At the beginning of rainy season, crucian carps appear in Thu Bon river (Quang Nam province). It’s time for locals to go fishing crucian carps using rods and nets. Crucian carp is a kind freshwater fish, it’s similar to common carp but smaller. Crucian carp is thin and 15-30 cm long. This kind of fish is rich in protein, lipid, calcium, phosphoric, iron, vitamin B1, B6, acid nicotinic so that it’s very good for health.
Because fresh crucian carp’s meat is delicious and sweet, this is a favorite of Vietnamese cook. It’s ingredient to make lots of flavorful dishes such as Braised crucian carp with turmeric, Braised crucian carp with fermented soy bean, Soup with crucian carp and Vietnamese mint. Crispy deep-fried crucian carp is also a favorite dish, it’s eaten with hot fish sauce dip. Small crucian carps are used to make a delicious unique salad. The cook put small carps with some salt into a jar for a few days to remove dirts from the fishes. Then the fishs are ready to serve with stinkvine, fig leaves, basil, dill, coriander, guava leaves, polyscias leaves and a kind of sauce made from ground crucian carps, wine, fermented soy bean. Dinners use leaves and herbs wrap whole fish, dip into the sauce and tuck in.
The most popular dish cook from crucian carp is Soup with crucian carp and Vietnamese mint. The combination of 2 main ingredients (crucian carp and Vietnamese mint) and ginger is really excellent. Just cook the fishes in water with ginger for 5-10 minutes, then add Vietnamese mint, salt, sugar, ground pepper. It’s better to dip crucian carp into a fish sauce with some chili slices before eating. The broth is also as delicious as the fish’s meat. Just be careful because crucian carp has many small bones.
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