Attractive Quan Son carp salad

Near Huong Son commune, there is Quan Son lake area (formerly My Duc district), famous for its carp salad. The difference of the fish salad here has created a very unique culinary style, becoming a stop for tourists to enjoy delicious food on their journey to visit the famous Huong Son (Huong pagoda).

Quan Son carp salad is different from many other common fish salads. The carp used for processing is naturally raised in Quan Son lake. According to the locals, the carp here eat moss and freshwater algae, so the meat is fragrant, sweet, and not fishy. People often choose fish weighing 2 - 3kg, with firm meat and few small bones to make salad. After cleaning, the fish is filtered to get the meat, sliced ​​thinly, soaked in lemon juice or vinegar to remove the smell and create crispiness, then marinated with roasted rice bran, galangal, lemongrass, garlic, and crushed chili. The characteristic of Quan Son carp salad is that the entire fish's intestines and ovaries are removed, cleaned, pureed with pork belly, seasoned, and then steamed into a "boi" dish.

Enjoying Quan Son carp salad is also quite elaborate. To eat it with the right taste, it requires more than 10 types of forest leaves and garden leaves picked early in the morning such as Indian laurel, chrysanthemum, lemon leaves, fig, ginseng, and perilla leaves... When enjoying, diners will stack each leaf on top of each other like layers of clothing. The fig leaves wrap the outside, followed by the small leaves inside, then roll it into a small funnel shape. Whether the roll is big or small to fit the mouth depends on the dexterity of the eater. When the leaf funnel is complete, diners pick up a piece of fish mixed with rice bran, add a slice of ginger, garlic cloves, chili, a piece of green mango, scoop up a spoonful of "boi", sprinkle some roasted peanuts and put it in the leaf funnel. Diners will put the whole leaf funnel wrapped with fish, boi, and fragrant roasted peanuts into their mouths to enjoy.

The astringent taste of fig leaves, Indian laurel leaves, the slight bitterness of perilla leaves, the aroma of lemon leaves mixed with the cool sweetness of fresh fish meat, the spicy taste of chili, galangal, mixed with the richness of "boi" and roasted peanuts, all create an explosion of taste. The perfect combination of spices, plus a little country wine makes Quan Son carp salad a "dish to forget the way home", the eater will remember it forever.

Today, along with the charming natural landscape, Quan Son carp salad has become a culinary "brand" of Hanoi, a clear highlight in the journey to explore the southwest suburbs of the capital.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/hap-dan-goi-ca-me-quan-son-715278.html