(Baonghean.vn) – The cool, slightly bitter taste, combined with the spiciness of chili peppers, the nutty flavor of roasted peanuts, and the aromatic herbs, makes the civet salad irresistibly delicious.
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| Quao is a woody tree, reaching a height of 15-25m, with its fruit measuring approximately 50cm in length. Each tree yields a maximum of about 20 fruits. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
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| To harvest the fruit, people have to tie two bamboo poles together to reach it. First, they must choose quao fruits that are neither too ripe nor too unripe. If they are too ripe, the dish will be fibrous; if they are too unripe, they will not taste good. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
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| After being harvested, the quao fruit is roasted over a fire until the skin is charred. It's considered ripe when the fruit feels soft and has a distinctive aroma. (Photo: Dinh Tuan) |
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| Once the mangoes are ripe, scrape off the outer skin. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
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| Next, use a knife to slice the fruit into small pieces horizontally. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
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| To make the "nộm quao" salad, the necessary ingredients include: MSG, shrimp paste, roasted peanuts, lime leaves, and coriander leaves, all mixed together. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
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| With its cool, slightly bitter taste, combined with the spiciness of chili peppers, the nutty flavor of roasted peanuts, and the aroma of herbs, this dish has a unique and irresistible taste. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
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| Besides the fruit of the quao tree, the flowers are also boiled or grilled and served with shrimp paste. For the highlanders, the quao tree, in addition to being used in cooking, is also an effective medicine, very good for people with liver disease. According to elderly people, in the past, to test whether someone had liver disease, they would take the bark of the quao tree, scrape off the impurities, put it in a copper basin, soak it in boiled and cooled water, and after 3 days drink 3 cups. If it tasted sweet, the person had liver disease; if it tasted bitter, they did not. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
Dinh Tuan
