Anyone who has ever eaten salted and dried fish with chili will never forget the unique flavor of mountain cuisine . With just a few dried fish, a little salt, spicy Siamese chili, fragrant wild pepper and a few roasted leaves grown wild in the garden, they create a dish rich in flavor. The chewy and sweet taste of dried fish, combined with the salty taste of salt, the spicy taste of chili, the fragrant taste of ginger... makes anyone who eats it once become "addicted".
Many years ago, my mother often prepared this dish for rainy days. Many breakfasts were eaten quickly with a bowl of hot rice, the salt and chili of dried fish was sprinkled evenly by my mother but was surprisingly delicious. Later, the unique cuisine of salt and chili of dried fish was often sent by my mother on the bus, adding flavor to help me make ends meet during my poor student life.
However, to make this traditional dish, the people of my hometown often have to wake up very early to go to the fast-flowing Ring River to fish. The special fish species is often preferred as the main ingredient to create this rustic and familiar dish.
After cleaning the intestines, the fish is usually clamped onto a prepared bamboo stick and grilled over hot coals. Thin smoke rises from the thatched roof, the fragrant smell of grilled fish mixed with the flavor of wild pepper and roasted leaves makes the children eagerly wait for the family meal.
The grilled fish was just golden brown, the children quickly helped to tear each piece into small, even pieces, then put them in a wooden mortar, taking turns pounding them with spices, salt and chili. The pounding sound continued to resound, each piece of fish gradually softened, became soft and supple, and smelled delicious. The children sat around the stove, holding bowls of hot white rice, their hearts warming with each piece of spicy fish.
Decades ago, during summer vacations, my father would go fishing with his net. After diving for a while, he would bring home a bag full of fish. My mother would skillfully prepare the fish into long strings, then hang them up in the kitchen to dry so they could be preserved for a long time.
There were times when there was a lot of fish, my mother worked hard to fry a large amount of fish over a low fire until golden brown, then put them in dry bamboo tubes and placed them on the kitchen shelf. She said that doing so would help preserve the fish longer, even allowing it to be used for the whole year without worrying about spoilage or rotting. For a long time after that, dried fish was always considered a familiar food source in every kitchen of the highlanders, becoming a reserve dish for rainy days.
I remember the time when I left the village to go to the city to study. Every time I was about to leave, my mother would put a can of fish in a cloth bag, as a reserve food in case I had a period of… famine. Almost every year, every time I went to the city, dried fish pounded with salt and chili was the reserve food for me on days after school when I didn’t have time to go to the market or for a late night meal on days when I was studying for exams.
In recent years, the dish of dried fish pounded with salt and chili pepper has not only been in the countryside kitchen but has followed traders to the streets, serving consumers. Many establishments producing salt and chili pepper dried fish have opened, introduced and sold at trade fairs in the province or are present at many mountain community tourism spots...
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/gian-di-muoi-ot-ca-kho-3155860.html
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