Frog hotpot (Lẩu ếch đồng​)

The sweet taste of firm frog thighs in the rightly spicy soup will help you feel warm as you gather with your friends on wet rainy days.

Frog is considered as “country chicken” favoured by people in the Western South. Apart from deep frying, sautéing or grilling, hotpot is an easy cooking method suitable for a meeting of many people.

After salted, headed, skinned and cleaned thoroughly, the frogs should be cut into two separate parts: thighs and the rest. Their skins will be kept apart. Add some salt and seasonings into the meat for a while, then deep fry them all.

Locals also use cơm mẻ (fermented rice), tamarind, mango, river-leaf creeper, vinegar, lemon, starfruit, …to get the sour taste. When the water starts boiling, put the frogs which you have already stir fried into the pot. Remember to add some garlic and lemongrass in. Then add waterlily, arrow leaf pondweed, water spinach, and other similar vegetables in the pot. As the broth boils fast, add sliced pepper in. When served, you can add more vegetables available in the pot for better taste.

The dish can be served with rice noodle, instant noodle or cooked rice. The average rice is about 180,000 VND per serving for 2 people, and 250,000 VND for 4 people. You can enjoy this dish in the restaurants on Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City.

Grilled snails (Ốc bươu nướng)

Snails, a simple but delicious dish, is one of the favorite dishes that you can enjoy at a lot of street food shops. Hot dishes of snails, either boiled in coconut juice or grilled, are among the top choices in cold rainy days in Can Tho City. 

A serving of about 30,000 – 90,000 VND.

Snails are usually chosen due to their size and firmness. Snails turn clean after one or two hours being soaked in hog-wash or water mixed with hot pepper. The better the sauce, the more delicious the dish. The sauce is made by mixing minced ginger, garlic with fish sauce, sugar and pepper. Then pour the sauce into each snail and let them absorb for 15 minutes before putting them on grills. Just wait until the sauce inside each snail becomes thick and gives out aromatic flavor. The snails are ready now.

Rich taste and attractive flavor in combination with slightly spicy pepper are typical of this dish. You can’t help complimenting the warmth of each snail if you can drink off the sauce inside the snail. 

This dish sold on Ly Tu Trong Street and Ngo Gia Tu Street.

Sausage on the grill (Nem nướng)

In Can Tho, this dish is made from minced pork lean which is seasoned with various spices, especially sugar to create a particular sweet taste. The meat is rolled into balls, put into roasting jacks and grilled over the coal stove. The plate of grilled sausage almost always looks attractive due to the presence of green banana, cucumber, pineapple, starfruit, salted cabbage and rice paper. Just pick up a meat ball and put it on a piece of rice paper, add other vegetables; then roll them over. Dip the roll into the sour sweet fish sauce and enjoy its sweet taste spreading from your tongue. Served with various vegetables, this dish ever upsets you. 

A serving of Nem nướng is about 50,000 VND. You can try it in many shops on Hoa Binh Boulevard, Nguyen Viet Hong Street or De Tham Street.