Delicious dishes from sea cucumber

(Baonghean) -In the past, people often bought sam just to play with, but now, it has become an attractive dish typical of the coastal region, a bit strange compared to the usual shrimp, fish, squid, crab...

In the afternoon, my friend called and said he had just caught a few pairs of sea urchins and wanted to come over for a drinking party. So, even though it looked like it was going to rain, I thought about the fun of sitting around and drinking, so I drove my luxury car. Every time I went to my friend’s house to have a drink, I would rush into the kitchen. I was used to it, and it was fine to come over for a normal meal, but when it came to making snacks, women were invited to “sit around and have a drink” (rarely), for the men. But with this particular dish, I had to rest my chin on my hand and watch my friend show off his skills.

\

Processing sea cucumber meat requires speed and skill.

To prepare sea urchin meat, one must be very skillful and decisive when cutting the blood. Of course, it can be used to make blood pudding, but more importantly, it is to avoid losing the characteristic astringency of the meat. The shell, the intestines and the liver are also removed and absolutely not allowed to stick to the meat that is removed. When the fragrant smell wafted from the kitchen to the living room, the little boy was asked by his father to pull out the bottle of wine from under the cupboard, and the story began to become long-winded...

The story goes that, long ago, there was a poor couple who worked as fishermen. One day, the husband went out to sea with his crew and unfortunately encountered a big storm. Not a single person escaped the fierce waves. The whole fishing village was immersed in grief and mourning. The wife was so heartbroken that she went crazy. She left home with the hope of finding her husband somewhere. She walked and walked along the long coastline. One day, she came to a big mountain. Because she was so tired, she fell asleep under a tree. While she was dreaming, she suddenly heard a loud explosion, and saw an old man with white hair and beard standing in front of her asking: "Who are you and how dare you come to lie in front of my house?" The woman burst into tears and replied: "I'm looking for my husband." Then she told the story and begged the tree spirit for help. The tree spirit felt sorry for her and said: "Your husband is still alive, but he is currently on a remote, desolate island and cannot return by himself." Having said that, the tree spirit gave the woman the pearl and told her that if she put it in her mouth, she would fly across the sea to meet her husband, but remember to close your eyes and mouth, and not drop the pearl or you will be in trouble. Then the old man disappeared. The woman was overjoyed, put the pearl in her mouth and closed her eyes tightly. Suddenly, the wind blew, she felt as if she was floating, a moment later she felt her feet touch the ground, she slowly opened her eyes and saw her husband sitting curled up on the beach. Recognizing each other, the couple was overjoyed, sat and talked for a long time, then thought about returning to their old village.

The husband held his wife's waist to let her carry him across the sea. But because she was so happy to see her husband, she forgot all the words the tree spirit had told her, holding the pearl in her mouth but still trying to talk to her husband. Suddenly, the pearl flew out, the wife only had time to scream once before both of them fell into the sea. Then they turned into sea cucumbers, nowadays, sea cucumbers often travel in pairs underwater, the male holding the female like the husband holding his wife to fly across the sea in the past. Their love, until they were reincarnated as sea cucumbers, was still passionately attached and inseparable. The folk sayings "love like sea cucumbers", "love like sea cucumbers", "stick together like sea cucumbers" also come from that story.

Sea cucumbers are no stranger to anyone who lives in the sea. They usually live in deep waters with hard shells like crab shells, round bodies, about the diameter of a hand, eight small legs under the belly, and a very long tail (people still say that girls braid their hair in pigtails because they think of long pigtails). And just like in the fairy tale, whenever they catch a crab, they usually catch a pair, the male is usually half the size of the female, clinging tightly to each other like a shadow. If they only see one, they will immediately release it into the sea because it is the only one, very similar in appearance to a crab, but smaller, with more thorns and poisonous if eaten.

