A walk around Chau Doc market, An Giang

Chau Doc cuisine always inspires visitors from all over with attractive dishes and specialties when they set foot in An Giang. Below, Travellive introduces to readers the street foods that must be tried when coming to the place known as the fish sauce capital of the West.

1. Chau Doc Fish Sauce

Famous for its abundance of shrimp and fish, Chau Doc is always rich in raw materials for making fish sauce. This place is also famous for its flavor and quality that is hard to match anywhere else. The two most popular ways to make fish sauce are drying or fermenting.

As soon as you set foot in Chau Doc market, you will immediately smell the distinctive aroma of fish sauces and be overwhelmed by the hundreds of stalls here. Any type of fish sauce available in the Southwest region is present in this market. Going deeper into the market, you will be able to admire hundreds of famous fish sauces from the West such as: Thai fish sauce, Chên fish sauce, ChỐt fish sauce, Linh fish sauce, ChỐt fish sauce, Snakehead fish sauce, Pickled fish sauce... In addition, there is the crystallization of many famous family recipes, creating a unique flavor for each type of fish sauce.

It is known that the price of fish sauce here is cheaper than the market, seemingly only 1/2 or 1/3 compared to other places, ranging from 50,000 - 300,000 VND/kg. For those who love to eat fish sauce, this is the ideal place for you to freely bring many types of fish sauce to enjoy or as gifts. Besides famous fish sauce products, there are also famous dried processed freshwater fish such as: snakehead fish, puffed catfish, goby fish, loach fish, chot fish, long tong fish...

The owner of the "Mrs. Giao Tham" shop at An Giang market said: "The busiest time of year is usually January and February. Depending on each person's taste, they will like a different type of fish sauce, because the fish sauce is very diverse and rich. Thai fish sauce is extremely suitable for eating with vermicelli and raw vegetables, while Linh fish sauce is suitable for fish sauce hotpot...".

2. Smashed canarium

If you have the opportunity to visit An Giang, it is not difficult to see the image of this fruit being sold everywhere, from the traditional market to the street vendors. That is the ca na fruit, a simple, rustic gift given by nature and used by the locals to make many irresistible dishes.

Smashed carambola is made from fresh carambola fruit after being crushed, squeezed to remove the water and rubbed to remove all the astringent substances, then soaked in sugar and waited for a few hours before use.

People at Chau Doc market said: "Making star fruit requires skill so that the fruit is not too crushed, still retains its fresh green color after rubbing and squeezing the juice, but the flavor is intact, and it is still crispy. Star fruit is eaten with salt and chili, both sweet and crispy, creating a very attractive flavor."

At Chau Doc market, the price of salted star fruit is about 70,000 VND/kg. Stalls in the market also sell many other types of star fruit such as salted star fruit, star fruit soaked in fish sauce, candied star fruit in sugar, which are extremely attractive...

Canarium is a plant that often appears in the provinces of the Southwest, especially in Chau Doc and An Giang. Around July or August of the lunar calendar every year is the time of flood season and at the same time the canarium harvest season. Canarium fruit is oval, about 2 finger joints long. Unripe canarium has a dark green skin and a characteristic astringent taste, while ripe fruit will be light yellow and sour.

3. Cakes

With countless snacks throughout Chau Doc market, sweet cakes such as palm cake, pig skin cake, sponge cake, pandan cake with rich coconut milk aroma... all are dishes with flavors that attract many diners who are passionate about Western cuisine. The big advantage of sweet cakes in Chau Doc market is that they are quite cheap, starting from only 5,000 VND. Diners can also easily stop, choose to buy and sit down to eat in many areas, throughout the small streets in the market.

In particular, palm sugar cake is a specialty of the Bay Nui region of An Giang. The cake is handmade with a special ingredient of palm sugar, giving the cake a fatty, light taste and a characteristic sweetness that is not too strong.

In addition, the highlight of these cakes is the sponge cake with many types such as meat sponge cake, salted egg sponge cake, Chinese sausage sponge cake, milk sponge cake, pineapple sponge cake... The sizes are also diverse: large ones to buy to take home to eat with friends and family and small ones for you to enjoy while visiting the market.

4. Three-sided crab

Ba khia is a specialty dish, familiar to the people of the Southwest region. Its name comes from the three lines on its back. The way to catch and prepare ba khia is not complicated, but this is a dish that carries the culinary culture of the West. The end of May is the season of ba khia, people in Kien Giang, Ca Mau, An Giang... harvest ba khia and ba khia fish sauce is also produced to eat all year round. Possessing many creations bestowed by nature, Chau Doc region produces fresh, delicious and typical ba khia fish sauce products.

People choose those with big claws to fry, braise, or fry with rice. More elaborately, they turn three-striped crabs into attractive snacks such as tamarind stir-fry, beer steamed, mixed salad, and three-striped crab fish sauce that can be eaten with rice, vermicelli, etc. That is why people in the West have a saying: "Don't worry about marrying a wife from the countryside. You can eat cold rice with three-striped crabs all year round."

Phuong Thao is the Editor of Travellive Magazine. She is passionate about traveling and loves to capture moments with her camera in every land she visits. Travel, art, and lifestyle are her favorite writing topics.

Article and photos: Phuong Thao