The Central Highlands is home to a plethora of unique and mouthwatering delicacies, such as dry pho from Gia Lai, grilled chicken from Ban Don, roasted wild boar, and a special herb salad. Join us as we delve into the world of this exotic herb salad, a signature dish of the region, and discover its intriguing flavors and preparation methods.
1 What is Herb Salad?
Herb salad, a specialty of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands, boasts a unique combination of ingredients, featuring 60 different types of leaves, along with pork belly, stir-fried shrimp, and pork cracklings. This dish offers a delightful blend of sweet and sour flavors, typical of Vietnamese herb salads, and the special dipping sauce ensures that first-time tasters will be left craving more.
Herb Salad – A Unique Delicacy from Kon Tum, Central Highlands
While this herb salad can be enjoyed all year round, the number of leaves used may vary depending on the season. During the rainy season, you’ll find a wider variety of ingredients, while the dry season may offer only 30 to 40 types of leaves.
Gathering these forest leaves is no easy feat, and some of them are quite rare and challenging to find. The more common varieties include mustard greens, perilla leaves, mint, polygonum, basil, fig leaves, green onions, pennywort, and fish mint, to name a few.
The less common leaves include papaya, mango, and chum ruot, along with some indigenous to the Central Highlands, such as tram leaves, red nga nhang, mat gau, bua leaves, tu dai bi, lac tien, wild mango, xam xuong, and choi mol.
The deliciousness of this dish lies in the variety of leaves and complementary ingredients.
To create the perfect herb salad, it’s essential to have not only a diverse array of leaves but also carefully prepared complementary ingredients. Pork belly, with its ideal balance of lean meat and fat, is thinly sliced. The shrimp are stir-fried to a golden brown, and the pork cracklings are finely shredded. The star of the dish, however, is the dipping sauce, a thick, golden paste made with turmeric and various other ingredients, which plays a pivotal role alongside the 60 types of leaves.
Not only delicious, but this dish also offers health benefits.
The unique eating experience involves wrapping the ingredients in the leaves, creating a funnel shape, and then dipping it into the special sauce. The explosion of flavors, including sweet, salty, fatty, sour, and astringent notes, is sure to tantalize your taste buds.
Beyond its delectable taste, this herb salad also boasts health benefits due to the diverse range of leaves, some of which have medicinal properties, and the nutritionally rich ingredients. Indulging in this delicacy in the Central Highlands typically costs around VND 100,000 to 200,000 per serving.
2 How to Make Central Highlands Herb Salad
Preparation
15 minutesCooking
30 minutesServes
2 – 3 people
Ingredients for Central Highlands Herb Salad
Ingredients for Central Highlands Herb Salad
– A variety of leaves, including papaya, polygonum, mango, fig, and sung (about 15g each)
– 400g pork belly
– 10g galangal
– 10g shallots
– 300g fresh shrimp
– 1 duck egg
– 50g dried shrimp
– 100g minced lean pork
– 100ml water
– 15g fermented soybean paste (mẻ)
– Seasonings: sugar, chili paste, salt
– For pork belly, look for meat that is fresh and pink, with a firm texture and no unpleasant odors. Avoid meat that exudes a sticky substance when touched.
– When buying shrimp, choose ones that still have a slight curve to their bodies, with intact shells and a firm texture. The head and legs should be firmly attached; if the legs are black, it means the shrimp is not fresh.
Instructions for Central Highlands Herb Salad
Step 1 Prepare the Ingredients
– Wash the leaves thoroughly and set them aside to dry.
– Rinse the pork belly with salted water to remove any unpleasant odors, then wash it again with clean water and boil it with the fresh shrimp.
Prepare and clean the ingredients
– Finely chop 10g of shallots and 10g of galangal and set them aside. Once the pork and shrimp are cooked, peel the shrimp and remove the heads, and slice the pork belly into thin pieces.
Step 2 Make the Dipping Sauce
– Crack and beat an egg in a separate bowl.
– Heat some oil in a pan and add the chopped galangal and shallots. Sauté until fragrant.
Making the special dipping sauce
– Add 50g of dried shrimp and stir a few times. Then, add 100g of minced lean pork and continue stirring until the pork changes color.
– Add 10g of chili paste and keep stirring until the dried shrimp and minced pork absorb the flavor of the chili paste.
– Pour in 100ml of water, followed by 15g of fermented soybean paste, 20g of sugar, and 5g of salt. Finally, add the beaten egg and stir continuously for about 5 minutes to complete the dipping sauce.
Step 3 Serve
Arrange the ingredients on a large platter or tray according to your preference.
– Arrange the leaves and other ingredients on a large platter or tray according to your preference. Your delicious herb salad is now ready to be served!
Serving Suggestion
This herb salad is a unique and flavorful dish.
To eat the herb salad, wrap the pork and shrimp in the leaves, creating a funnel shape, and then dip it into the special sauce. The initial burst of flavors will include the richness of the duck egg, followed by the sweet and salty notes of the sauce, all blending harmoniously with the other ingredients to create a truly memorable culinary experience.
Above is the recipe for the Central Highlands herb salad, along with some interesting information about this unique dish. We hope that through this article, you have discovered a new and exciting dish to try and share with your loved ones.
Be sure to check out our selection of vinegars to elevate your herb salad experience!
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