Mangrove apple tree is a kind of the trees growing on the grounds of a river. The highest tree is about 20m and the diameter is about 50cm. The small branches of them are long and soft. Mangrove apple fruits are round and flat and taste sour.
Today my aunt, uncle, cousin and me go to pick mangrove apple fruits and cook sour soup with them. Our boat goes along the Ham Luong River. Two sides of the river are two rows of water coconut. We arrive in Ban Islet soon. In front of my eyes is a mangrove apple forest. There are white-stork flocks in ban trees. When we come nearby, they suddenly fly up. We stop at a mangrove apple tree having a lot of fruits. I see big ban fruits with a diameter of about 6 cm. There are even small fruits and flowers.
I pick a big fruit and cut the petal underneath it. Then I dip it into shrimp paste that I have brought with me. The fruit tastes sour and acrid. The shrimp paste tastes sweet and salty. Thanks to shrimp paste, the fruit is less sour. I pick some more fruits to cook the sour soup of basa fish. We go boating to Crocodile Rivulet Mouth. My grandfather told that there were many crocodiles here 100 years ago. We cook the dish just on the boat.
First, I wash ban fruits well. Then I pour water into a pot and heat it. Next, I put the fruits into the pot. After that, I prepare basa fish, some vegetables like pineapple and bean sprouts. Next, I take the fruits from the pot. After that, I put the fish and the vegetables into the pot. Next, I take the outside part of the ban fruits and take milk part of them. Finally, I pour ban milk into the pot. Waiting some minutes, we have a sour soup of basa fish cooked with ban fruit then.
We lay the food including a large bowl of sour soup and a plate of clear fish sauce on the hood of the boat. We start enjoying the dish. The water of the sour soup is the same as milk and tastes sour and sweet. The basa fish meat tastes fat and fragrant.
Do you think Catching Shrimps With Cast Net is interesting? If you do not have a local friend, let join a Mekong Delta Tour to explore this wonderful region.
Eating Saigon is a great thing to do on your trip. How to eat the city to its fullest? It is easy to eat at fine dining restaurants which are for rich people and tourists. However, the real Saigon is at local restaurants which are favorite places of many Saigon people. Reaching the local restaurants outside of District 1 sometimes is difficult for foreigners. A Saigon Food Tour is a great choice to immerse into the city life, enjoy all the exotic foods with your tour guides as friends.
