The Mekong river delta city of Can Tho is well-known for Cai Rang district’s Nem nuong (literally grilled sausage). The dish is a real Vietnamese grilled pork sausage or grilled meatball served with rice noodles or rice as a main course.

Materials to make Nem nuong include fresh pork, shrimp, pork fat, chilli, grouns soya sauce, rice paper, vinegar and ground nuts as well as herbs, cucumbers, carrots, turnip salad, fresh coconut water and banh hoi (rice vermicelli or steamed rolls made of rice flour).

The pork should be warm, cut into pieces and ground until it is soft and smooth. The shrimp should be fresh and be shelled and ground.

Garlic, pepper, sugar and pork fat is added to the shrimp and mixed with the ground pork, before being rolled into balls, skewered on a bamboo stick and grilled over wood charcoal until they are cooked through.

The dish is wrapped up with banh hoi or rice paper, turnip salad and herbs and dipped in a bowl of ground soya sauce plus fried nuts and chilli.

Nem nuong Cai Rang is an unforgettable dish because of its harmonious combination of ingredients, enjoyed by locals but also a hit among foreign visitors to the province.

VNS