Although sour or grilled spring rolls have different flavors, they are all very delicious, attractive and become famous specialties of Ninh Hoa.
“… Dinh River has three sources
Miss you, I crossed the mountain pass
But I don’t know the way to visit you
Visit Ninh Hoa market to buy a string of spring rolls
A bottle of bubbly
Get drunk so you don’t miss the pain…”
The poet’s verse of the year has led visitors to Ninh Hoa – the “cradle” that gave birth to the famous spring rolls and grilled spring rolls in the region.
No one remembers when and where Ninh Hoa spring rolls came from, only heard from the elderly in the village that the Thanh Hoa people “migrated” to the South after the great victory of opening the glorious realm of the great god of the house. Nguyen – Captain Hung Loc Marquis (Truong Phuc Hung).
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Grilled spring rolls – a famous specialty of Ninh Hoa (Photo: potique)
Experiencing many ups and downs of time, the way of processing spring rolls has also gradually changed to suit the taste of local people. Although sour or grilled spring rolls have different flavors, they are all very delicious, attractive and become famous specialties of Ninh Hoa. However, the familiar spring rolls that are often mentioned by domestic and foreign tourists as a culinary feature is “Nha Trang grilled spring rolls”, more than 30km from the place of “birth” origin.
1. Dat Do Pork
In order to have delicious spring rolls, full of hometown flavor, of course, the ingredients must be “standard”. The main raw material for processing spring rolls is the famous delicious pork in Dat Do region, as the old saying once mentioned this place – “clouds of Heo, pigs of Dat Do”.
Delicious spring rolls make many diners fall in love (Photo: Old Kitchen)
This is also a special feature of Ninh Hoa spring rolls because only pork in this region can make delicious spring rolls with distinct flavors, making many diners fall in love.
The meat to make spring rolls must be freshly slaughtered pork, the meat is still hot, only choose the thigh and shoulder meat. The piece of meat is washed, chopped, mixed with a little bit of pork fat to increase the smell and increase the fatness of the dish.
After seasoning with spices such as salt, pepper, sugar, monosodium glutamate, the meat is ground finely, then molded into a tube-like shape and grilled on a charcoal stove. When ripe, the meat has a beautiful golden color and gives off a sweet aroma.
Nem yellow is beautifully nursed, giving off a fragrant aroma (Photo: mia)
During the grilling process, the chef must continuously and evenly rotate the sides of the meat skewers, avoiding the situation that the spring rolls are burnt or unevenly cooked (one side is cooked, the other side is raw).
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2. Dipping sauce – The essence of Ninh Hoa grilled spring rolls
The highlight of each part of grilled spring rolls is a cup of viscous dipping sauce, mild aroma and always warm. Prepared quite sophisticatedly with its own recipe, the harmonious combination of meat, shrimp, pork liver, roasted peanuts, garlic, crushed chili … has created a smooth, beautiful golden-yellow sauce with a rich aroma. irresistible delicious taste.
The sauce is elaborately prepared with its own recipe (Photo: mia)
The secret to creating an irresistible flavor of grilled spring rolls is the “shrimp broth” that can’t be found anywhere else. “Delicious dipping sauce must be made from glutinous rice soaked overnight, pounded in combination with many spices such as sugar, salt, cashew color, minced meat, peanuts…, simmered for about 5-6 hours, stirring well by hand. to achieve the consistency and not watery if left for a long time,” shared a senior artisan in the craft of making spring rolls in Ninh Hoa.
The combination creates the perfect delicious taste of the famous grilled spring rolls, so that foodies decided to put “Ninh Hoa grilled spring rolls” at the top of the list of must-try delicious dishes when coming to Nha Trang.
3. Special way to enjoy
“Everywhere I go, I miss Khanh Hoa
Miss Nha Trang cool breeze, miss Ninh Hoa a lot of spring rolls”
Nem Ninh Hoa has entered into such ancient poetry, rustic, familiar, very simple, sincere. Nem is handmade by the hands of the local people according to the “hereditary, hereditary” career hundreds of years ago.
Smooth green chives (Photo: potique)
The way the dish is decorated and enjoyed also makes the taste of that dish more delicious. Ninh Hoa grilled spring rolls are mildly sweet, chewy and full of flavor. A portion of grilled spring rolls is quite sophisticated, including about 6-8 skewers of minced meat and the same amount of deep-fried rice paper (small rice paper rolls, put in a pan of puffed oil).
Crispy fried rice paper is a brown rice paper, with cane sugar ingredients, so the taste is a bit sweet, when fried, it has a dark color (easily stale if stored in a plastic bag). The white rice paper used to roll is moderately salty, softened by alternating layers of banana leaves or wiping lightly with a damp cloth, so the cake does not need to be soaked in water, but when rolled it is still soft, flexible and tough. This is a typical product of the rice paper craft villages of Dien Hoa and Dien Thuy (in Dien Khanh town), often used to roll spring rolls (spring rolls) or spring rolls.
Minced meat skewers and crispy rice paper served with vermicelli and raw vegetables (Photo: potique)
Served with spring rolls are vegetables. Although it is not too complicated, the vegetables eaten with grilled spring rolls often come in dozens of varieties. Depending on the season, there will be different vegetables, but always ensure enough sour, spicy, acrid, bitter taste such as: coriander, basil, fenugreek, lettuce, cucumber, perilla, acrid banana, star fruit or sour star fruit. green mango, there are places to add sour foods such as melons, onions… Among the vegetables, the most special ones are the smooth green chives.
The chives (locally called “chives”) are not as fibrous and large as the chives often sold in markets in Saigon. Chives are small, not fragrant but sweet aftertaste, only available in the Central region, easily waterlogged, so it is difficult to pack and transport far away.
Ninh Hoa grilled spring rolls are mildly sweet, chewy and full of flavor (Photo: vietnamembassy)
Holding in hand the grilled spring rolls with green vegetables, crispy fried rice paper, dipped in a cup of eye-catching yellow water, diners will feel the full flavor of the rustic gift.