The land of Tan Chau (in An Giang province) is known by many people for strawberry cultivation, silkworm farming, silk weaving with famous craft villages such as Lanh My A silk weaving village; weaving mats; Brocade weaving of Cham Chau Phong ethnic people,...
Therefore, when mentioning Xinzhou, people immediately think of the silk country, where the silk fabrics of My A once resounded have made a typical brand for this land.
In addition to being known as the "land of silk", Tan Chau is also an attractive destination for tourists because of its beautiful landscape, rich cuisine and affordable prices. Just a day walking around here, visitors can also enjoy a variety of delicious dishes that can hardly be found in any other province.
An Giang fish noodles
Fish noodles are familiar dishes of Vietnamese people, adapted with all flavors and sold all year round. But unlike Hai Phong spicy fish noodles, Thai Binh copper perch noodles,... Fish noodles in Tan Chau attract tourists because the typical ingredients are copper snakehead (snakehead, also known as fruit fish, banana fish) and broth (broth) with saffron-yellow color, not greasy.
Tan Chau fish noodles are served with familiar indigenous vegetables such as grated banana corn, spinach, bean sprouts, crazy cotton, pinched vegetables; Dip with sweet and sour tamarind fish sauce, add spicy and spicy chili peppers.
An Giang banana cake
An Giang banana cake is a familiar snack of the people of silk country, even famous throughout 3 regions and sold in many provinces and cities across the country. In Xinzhou, it is not difficult for visitors to find sidewalk shops or street carts selling this cake.
Bananas are placed on fresh banana leaves and then pressed with a moderately thin cutting board, then red drop the piece of banana pressed into a ready-made flour. The dough of fried banana cake is the same as that of steamed banana cake but with a little flour added.
Banana cake after frying has a crispy crust, priced at only 5,000 VND / unit, enough to fill everyone's stomach for dinner.
Delicious noodle soup
Noodle soup is also a delicacy in Xinzhou, which can be eaten at any time of the day. Bui Nhut Thanh (freelance photographer, 29 years old, originally from Tan Chau) suggests visitors to taste this dish at Uncle Hoang noodle shop, located near Long Hung junction, next to T.X Tan Chau Electricity and Water Enterprise (Tran Phu, Long Chau Ward).
The shop is open every day from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Each bowl of noodles and noodles costs an average of 20,000 – 30,000 VND. Diners who come here to eat noodle soup are not only impressed with the rich, sweet broth from simmered pork bones but also satisfied by the enthusiastic and delicate service of the owner and his wife.
Chives and cakes
In Tan Chau, chives and cakes are two popular street foods, often sold together, each priced from 15,000 to 20,000 VND.
Chives cake is the name of a type of cake of the Teochew people, modified by the Xinzhou people in their own way to create a different flavor. Accordingly, local people make cakes from rice flour in Xinzhou region and mix with chives leaves, creating flat, square cakes. The cake is fried, served with sweet and sour fish sauce.
Rice cakes often appear in sweet tea dishes in the South and the North, but Tan Chau cakes are processed into savory dishes, stir-fried with oyster sauce, soy sauce, sprouts, chives and topped with eggs. According to locals, the stir-fried cake originated in Cambodia.
The cake fibers will be lightly stir-fried with oil, coconut color water to create a firmness, tightness and eye-catching color before adding other ingredients. In particular, the stir-fried cake will be more rich when served with sweet and sour fish sauce.
Lia dish
Lia is a typical seafood found abundantly in the silk country of Xinzhou with an identical appearance to mussels. However, the lily has a thinner shell than mussels and is about the size of an adult's fingertips. Their shell is usually oval.
Lia can be processed into many delicious dishes such as stir-fried lily with garlic, stir-fried lily with lemongrass peppers, stir-fried lily with spicy tamarind,... But the most popular is boiled lily, because it retains its fragrant sweetness.
The dipping sauce served with the dish is also important, usually sweet and sour tamarind fish sauce mixed with a little chili or satay, depending on the level of spiciness of each person. When eating, many diners prefer to hold the peel directly into the dipping sauce instead of using a spoon, toothpick to separate the meat and then dip.
The lily cooks very quickly, so only when customers order the owner will prepare it, only a few minutes will there be a dish made from hot and attractive lychee. The accompanying drink when eating lily is also familiar such as tamarind ice, cotton latex, é seeds, ginseng ...
Onion grease bread
Another exotic snack in Xinzhou is onion fat bread, which is only sold half a piece at a time. The crispy toast is served with onion coconut milk or onion fat, depending on the taste of diners.
The salty, fatty taste mixed with the aroma of toast makes anyone who has the opportunity to enjoy it. Not to mention, this dish is also affordable price, only 3,000 VND / half a loaf. Diners can find and enjoy onion grease bread at the stall right in front of the People's Committee of Long Thanh ward.
Crocodile bread
Coming to Xinzhou, visitors are not difficult to see the image of cars, street vendors filled with bread of huge size, unique shapes such as king crab, lobster ,... The most popular of which is crocodile bread.
Each of these breads costs about 25,000 VND. In order for the loaves of bread to transform into funny and beautiful animals, people have to go through elaborate processing stages, from shaping and assembling legs to brewing flour, carving scales,... Then brush another layer of fragrant durian butter.
Fried cloves
Deep-fried dough rolled cloves are the childhood snack of many people in the West in general and Tan Chau in particular. To make delicious fried cloves, natives choose rice husk cloves (also known as axe cloves, gull cloves, copper cloves) of small size, uniform, light green or white. This type of shrimp is sweet, probably because it is a river clove, living in the natural environment.
After catching, the cloves must be carefully washed, remove all impurities and then cut off the beard with scissors and drain.
After that, people mix deep-fried dough with filtered water, put cloves to mix well, season to taste a little spices to absorb such as seasoning powder, fish sauce ... and add duck eggs, taro, onions to create fat and flesh for the dish.
In addition to the above dishes, if you have the opportunity to travel to Tan Chau, visitors can find and enjoy some other delicious and cheap gifts such as red bean porridge, pomegranate seed dew, malt candy puff pastry, fried cakes ,...
Photo: Thanh Bui
According to VNN