Thu Hà

Nghệ An Province’s eel dishes have impressed foodies for their great taste and unique characteristics.

Almost all visitors and travellers to Nghệ An Province in the central region, want to try the eel dishes, enjoying delicacies such as eel porridge, eel vermicelli soup, eel cooked with young banana and tofu, grilled eel wrapped up in wild betel (or lá lốt ) leaves, eel fried with chilli and lemongrass and deep-fried eel, said local Hồ Thị An.

Eel, a fresh seafood, has sweet flavour and high nutritional value and it comes from the country’s fields and alluvial ground. Nghệ An eel in particular is said to be the most delicious compared with eels from other locations, due to the province's harsh climate, which means eels tend to be smaller and firmer, but with a more fragrant and aromatic flavour, said An.

Nghệ An's eel soup, a must-try dish when travelers and guests visiting the central province. Photo trangtraiviet.danviet.vn

Dishes cooked from eel have become specialties reflecting Nghệ An Province’s rich cultural and culinary identity, she said.

Eel porridge is another renowned dish of Nghệ An, created with ordinary rice and fresh field eel.

For a tasty pot of eel porridge, cook new rice with a small quantity of glutinous rice and simmer it thoroughly. For a perfect porridge pot the consistency should neither be too thick or too thin. Then the fried eel meat is added, and the mixture simmered gently so that the flavours combine, creating a nice spicy dish, but chefs need to watch the pot and fry the eels skilfully so they are not broken up.

Eel soup is another gourmet favourite, with the firmness of Nghệ An’s eel combined to make an amazing and tasty dish, said An.

A well-fried pot of eel is ready to cook eel soup. Photo trangtraiviet.danviet.vn

The most delicious eel is said to be caught from fields of Yên Thành District, and the wild version is always tastier than that which is cultivated commercially.

An told Việt Nam News that as a first step, cooks need to clean the eels, being super diligent and using salt and lemon to wash the flesh and boiling them to remove the meat.

“Apart from the firm yet tender meat, broth plays an important role in making the dish become a specialty,” said An, who gave us her recipe for the broth.

Ingredients include pork, beef, fish and eel bones, so the broth has a naturally sweet composition one that cannot be compared to any other. One other thing that makes it unique, she said, is that the dish cannot be prepared without the addition of local chives (locally known as hành tăm), which are only planted in Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh provinces.

Eel porridge is said to be one of specialties of Nghệ An Province. Photo fptshop.com.vn

These tiny chives help bring out the fragrance of the eels and create a special spiciness, which means the soup attracts local and foreign visitors to the province, said An.

How to enjoy it

The tasty eel needs to be kept whole, even after cooking and being fried with chilli, those chives and coriander. The dish is often eaten and enjoyed with crispy bread, or it can be served along with thin steamed rice rolls, without a dumpling, but with dried onion, which is also a good cake to be eaten alongside the soup, said An.

Furthermore, Nghệ An’s miến lươn or eel vermicelli soup is a popular and beloved dish, because of its special and aromatic flavour from the sweet broth, eel meat, fresh coriander, chilli and pepper, said An.

Eel cooked with young banana and tofu is also a popular dish cooked by local wives. Photo fptshop.com.vn

Herbalist Hoàng Văn Chiến said that apart from being attractive and tasty great dishes, eels are very good for human health and can help alleviate rheumatism, nourish the blood and help build up the body.

Chiến added, however, that pregnant women should not eat eel meat because after being dried during the process of cooking, it would produce a poison named histamine and allergies that can be very dangerous for pregnant women.

CNN has listed the eel soup and porridge in Nghệ An Province among 'seven breakfast meals’ which are the most delicious in the world. VNS