Familiar yet strange, like hot pot with vegetables.

The seafood cuisine of Phan Thiet ( Binh Thuan province ) captivates many with its diversity, richness, and savory, fresh flavors. There's fish cake noodle soup, banh can (rice flour pancakes), banh trang mam ruoc (rice paper with shrimp paste), banh quai vac (fried dough sticks)... But have you ever tried lau tha (seafood hot pot), a dish that embodies the essence of the sea and is very familiar to the people of this region?

The main ingredients of "lau tha" (a type of hot pot) are various types of fish abundant in the Phan Thiet sea area: scad, barracuda, mackerel, etc. All are fresh fish caught from the sea, so the meat is firm, odorless, and has a rich, sweet flavor.

Mui Ne's famous floating hot pot

The fish is cleaned, filleted, and sliced ​​thinly. It's then blanched briefly in lemon juice until partially cooked, and marinated with various spices. When eating, simply drop it into the boiling hot pot for a few dozen seconds before serving. Besides fish, this dish also includes many familiar yet unusual ingredients such as pork belly, shrimp, fried eggs, mango, cucumber, star fruit, lettuce, and herbs...

Familiar because you can find them anywhere; unusual is that cucumbers, unripe mangoes, starfruit, and herbs are eaten with hot pot. Upon asking, I learned that although it's called hot pot, there are two ways to eat it. One is to put fish, eggs, shrimp, and meat into the broth and then ladle it into a bowl to eat with rice noodles, like the usual way of eating hot pot. The second way is distinctly in the style of the locals, who like to wrap and dip everything in.

Fish, meat, shrimp… after being blanched in the hot pot until just cooked, are removed and wrapped in rice paper with the aforementioned vegetables, plus a little blanched vermicelli if desired. At this point, the dipping sauce, made from pure anchovy fish sauce mixed with garlic, chili, tamarind, and roasted peanuts, is indispensable. This thick, flavorful sauce, with its rich peanut aroma, salty fish sauce, and sour and spicy chili and tamarind, not only complements the wraps, fish, and shrimp but also enhances the flavor of the hot pot broth if a little is added.

On the breezy seaside, with the salty sea breeze rustling through the coconut trees, sipping a hot bowl of broth, savoring the sweetness of the fish and vegetables, and inhaling the fragrant aroma of the dipping sauce will be an unforgettable culinary experience.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/du-lich/quen-ma-la-nhu-lau-tha-2018122721251659.htm