Road." "They're all named something like 'Na Na'," my friend said. Names like Ly Ly, Ri Na, Li Na, and then Khay Na, Ra Thy… these names with strong Khmer accents compete for attention in Phnom Pi; every stall is crowded, and the owners are constantly pounding the papaya. In the afternoon, the road becomes unexpectedly busy as people stop by the stalls to buy the salad.

Tri Ton's pounded papaya salad originates from the Cambodian dish Bok l'hong, but upon arriving in Vietnam, it underwent many improvements. At first glance, Tri Ton's pounded papaya salad resembles Thai som tum or Lao Tam Mak Hung. It also consists of shredded papaya mixed with spices in a mortar, then pounded with a pestle to ensure the spices are evenly distributed.

However, observing how the restaurants in Phnom Penh prepare it, one realizes that even a simple dish has many "secrets." For example, Tri Ton papaya salad requires choosing papayas that are just turning yellow and ripe, not green papayas like in Son Tum. When pounding (or grinding), they use moderate force, not pounding vigorously to release the flavor quickly as in Son Tum. Especially noteworthy is the dipping sauce for the papaya salad, which is the "mam bo hoc" fish sauce from the Bay Nui people; the cook adjusts the amount to reduce the strong smell, making it suitable for Vietnamese tastes.

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The papaya salad from the Bay Nui region also includes shredded water spinach, tomatoes, long beans, and aromatic herbs like basil and sawtooth coriander. All these ingredients blend together to create a Khmer dish with a distinctly local flavor. Some vendors here have been selling this for as long as twenty years. Over time, this dish, though initially considered a snack, has become a staple for visitors. Therefore, grilled beef and scrambled duck eggs are now the side dishes to accompany the papaya salad, not the other way around. And the grilled Bay Nui beef skewers are also a worthy and unforgettable street food.

A plate of salad for 20,000 dong, a few skewers of grilled meat for 5,000 dong each, and a giant glass of sugarcane juice – that's a satisfying meal at the foot of Nam Quy mountain.

There must be a reason why this papaya salad alone has brought such a lively atmosphere to an entire village, despite its remote location.

According to Nhandan.vn

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Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/con-duong-du-du-dam-a490369.html