Every time my maternal grandparents' family prepares fish, the atmosphere in the countryside becomes lively. Relatives come to help out, and sisters gather around to process the fish. Each time, my grandmother and mother also take the time to sort the fish. My mother selects the larger fish to sell at the market, such as catfish, sea bass, and barramundi, while the rest are dried or made into fish sauce.

When it comes to making fish sauce at home, my maternal grandfather is the main chef, from the initial preparation to salting and mixing with roasted rice flour... He's very skillful, the fish are layered neatly on top of each other. While working, my grandfather says, "Seeing that you all like to eat it, whenever it's ready, I'll scoop it into small jars, take it with me, and put it in the refrigerator to eat gradually."

After being fermented and placed in jars, the fish sauce is left to ferment for over four months until it's ready. When my grandmother opens the jars, the aroma is intoxicating, and each fish looks so appetizing. My grandmother's fermented tilapia fish sauce has just the right amount of sourness, and everyone who visits praises its wonderfully fragrant aroma.

My grandmother recounted, "In the old days, this place had so many fish, countless freshwater fish. Every time we drained the ponds, we'd catch so many fish—tilapia, snakehead, catfish… we couldn't eat them all, so I made fish sauce for the neighbors. The liquid from the fish sauce was delicious whether used to braise fish or as a dipping sauce for boiled vegetables."

Whenever I came home, my mother would go to the market to buy rice noodles and other ingredients, then go to my grandparents' house to get some fish sauce to cook rice noodle soup for the whole family to enjoy. My father would be in charge of casting the nets, catching small fish about the size of a hand; my two younger siblings would go to the garden to pick banana blossoms, and add water spinach and herbs that my mother grew. And so we had an authentic country-style rice noodle soup, simple yet delicious beyond compare.

The aroma of the broth wafts through the air, along with the rich, fatty tilapia meat – simply irresistible. The tilapia fillets, dipped in a flavorful fish sauce with a touch of chili, blend perfectly with the broth and a variety of garden vegetables – a taste you'll never forget.

My grandmother used to prepare several jars of fish sauce and send them to Ca Mau for me to eat gradually. I rarely cooked noodle soup; instead, I made steamed fish sauce to eat with rice for convenience. The method is simple: mince the raw fish sauce with pork, mix in eggs, add traditional seasonings, and then steam it. Each time I make about 3 bowls; if I don't finish it, I store the rest in the refrigerator. Whenever I made steamed fish sauce, the whole boarding house would be buzzing with excitement because of its enticing aroma. Steamed fish sauce is eaten with rice, accompanied by fresh vegetables, cucumber, pineapple, tomatoes, ginger, unripe bananas, etc.

This steamed fish paste dish has a rich, authentic taste of home.

I suddenly remembered my grandmother's jars of raw fish sauce from the old days. When I was little, if there was nothing to eat at lunchtime, I would go to the back kitchen and rummage through leftover rice, eating it with raw fish sauce. The taste was indescribable. For me, the rustic flavor of fish sauce is even better than the fancy dishes in luxurious restaurants…

Nhat Minh

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