Hanoi Grilled Fish (Chả Cá)
20/08/2018What is Hanoi Grilled Fish ? It is so delicious and attractive dish. It is a unique specialty of Hanoi people, therefore one Hanoi street was name Cha Ca street.
Cha Ca is made from mudfish, snaked headed fish, but the best one is made from Hemibagrus (Cá Lăng). Fish bone is removed to keep the meat only, seasoned, covered by banana leaves and grilled by coal heat. An oven is needed when serving to keep Cha Ca always hot. The Cha Ca is served with Bun (vermicelli), rau hung lang (basil), roasted peeled peanut, hanh la (fresh green onion), thi la (dill) and mam tom (a meticulous mixed shrimp paste). The cook prepares mam tom by combining sugar, shrimp paste (mam tom), distilled wine, hot oil, chili and mixing them well. While constantly stirring, they will squeeze in the juice of half a lemon until it foams. Fish is the main material, often be processed from Ca Lang (Hemibagrus) and Ca Qua (Channidae fish).
The Hanoian has a saying that someone has to try this dish once in life before leaving this world. So The Chả Cá is famous to foreign tourists that everyone arriving Hanoi will try to taste it at least one time.
