Despite its unattractive appearance, many diners have to be wary, but Ca Xiu is the raw material for a series of delicious and special dishes of Ha Tien (Kien Giang).
The land of Ha Tien (Kien Giang) is famous for its diverse cuisine, imbued with Vietnamese – Chinese – Khmer culture. Among the “famous” specialties here, it is impossible not to mention the dish from Ca Xiu.
Ca Xiu is a mollusk with a green skin, soft and sweet flesh. They live in rivers, estuaries, brackish water, so they have long legs exposed to easily find food.
According to local people, Ca Xiu can be harvested all year round but blooms a lot from about June to August. This seafood usually lives buried under the mud and occurs a lot in Dong Ho lagoon, Ha town. Tien.
Ca Xiu has an unattractive appearance that many first-time visitors can’t help but be wary of. However, this type of seafood is the raw material for processing, so many delicious dishes are attached to many generations of Ha Tien people.
To make quality coffee, one must choose fresh and uniform sized ones. Because they live in the mud, the preliminary processing requires a lot of work and meticulousness.
People have to soak coffee beans in water for a few hours so that they release all the residue inside the body. Then rinse off with water. Ca Xiu is usually salted before cooking.
According to local people, the most delicious and nutritious coffee is the long leg, which has a crunchy texture that is very satisfying. They are likened to “panacea”, having the effect of enhancing male vitality, so they become a favorite of “men”.
Ca Xiu sauce is a “brand” specialty containing the blend of the land and sea of Ha Tien. Ca Xiu, after being cleaned, is used to make fish sauce. Locals often use jars, put a layer of coffee beans and sprinkle a layer of salt on it. Depending on the preferences of each person, you can salt the tomato with salt water or salt, add sugar to make it sour faster.
It sounds simple, but this is a stage that requires the operator to have experience and ingenuity. The quality of Ca Xiu sauce depends on how this salt is used. If the salt is too salty, the tomato will turn black.
Salted coffee beans are made into fish sauce for a long time, but Ha Tien people often use salted coffee beans for a short period of time for a few hours to make dishes. For example, salting in the morning and cooking it in the afternoon will keep the freshness of the ca Xiu, creating a quality dish that easily pleases diners near and far.
Ca Xiu is an ingredient that makes many dishes, but the most delicious and favorite dish is still stir-fried Ca Xiu. When processing, the shell is preserved, so this dish is said to be the most complete flavor.
After preliminarily clean, ca Xiu is fried sweet and sour with non-aromatic garlic and some spices such as fish sauce, pepper, and sugar. The stir-fried curry is best when eaten hot. To enjoy, diners need to slowly separate the shell to get the meat inside. Also because of this special way of eating, stir-fried eggplant is considered a dish capable of exercising patience.
Another dish that is also very famous in Ha Tien, often appearing on the menu is Ca Xiu salad. Salted coffee beans are briefly blanched in hot water to reduce saltiness and then mixed with shredded mango, laksa leaves and a mixture of sweet and sour fish sauce. Then sprinkle some roasted peanuts, fried onions to create more flavor for the dish.
The aromatic sweetness of ca Xiu meat with crispy, crunchy legs mixed with a sauce full of sour, spicy, salty and sweet flavors makes diners remember once and for all, dispelling all initial fears.
In addition, Ca Xiu sauce is also one of the specialties of Ha Tien with the processing method considered the “top notch” in the dishes from Ca Xiu. Although this type of fish sauce is still strange to diners from all over the world, it has been associated with the lives of the people here for generations. The taste of Ca Xiu fish sauce is commented by many people as not inferior to other famous delicious fish sauce.
Coming to Kien Giang, diners can easily find and enjoy the famous coffee dish in Ha Tien land at crowded markets or at sidewalk eateries and restaurants. Each dish from Ca Xiu costs from 30,000 – 70,000 VND. Follow Dân trí