But catching horseshoe crabs is not as easy as catching fish, because they have seasons, fishermen have to calculate the tide and set the date to go to sea, from March to September there will be the most horseshoe crabs. People often only take female horseshoe crabs for meat, and discard male horseshoe crabs because they are small. From the main ingredient of sea horseshoe crab meat, many different dishes can be made with very unique flavors such as: horseshoe crab blood pudding, horseshoe crab salad, sweet and sour stir-fried horseshoe crab legs, horseshoe crab stir-fried with lemongrass and chili, crispy fried horseshoe crab eggs, horseshoe crab eggs stir-fried with betel leaves, steamed horseshoe crabs, fried horseshoe crabs in flour, grilled horseshoe crab cartilage, horseshoe crab stir-fried with vermicelli... Processing horseshoe crab dishes cannot lack spicy, sour, hot spices such as: galangal, lemongrass, chili, vinegar; typical herbs such as betel leaves, onions, Vietnamese coriander... because horseshoe crabs are crustaceans, cold in nature. To have those unique, delicious dishes, the process of preparing horseshoe crab meat is a meticulous and careful process. From cutting the blood of the crab to cooking, just a little carelessness can cause allergies or stomachaches for the eater.

Among the dishes made from horseshoe crab, the most attractive and popular with many diners are grilled horseshoe crab and sweet and sour stir-fried horseshoe crab. To prepare grilled dishes, the whole horseshoe crab can only be taken out of 4 pieces of muscle meat because the meat fibers are tough and spread out like flowers. Fan a hot charcoal stove, then dry the horseshoe crab on the stove, flipping it back and forth continuously until it turns golden brown and smells fragrant, then it is cooked. In particular, from October to February of the lunar calendar, horseshoe crabs begin to mate, female horseshoe crabs in this season often have bellies full of small eggs the size of peppercorns. At this time, the cook cannot help but miss the grilled horseshoe crab egg dish. After the horseshoe crab eggs are grilled until golden brown, they are served with diced pickled radish, herbs, crushed roasted peanuts, fish sauce with garlic, chili, fried onions, etc. The horseshoe crab eggs are fatty, fragrant, rich in protein, delicious and nutritious. When enjoying grilled horseshoe crab eggs, diners will certainly not be able to forget this coastal dish.

Sweet and sour stir-fry is made from sea cucumber legs, characterized by a rich sour, spicy, salty and sweet taste. Before removing from the stove, add a little betel leaf to spread the aroma. The shell of sea cucumber legs is much softer than that of crab, so it is easy to eat, like sucking on snails. Fried sea cucumber rolls and grilled sea cucumber legs are favorite dishes for children. There is also sea cucumber soup cooked with tomatoes, sea cucumber eggs and herbs such as betel leaves, onions, Vietnamese coriander... which can be eaten with vermicelli until full.

In the past, perhaps because of the elaborate and complicated preparation, few restaurants made this dish. Usually, only families would spend time preparing the meat when they had free time. However, in recent years, the demand from tourists for this strange dish has increased, so the crab has gradually become a special dish on the menu of restaurants. People in Quynh Phuong village (Quynh Luu) also have a new profession: catching crabs in addition to the traditional profession of catching fish, squid, and crabs. During the crab season, on average, each trip back can catch hundreds of pairs of crabs. Mr. Ho Xuan Doan, a fisherman in Quynh Phuong commune (Quynh Luu) said: “Catfish are now very valuable, each pair costs from 250,000 to 300,000 VND. If you buy a female, it will cost 200,000 to 250,000 VND/fish, the male crab is not very valuable. But you have to make a separate net, with large mesh, about 1.5 meters high, and you have to go to the fishing ground to get it. After catching the crab, lay it on its back and bring it back soon, otherwise it will die and lose its value.”

Because sea cucumber is a type of seafood that only lives in the wild and is difficult to cultivate, catching sea cucumber has become the main means of supplying restaurants. It is also a new profession, helping to increase income for fishermen who still have to work hard at sea and on boats. They bring tourists to Nghe An another typical dish of the sea, and remind them of a touching and meaningful fairy tale in today's busy life...

Lake Lai