Captivated by the delicious snail salad at Con Market.

(NLĐO) - Con Market snail salad has a distinctive flavor that captivates diners because it is mixed with fermented fish sauce, a specialty of Da Nang .

Visiting the food stalls at Con Market in the afternoon, many tourists find it hard to resist the distinctive flavors at the snail stalls. There you can find a variety of dishes, from steamed garden snails, rice snails, rock snails, etc., but the signature dish that can't be found elsewhere is garden snail salad.

Mê mẩn đặc sản gỏi ốc bươu chợ Cồn - Ảnh 1.

Delicious snail stalls attract many customers at Con Market - Da Nang.

Typically, snails are prepared in dishes such as steamed, stir-fried, grilled with green peppers, or used in snail noodle soup. In Da Nang, people have created a snail salad dish, and the ingredients that give this dish its unique flavor are also local specialties.

Mê mẩn đặc sản gỏi ốc bươu chợ Cồn - Ảnh 2.

The snails are gutted and briefly blanched in a pot of piping hot snail broth before being used to make the salad.

For the snail salad, only large, meaty snails are selected. After blanching briefly in boiling water, the snails are steamed with spices, including lemongrass for aroma. The vendor will prepare a variety of vegetables for the salad, such as mint, coriander, lettuce, etc. In addition, there will be shredded green papaya, thickly sliced coconut, and thinly sliced green mango. All these ingredients are kept separate and only mixed when a customer orders the dish.

The most important step in creating the distinctive flavor of this dish is probably preparing the dressing. This dressing is not fish sauce, but rather fermented fish paste, a specialty of Da Nang. It is thanks to this fermented fish paste that this snail salad has its characteristic, rich aroma and taste. In this step, garlic and chili peppers are pounded together and mixed with the dressing along with a little sugar and MSG.

Mê mẩn đặc sản gỏi ốc bươu chợ Cồn - Ảnh 3.

Fish sauce salad mix is made with fermented fish paste, a specialty of Da Nang.

When a customer orders, the vendor removes the snail meat and blanchs it briefly in a pot of hot snail broth. While waiting for the snails to heat up, the vendor arranges the prepared vegetables on a plate, including some herbs, lettuce, a few slices of green mango, and shredded papaya, before adding the snails on top. At this point, the vendor scoops a few spoonfuls of the prepared fish sauce over the snails, sprinkles some fried onions and chili powder to add spiciness to the salad.

Diners eat the salad by mixing the ingredients themselves with chopsticks, allowing the flavors to penetrate the snail meat before enjoying it. The richness of the snails, the sourness of the mango, the crispness of the papaya, the aroma of mint, the savory taste of the fish sauce, and the spicy kick of chili peppers... all captivate diners.

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The finished snail salad dish looks appealing and tastes incredibly flavorful.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, the owner of a snail stall at Con Market, the preparation process for this dish is very simple, but the flavor is very distinctive. Not only Da Nang residents but also visitors from all over Vietnam, from the North and South, are drawn to snail salad.

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