Food & Receipts

Simple and Delicious Recipe for Boiled Snails – A Must-Try Method

By boiling the snails, you can instantly create a popular snack to warm up those chilly winter afternoons.

21 December, 2023

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Boiled snails are a popular snack, especially on cool or chilly days. Although boiling snails is not difficult, not everyone knows how to make it delicious and flavorful. Let’s learn how to boil snails with this simple, easy-to-make, and easy-to-eat recipe from Phụ Nữ Today.

1. Ingredients for boiled snails:

– Snails

– Chili, garlic, ginger, lemongrass

– Lime leaves

– Seasonings: Fish sauce, vinegar, sugar

2. Steps to make boiled snails:

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

– After buying, clean the snails and let them drain.

– Peel off the tough and old outer layers of the lemongrass, then crush and slice it into small pieces.

– Peel the garlic, peel the ginger, rinse, and dice them. Rinse the lime leaves and chili separately.

Step 2: Boil the snails

– After buying, clean the snails and put them in a pot. Then, add some lime leaves, chopped lemongrass, and a little water.

– Cover the pot and cook the snails over medium heat. Wait until the snails boil, then uncover the pot and turn them over.

– Normally, the snails will be cooked after boiling for about 2 to 3 minutes. You can turn off the heat when you see the outer shells of the snails peel off.

Step 3: Prepare the snail dipping sauce

– Take a small mortar, add 3 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of sliced lemongrass, 1 piece of ginger, and 2 chili peppers, then crush them.

– Next, add 2 tablespoons of quality fish sauce, 2.5 tablespoons of sugar, and stir well before adding 3 tablespoons of cold water and 1.5 tablespoons of vinegar.

– Mix the crushed garlic, chili peppers, lemongrass, and ginger into the dipping sauce bowl, stir well. Add some thinly sliced lime leaves.

3. Notes when making boiled snails:

Choosing snails:

In order to have delicious boiled snails, you need to choose fresh snails with lots of meat. When choosing, you can gently touch the snails. If they retract, it means the snails are alive. Avoid buying snails that have deeply retracting shells and have an unpleasant smell as they may be dead.

According to folklore, don’t buy snails on the first and the last days of the lunar month because it is the time when snails reproduce, so there will be many small snails and less meat.

Cleaning the snails:

Since snails live in muddy places, you need to clean them before boiling.

Soak the snails in a mixture of water with lime and vinegar

You can soak the snails in a basin of water mixed with vinegar and lime for about 1 to 2 hours because the sour taste of these ingredients will make the snails open their mouths and release the dirt.

Soak the snails in water with chili peppers

When soaking the snails, you can also cut some slices of chili peppers and leave them for about 1-2 hours. This is because the spicy flavor of the chili will make the snails release all the dirt in their mouths.

Soak the snails in rice washing water

One of the familiar ways to clean snails is to soak them in rice washing water for a few hours. Then, the snails’ mouths will automatically release the mud, dirt, and become clean when cooked.

Boiling the snails:

– Although the snails will release water when boiling, you still need to add a little filtered water to the pot to avoid burning.

– To eliminate the distinctive fishy smell and make the boiled snails more fragrant, you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of fermented rice to the pot.

– Do not boil the snails for too long as it can cause the shells to retract or break. This will not only make it difficult to get the meat out but also make the snails tough, shrink, and lose their crispiness.