Culinary has long become a unique culture, containing the colors of each region’s identity. Traveling to Hoi An, tourists not only start a journey to discover nature and culture of but also start a discovery for dishes which are Hoi An specialties.
Quang noodle
Referring to the delicious food of Quang Nam in Hoi An city, if Quang noodle is not mentioned, it will certainly be a huge omission. Quang noodle is one of the delicacies of Hoi An, which is made from ordinary and simple ingredients, familiar with rustic life of local people here. Noodle strand is made from milled rice, chewy, smooth and soft with shrimp, pork meat, chicken, ribs and some other ingredients. Quang noodles are often served with grilled rice paper and especially spicy and crunchy green peppers.
This broth is made from many different types of ingredients, various vegetables such as brown mustard, basil, sweet basil, etc. Not as the noble and luxury things, it represents a typical cuisine and becomes the most popular food of Quang Nam land.
Mix the slices of all kinds of vegetables such as pepper elder, bean sprouts, lettuce, birdweed, basil, you will smell the aromatic and attractive flavor, blending with the whiteness of the soft, long strand of noodles, the sweet aroma of meat, roasted peanuts, adorned with onions or a few quail eggs. All harmoniously blend together to bring about the perfection of the dish. Some places with delicious Hoi An Quang noodles which are worth to be mentioned are Tran Phu street, Cam Ha area, Thai Phien street.
Cao Lau
Speaking of delicious dishes Hoi An many tourists on Vietnam food tours who used to travel through Hoi An think immediately about dishes with names both familiar and strange – Cao lau. This is another name for a unique type of noodle in brown-yellow color. If you have a glimpse of this dish, you may find it is similar to Quang noodles, but when you taste it, you will realize that it is completely different from noodles and also is not identic as pho. The main material that makes up the strand of cao lau Hoi An is carefully processed rice. The rice is soaked into ash water from the Melaleuca firewood on Cu Lao Cham Island. The water to be mixed with the ash must be taken from the water of Ba Le ancient well – the water is both sweet and fresh.
Also because soaking in ash water from Melaleuca firewood, the rice will have a light yellow color as mixed with turmeric. Rice is ground into flour and drained, stuffed until it becomes a smooth dough. The strand of cao lau is not stretched on boiling pot like how to create ordinary noodles but is steamed and then cut into strands. The chef will roll the dough into moderately thick pieces that are prescribed according to the recipe and then steamed then cut the dough into big fibers like noodles.
This dish has little broth like Quang noodle but is eaten with the blanched bean sprouts and the famous delicious vegetable of Tra Que village, the small yellow char siu meat with the fragrant aroma, cripsy fried pig skin, and pork greaves. In addition to the ingredients which are mentioned above, depending on the chef’s styles, there is also a special sauce, fragrant powder, raw vegetables. Visitors on vietnam food tour just need to use chopsticks to mix well all ingredients in your bowl of cao lau so that the ingredients blend together and start enjoying. Hoi An people often say that anyone who visit Hoi An on food walking tour but not once taste this delicious Hoi An dish will surely not feel all the essence of the land here.
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