Delicious dishes made from canarium fruit.

(Baonghean.vn) -Traditionally familiar to rural people, the canarium fruit has now become a novel and appealing delicacy that city dwellers seek out to enjoy. Not only does it have a unique, nutty flavor, but the canarium fruit also evokes memories of home.

The Canarium tree is a woody plant that flowers in February and bears fruit in August. There are two types of Canarium: black Canarium and white Canarium (black Canarium is also called mui, white Canarium is called den); white Canarium is light green, turning pale yellow when ripe; black Canarium is glossy black when ripe.

Canarium fruit can be processed into many unique and delicious dishes such as black canarium sticky rice, canarium stuffed with meat, canarium soup with chicken, pickled canarium, etc.

Good quality olives are elongated at both ends, firm to the touch, and have a powdery, smooth skin.

Black olive sticky rice

Black olive sticky rice is a famous dish that is both chewy and fragrant, with a rich, creamy taste that isn't cloying.

A pot of sticky rice with several kilograms of glutinous rice needs to have 1/3 of its volume filled with canarium nuts. To prepare a pot of sticky rice with canarium nuts, the glutinous rice must be washed and soaked overnight. The next morning, the canarium nuts are washed and spread out on a tray. After being cooked, the thin outer skin of the black canarium nuts is peeled off, and the seeds are separated to obtain the pulp. Once enough canarium nuts are prepared, they are mixed with the rice, a little salt is added, and the mixture is placed in a pot and simmered over low heat.

After steaming the sticky rice, mix in the canarium fruit pulp and stir well. The rice will turn from white to a beautiful purple color. Alternatively, the canarium fruit pulp can be stir-fried in oil with a little seasoning powder and fish sauce before being mixed with the sticky rice. The aroma of the sticky rice blends with the aroma of the canarium fruit, creating a fragrant and appetizing scent.

Chicken soup with wild plums

This dish is easy to prepare and not complicated. Wash the harvested olives thoroughly, and cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Sauté ginger until fragrant, then add the olives and chicken and stir-fry for about 5-7 minutes. Add enough water to cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes until both the olives and chicken are tender. Once the soup is cooked, add seasonings, a little fresh shallots and dried onions, and soaked and cleaned wood ear mushrooms. Cover and let stand for about 2 minutes before serving.

When the soup is served in a bowl, you'll see a variety of colors: the yellow of the canarium fruit, the yellowish-white of the chicken meat, the green of the leaves and shallots, the deep purple of the wood ear mushrooms, and the turmeric yellow of the ginger and chicken fat. The broth is very clear, and the sweetness of the chicken, the slight sourness of the canarium fruit, the mild spiciness of the ginger, and the aroma of the shallots make it an unforgettable dish.

Braised pork and fish

Braised black olives with meat or fish is a much-anticipated dish during olive season. The olives are best when crushed whole, with the seeds inside; the kernel inside will seep into the flesh, then braised thoroughly with pork belly... The sour and astringent taste, combined with the lean and fatty meat, makes the rice even more delicious and flavorful. The meat is no longer overly greasy or fatty; the olives then have a mild astringency, a light sourness, and a rich, savory flavor from the pork belly and the olive kernel.

Fish stewed with canarium fruit is a popular dish among rural people. When stewed, the sourness of the canarium fruit permeates the fish, making it tender and slightly sour, while the sweetness of the soy sauce and the protein of the fish infuse into the canarium fruit, removing the bitterness and reducing the sourness. The canarium fruit pieces then take on a sweet and sour, rich and savory flavor that is endlessly enjoyable.

Stuffed plums

To enjoy black olives with a rich, creamy flavor and to remove the bitterness, they need to be prepared the day before. Wash the olives thoroughly with plenty of water to remove the sap. Bring 1/2 liter of water to a boil in a pot, add about 3 tablespoons of salt, stir well, remove from the heat and let cool to about 75 degrees Celsius. Add the olives, ensuring they are completely submerged, cover and leave (this is called "stewing the olives") until they are soft to the touch. Remove them from the pot, cut them lengthwise to extract the flesh, and discard the pits.

Finely mince the meat, wash and finely chop the wood ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, and add a little crushed shallots. Mix all the ingredients well and season with a little salt and pepper. Stuff the mixed meat mixture into the olives and arrange them on a plate. Heat oil in a pan, then fry the olives, carefully flipping them to prevent burning. Once the meat inside is cooked, arrange them neatly on a plate. Alternatively, if you don't like frying, you can arrange them on a plate and steam them for about 7-10 minutes.

Eat the canarium fruit while it's still hot and dip it in chili fish sauce.

Salted olives, olives marinated in chili sauce

The process of making salted olives involves several meticulous steps. The olives are harvested, washed thoroughly, and then boiled until evenly cooked. They are ready to be tasted; if the flesh separates from the seed and has a chewy, fragrant texture, they are done. After cooling, they are placed in jars or containers for salting.

Use boiled and cooled water, mix in some coarse salt to taste, and pour it over the canarium fruits until they are completely submerged. Then, cover the jar tightly with a lid. After about two weeks, the canarium fruits will ferment and become sour, then they are ready to eat.

During the pickling process, the canarium fruit releases sap, which clumps together in large patches on the surface of the pickling jar. Therefore, the lid is occasionally opened, the sap film is scraped off with a ladle, and then the lid is sealed again. When eaten, pickled canarium fruit has a slightly sour taste, retains its aroma, the flesh is easy to peel but still has a chewy, crunchy texture, and the salty taste of the salt blends with the nutty, sour, and sweet flavors on the tongue.

Alternatively, you can prepare pickled olives with fish sauce and chili. Wash the olives thoroughly, cut each olive into four pieces with a knife, remove the seeds, and soak them in salt water for about 30 minutes to reduce bitterness and prevent browning. Then, marinate the olives in fish sauce, garlic, chili, and sugar. Once the flavors have infused, they are ready to eat. Young olives have a slightly sour and astringent taste, leaving a sweet and nutty aftertaste on the tongue.

Ngoc Anh

(Synthetic)