Warming up your stomach with Vietnamese specialties “cà sóc - muối mật”

Nam Nikko’s chefs discuss how to make dishes with unique wild vegetables in “cà sóc-muối mật- rau rừng” dish and the completed dish (as pictured below) Photos: D.Thanh

Recently in the preliminary round of the 2015 Golden Spoon Contest in the South Central region and the Central Highlands, Nam Nikko restaurant chefs in Dong Hoa Nam brought the dish “cà sóc- muối mật-rau rừng” to the contest. They received praise for exploring and using new and interesting ingredients in the competition.

Mr Hanh Xuan Vo, head chef of Nam Nikko restaurant shared that this dish is used as an appetizer to stimulate the digestion process, is good for the bowels and warms up the stomach before eating main dishes.

For cooking they use the stomach of a particular cow from Phu Yen province. It is boiled slightly to partially retain its texture, and is cut into small sizes then mixed with other innards, raw salt, “lá é trắng” leaves, pounded wild green chili and a little lemon juice.

To add a unique flavor to the dish, Chef Hanh shared that he went to Song Hinh district in the highlands area to look for the leaves of a wild vegetable known as “nàng nàng,” purple basil and “lá dít” leaves. The basil and “lá dít” leaves were used for both fragrance and their bitter and sour taste respectively.

“Cà sóc-muối mật” and wild vegetable – “cà sóc” is a specific type of tomato and “muối mật” is a kind of spice that is cooked with “cà sóc”

One eats it by taking a bit of the wild vegetable with “cà sóc- muối mật,” or can use the “nàng nàng” leaves to roll “lá dít” leaves and the meat.

Biting into this with a glass of whiskey gives a unique and typical flavor from the Highlands area. It is a great precursor to the rest of your meals.
Duy Thanh
Followed Tuoi Tre Newspaper