Whenever there is a flood, people living along the Cai River in Khanh Hoa catch countless rice crickets and bring them home to roast, making the whole village fragrant.

Every year, on rainy days, when floodwaters flood the fields and beaches, I remember going to catch crickets.

There are many types of crickets, but when it comes to cooking, the number one type is the rice cricket. This type of cricket has a body as big as an adult's finger, is about 3.5cm long, and has brown wings.

Located on the banks of Cai River ( Khanh Hoa ), my hometown's land is mostly sandy, highly porous, very good for growing mulberry, corn and vegetables, and this is also a favorable environment for crickets to dig holes to live.

Usually, rice crickets live alone in each burrow, but sometimes they live in pairs. They only eat leaves and grass and live in dry burrows, so rice crickets are very clean and reproduce very quickly during the warm, sunny months.

In winter, when it rains heavily and floods the fields and gardens, because they cannot stand the water, the crickets in the caves begin to crawl out, swarming on the branches and twigs in the bushes and banks, and so children and adults go out together to catch them.

Along with casting traps, casting nets, and spreading nets to catch freshwater fish, catching crickets is a hobby of villagers.

As for us kids, all of us loved it. Even though we had to wade through the water and reach every bush, when we caught the crickets with full yellow bellies and put them in a basket or a plastic bottle, our faces showed joy.

Stir-fried crickets. When floodwaters flooded the fields and banks of Cai River (Khanh Hoa), I remembered the story of catching crickets.

I remember many times, after catching all the crickets in the bushes around the garden and shallow flooded areas, we also got together to cut down old banana trees and make rafts, rowing through deep water to find them.

Grilled crickets give a very unique aroma, but the best dish is probably stir-fried crickets. My mother used to be very good at preparing this dish.

When we caught the crickets, my mother carefully cut off the spines at the end of the legs, kept the thighs, then cut off the wings, gently broke off the tail, removed the intestines, washed them with salt water and let them drain. She marinated the crickets with spices and mixed them well.

To make the stir-fried crickets more attractive, golden and crispy, before putting the crickets in the pan, my mother often puts in a little salt and chili to stir-fry first, then puts the crickets in to stir-fry until they are cooked, and finally adds chopped perilla leaves and white basil leaves.

Stir-fried this way, when eaten, we will feel the unforgettable flavor of crickets mixed with the spicy, fatty, salty, sweet flavors along with the smell of herbs.

Stir-fried crickets are not only nutritious but also a rustic dish, very typical during flood season, perhaps not only in my hometown but also in many other riverside areas of the Central region.

In the rainy weather, in the flooded fields, in the cold, the whole family gathering around a hot meal with a plate of stir-fried crickets is wonderful.

That is one of the countless rustic but unforgettable images that children living far away remember about their hometown every time the flood season comes...

Source: https://danviet.vn/he-troi-lut-la-dan-ven-song-cai-o-khanh-hoa-di-bat-de-com-vo-so-dem-ve-nuong-thom-khap-lang-20240718005258005.htm