Thu Hà

Dishes cooked from spinibarbus denticulatus, a fish that belongs to carp family known locally as bỗng fish, have helped put the northern province of Tuyên Quang on the national culinary map, said local resident Phạm Ngọc Hoa.

The dishes include bỗng fish salad, grilled bỗng fish, sour bỗng fish soup and others, said Hoa, adding that bỗng fish salad is the most popular and favourite dish.

To make this salad, you need a fish that weighs between 2.5 to 3kg and has been raised for about two years to ensure it is tasty and fragrant.

Herbs needed are lemon leaves, basil, galangal, ginger, lemon juice, sugar, salt and others, creating a dish of rich mixed flavour which is sour, sweet, salty and fragrant, she said.

This rare and precious fish is found in Tuyên Quang Province’s big rivers like Lô, Gâm and Miện. It was once one of the five river fish presented to kings.

The fish itself lives off aquatic creatures such as water plants and moss, small shrimps and crabs.

It has its slow growth rate but after about two to three years, produces firm meat which is high in protein, vitamins and minerals, and considered a healthy food.

Hoa said the fish should be cleaned well and the meat should be separated from its bones. It should be soaked in cowa fruit juice to release any fishy smell.

“A special way of making the salad is not using roasted rice powder, locally called thính gạo, but instead grind the bones from the fish itself into a powder and mix it with minced roast peanuts before adding it to the fish," she said.

The dish is more enjoyable when dipped in a special sauce locally known as chéo sauce which is made of the minced roasted fish bone fried with cooking oil, garlic, onion and other spices, then it is cooked in a secret recipe to create a fragrant thick and smooth dipping sauce with its very attractive flavour, she said.  

The salad is eaten with spicy and forest vegetables fig and giang leaves and several other wild leaves.

Diners should take a thin slice of the fish and mix it with thính powder wrapped in leaves and dip it in the chéo sauce.

“It is both tasty and healthy,” Hoa said.

“From the first bite, dinners will experience sweet flavours from the savory bỗng meat, buttery fats from the thính and rich flavours from the chéo. The aroma of the wild vegetables mixed with the hot flavour of pepper and chilli is something they will never forget it.”

Nông Thị Hà, a bỗng fish farmer, told the Việt Nam News and Law that she earns VNĐ80-100 million each year from bỗng farming thanks to favourable conditions such as cool climate and natural water resource from upstream.

In 2023, Tuyên Quang bỗng fish was recognised among the top 100 Việt Nam’s signature cuisines by Vietking, becoming a pride of the Tày ethnic group. — VNS