From a young age, my body has soaked in the taste of mussels, the smell of the brackish sweetness of Mai Giang river water penetrates the skin into the salty meat. The smell of a basket of freshly boiled mussels, smoke rises when I carefully separate each one into a small bowl. The smell of simple, frugal meals with mussel soup, fried mussels, mussel rice, or mussel porridge. A bowl of mussel soup cooked with vegetable soup is a favorite of both my sisters and me, never getting bored of eating. The food is also very simple to prepare. After being picked up in the river, mussels rub off all the sand. Next, put it in a pot, add a little salt and start boiling. Boiling mussels does not need to be boiled thoroughly, just boiling to be able to remove from the stove. The mussel boiling water is settled several times to clean the sand. Shell and mussel meat are poured into a clean pot, stirring repeatedly with chopsticks to let the mussels fall out. Mussel meat is washed with clean water until the sand is gone. Put the pot of mussel broth on the stove to boil, drop mussel meat and vegetables, wait for it to boil, season with spices to have a delicious pot of soup. My sisters and I grew up through hard mussel seasons and from such delicious bowls of mussel soup. Growing up, I had the opportunity to go here and there, enjoy many different delicious dishes, but I still remember the mussel dish from my hometown the most. Text: Tang Hoang Phi

Illustration. Image source: Internet Resources: 1kg baby mussels 3 sour star fruit (200g) 2 tomatoes (150g) 2 sprigs of scallions 2 purple onions. Seasoning: seasoning, sugar, fish sauce, salt, cooking oil. Instructions for making mussel soup with star fruit Making: Soak mussels in water with fresh chili for about 30 minutes, then wash and dry. Put the mussels in a saucepan, pour a bunch of water, bring to a boil, when the water boils, the mussels open their mouth, add 50ml of cold water, stir the mussels and stir, remove the mussels, pour the water into the bowl and filter the water to remove the sand residue. You put the mussels in the treatment to get the intestines and wash, set aside. Peel off the edges of star fruit, slice 0.3cm. Sliced ​​orange tomatoes. Scallions, root removed, finely chopped. Peeled onion, finely chopped. Put the saucepan on the stove, add a tablespoon of cooking oil, bring to a boil, add the dried onions and saute, stir-fry the mussel intestines, then add the tomatoes to the island. After 3 minutes, pour in filtered mussel water, you can add cold water depending on the needs of the family’s soup. Bring to a boil, when the water boils, add the star fruit. Wait for the water to boil again, season with 2 teaspoons seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Ladle into a bowl, sprinkle with finely chopped scallions. Mussel soup cooked with tomatoes, along the mosquito net Illustration. Image source: Internet Resources: 1kg mussel shell 1 tomato 1/3 pineapple 2 vertical nets (mint) Lettuce, green onion, lemon 2 teaspoons soup powder ½ teaspoon sugar 1 tablespoon fish sauce Making: Buy mussels to soak for half a day or soak for about 1 hour with water with a few chopped fresh chili peppers to let the mussels release all the dirt. Put the mussels in a pot of boiling water, take out the mussels, to settle the clear water. Treat the mussels to remove the intestines. Tomato tonic areca, pineapple cut into bite-sized pieces. Along the mosquito net (mint), remove the fiber, then squeeze with a little salt. Green onion leaves washed and finely chopped. Put the pan on the stove, fry the minced purple onion, pour in the mussel meat and stir fry with 1 teaspoon of soup powder, put the mussels on a plate. Still taking the old pan, sauté minced purple onions and lightly sauté the tomatoes. Pour the sautéed mussel meat and tomato with pineapple into the pot of filtered mussel juice, add 1 teaspoon of soup powder, ½ teaspoon of sugar, bring to a boil, drop along the net (mint), squeeze the juice of half a lemon into it. Turn off the heat, add 1 tablespoon fish sauce, drop laksa leaves and green onions.

