Oc Luoc Xa (Vietnamese Boiled Shellfish with lemongrass) is a simple dish that requires only a few ingredients and a hint of mixed spices to boost the freshness of the shellfish. It is one of the popular food that tourists can easily find out in any street food around residential areas. All over the country, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese enjoy Oc Luoc Xa in all seasons of the year because of its wonderful combination of fresh juicy shellfish and homemade fish sauce. Thus, this is something of Hanoi street food that every traveler and expand should experience.
How to make a plate of Oc Luoc Xa?
Oc Luoc Xa is a simple dish that trainees of Hanoi cooking class can easily learn how to cook, however, it also requires a little bit effort to do it tastily. So, if you are seafood or fans, you will love this below copycat recipe. The dish is a harmonious blend of the shellfish, lemongrass, some spices and fish sauce for making the dipping sauce. Hanoi local food tour also recommends using any other shellfish such as escargots scallop or mussels for better tasting.
Firstly, for the preparation work, the cooks bruise and chop lemongrass into few sections and then thinly slice ginger and red chili. Before cooking, the shellfish are washed carefully and soaked in saltwater for 2-3 times to wash all the dirty. Especially, don’t forget to remove any floating shellfish while washing then rinse dry. Secondly, the cooks heat up a pot with water and bring the shellfish to boil after adding the lemongrass. Then cook for 5 minutes and the dish is finished.
However, this dish will be irresistible with the presence of homemade fish sauce. The dipping sauce will enhance the freshness of the dish. To make a liquid, the cooks mix water with a little sugar to soften the saltiness of fish sauce, a half of lemon to create the sour flavor and finally add some minced ginger and red chili to generate the slightly spicy taste. Before enjoying Oc Luoc Xa, the dinners dip it into a dipping sauce.
More values than just a simple Vietnamese street food
Oc Luoc Xa not only stands for one of the typical rustic food of Vietnamese culinary but represents the philosophical value of the ancient Vietnamese people, as well. The Vietnamese people respect balance rules, therefore, their cuisine always has five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water, which are known for its balance in each of these features. As you can see, many Vietnamese dishes include five fundamental taste senses (ngũ vị): spicy (metal), sour (wood), bitter (fire), salty (water) and sweet (earth) which signifies in the dipping sauce accompanied by the boiled shellfish.
In addition, the principle concept of yin and yang is also applied in composing a meal. For example, seafood or shellfish is considered “cool”, thus it is suitable to use with ginger (“warm”). Therefore, the dish may provide a balance that is beneficial for the human body.
Thanks to the nutritious and cultural value of this dish, amount number of people descend on snail eateries to eat, drink some cups of beer and gossip with their friends each every day of the week. Shellfish eating now is considered as a national pastime and a part of Vietnamese dining culture. Join Hanoi food tours now to have a chance to experience Oc Luoc Xa and Vietnamese dining culture with our enthusiastic and friendly tour guides.
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