Sour shrimp is a good dish, there are many places and many processing areas but sour shrimp in Khang Ninh – Ba Be has a very distinct taste of the mountainous region of Viet Bac.
For long time, Tay people have known the processing of sour shrimp, sour fish. Previously, when the shrimp, fish is catched too much so in addition to making food for daily meals as boiled, fried, grilled fish or shrimp, people also created special dishes that are very tasty – sour shrimp and sour fish.
The big fish and shrimp are mixed with rice ferment, roast rice powder, lesser galangal, and other special spices and then sealed and brewed, after a period of time people take it out to use as special ingredients. Prawns and fish at this time have very different flavor, sweet and sour taste. Especially, because the fish and shrimp are brewed for a long time, even the fishbone is very soft, so people can eat both bones and meat without leaving anything. Today, sour shrimp and sour fish production are developing in Ba Be Lake area.
Along the rivers and streams, local people catch shrimp and fish to process sour shrimp and fish. However, Only the river shrimp, river fish have flavorful taste, separate from other countrysides. When catching the batch of river prawns and river fish, Tay people choose the intact fish and shrimp with the same size, the fish will be cut then made as mentioned process above and brewed. After a while, when the fish and shrimp have soaked enough spices, fermented, and then put out from the jar, surely no one forgets the sweet and fragrant flavor of lesser galangal and the delicious and gentle sour of fish and shrimp. This specialty is often eaten with rice grown on the terrace fields.
Normally, people stir-fried sour shrimp, sour fish with minced meat and mixed up a little lesser galangal. However, if visitors would like to learn this dish in Vietnam cooking class you should remember that too much meat and lesser galangal will lose the unique taste of sour shrimp and fish which is only in Ba Be Lake. Sour shrimp can be eaten together with vegetables, boiled meat, wild vegetables, etc. The combination will stimulate a taste for people, make the specialty become more and more delicious. Different from the sea-sour shrimp in Hue with the sweetness of sugar, spicy hot pepper, sour shrimp in Ba Be Lake is gently sweet, sour, spicy, has a natural taste attracting many visitors on food walking tour.
At present, there is a market selling sour shrimp at Khang Ninh market every 5 days, on the way to Ba Be lake. People usually eat sour shrimp with thin boiled meat, with sour soup, green bananas, pig ear, spring rolls, vegetables, forest vegetables. In the midst of natural scenery, green and cool water of Ba Be Lake, enjoying sour shrimp, drinking a few cups of corn wine, visitors on Vietnam food tours will feel the sweet flavor of the meat, the strong smell of chili peppers, the fragrance of the lesser galangal, with the gently sweet and sour taste of shrimp. Visitors can find and buy some jars of sour shrimp to enjoy and give to families and friends as a gift of your trip.
For more information/details: Hanoi street food, Hanoi traditional food
Beside other specialties of Bac Kan highland such as hill chicken, Tay sticky rice, mushroom, ginger, rice and taro, sour shrimp, sour fish can be considered as the most characteristic specialty of Ba Be Lake area.