O Ruoc nodded: – Yes, the mussel rice said, already known of Hue people and happy, so is mussel rice, also of Hue people. But mussel rice was born when the tissue (which) is not clear, the mussel rice is known to be ok (that is ok). O Ruoc continued: – In the reign of King Gia Long, angry about two centuries ago, in Con Hen, there was a woman named Huynh, a very poor family, her husband was a fisherman, and in the early days, her husband could not catch anything worthwhile. Price, the couple had to eat cold rice with mussels that she found at the edge of the river. At first, I thought it was very hard, I thought they ate it and found it delicious, and then introduced them to the neighbors, the local people found it also delicious, gradually the rustic mussel rice dish spread to Con Hen. Con Hen is located on the poetic Huong River. The river section flowing through Con Hen is very clear water, has no alum and little silt. There is a layer of mud accumulating on the bottom that is very suitable for mussels and mussels proliferating and growing fast, very delicious meat. Con Hen is one of the most delicious mussels. Later, by the reign of King Thieu Tri, the mussel rice had spread to be popular and sold everywhere in the period of the country. In the reign of King Thanh Thai, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thin came to Con and scratched the mussels, cooked mussel rice to advance to the king, and the king complimented the good taste, so the poor people’s dishes became royal dishes. Mrs. Thach was conferred both the title by the king and the king established the Hen Ward. Perhaps from here, the “illustrious” mussel is processed in many other ways, including mussel. Meaning mussel rice has been around for a long time, just after mussel rice. Name Hoc Ye nods, with the agreement of the gangsters: – O Ruoc says rational and rational. Ms. Hai said: – The mussel rice is very delicious, the mussel noodle is definitely delicious. It’s a bit strange that mussel rice and mussel rice sold in Saigon are not very hen. O Ruoc teaches me how to cook, so that my children can cook, maybe tomorrow this delicious dish will be disseminated to relatives and aunts. O Ruoc laughed “hi hi”: – This is a good idea, O is ready only, a little thing. It is irresistible delicious with authentic Hue mussel vermicelli. Photo: Diadiemanuong. First of all, minced garlic onion that summer, listening to fragrant smell is to stir-fry the mussel meat, season with spices to absorb into the mussels, then turn off the heat, let the roasted sesame seeds in and mix well. Now let’s just take the bowl, “summer summer”, short for it. Based on this, it is necessary to infer what to do first, such as preliminary processing, but talk a lot, long and long as leeches cost labor. Now give vermicelli in summer bowl, next to vegetables including banana corn, thin banana stem, shaved spinach, lettuce, mint, basil, cilantro, coriander, chives, then chopped. It’s the turn for the main thing to make the vermicelli, put the mussels in, the top is crispy pork skin, sprinkle a pinch of roasted peanuts with oil and a little cashew color, scoop a spoonful of sautéed satay, pour in, draw another spoon The soup was mixed with sugar to eat and then put it in again, finally pouring the seasoned broth to taste… started mixing the chopsticks and enjoying the strange taste only summer. “Summer …”. O Ruoc just taught to listen to … because of craving! O Ruo smashes his hand on the table: – More over that summer, to keep listening. Go to mussel first, O saw that there was a variation in Saigon, that was to add more cockles. There is also a place where you do not cook like Hue mussel, but you cook broth, people call it “mussel rice vermicelli”. Perhaps this is a variation from fish noodle soup. Cook broth with tomatoes, pineapple, scallions … some people cook with vegetables, mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, celery, satay … And similarly, replacing mussel with don is called vermicelli don broth, don don is like a mussel but smaller, more abundant in Ve and Tra rivers and is the specialty of these two regions in Quang Ngai; replaced by clam to produce soup clam vermicelli, shrimp and squid too; A little bit “precious to touch the clan”, we use shrimp, the vermicelli for the “noble” world, for the rich, use crabs, “precious … precious … to touch the clan”, the giant … it is lobster. O Ruoc is really fun. Lade I and friends really thank O very much for teaching wholeheartedly. Goodbye O, I’ll come back to bother O. O Ruoc waving his hand when he touches Hue food: – Teeth (stars) that bother, bother with tissue, bother with tissue, O is so happy, whatever you need to come, summer (so hen).