Waiting for the waves to come back

This season, the sun begins to spread on the beaches of Central Vietnam, dispelling the cold of the old winter day. This is the most pleasant time of the year. These days, the people of my hometown Quang are busy sailing out to sea, choosing smooth waves to drop nets to catch jellyfish.

In the early morning, the fishermen turned on their lights and went out to sea. Some people wake up at two or three o’clock at night, take advantage of going early so that when the sun rises, they will not be whirled into the big waves. At that time, the jellyfish spots glow, winding between the vast and dark landscape, which is enchantingly beautiful.

Jellyfish vermicelli with fish cake

Along the Truong Giang River, people rowing bamboo boats to pick up jellyfish are countless. The children also followed their parents to collect jellyfish. Jellyfish is considered the “lucky sea” of this area, helping to improve the income of many families. After Tet, a hundred things to worry about, a bountiful jellyfish season, everyone is excited.

The seafood market is busy from early morning. New jellyfish brought up from the sea has a characteristic fishy smell and still has a lot of sea sand. My father chooses jellyfish with thick body, fresh color, chalky, sturdy. He peeled off the rough outer shell and then cut off the hard legs and the tips of the tassels around the jellyfish’s body. Dad went to the garden to pick a handful of guava leaves, cook with warm salt water, put the jellyfish in, blanch it, rub the guava leaves on the body of the jellyfish. After soaking, three cut the legs and body of the jellyfish into bite-sized pieces.

For any Central child like me, jellyfish dishes are always a familiar part from childhood. Sometimes it is jellyfish soaked in guava leaf juice until golden and then clamped with herbs and dipped in fish sauce or fish sauce. Especially indispensable dish jelly mixed with young guava leaves, thinly sliced ​​bananas and roasted peanuts.

Later, when I go to the market, I always buy enough pork belly, shrimp, and herbs like my father told me to, then thinly slice green bananas, soak in salt water mixed with lemon to reduce the bitterness and help the bananas not darken. black. Boiled pork cut into small squares, lightly sautéed shrimp with fried onions. Three mixed jellyfish with meat, shrimp and basil, cilantro, banana… and then sprinkled with sweet and sour chili garlic fish sauce. Sometimes, to please his daughter, who craves sourness, Dad’s jellyfish dish will have some sliced ​​green mangoes added.

Mix jellyfish on a plate, sprinkle on a pinch of crushed roasted peanuts. Our sisters gathered around, broke the grilled rice paper and scooped up each piece of mixed jellyfish. Mixed jellyfish must eat quickly, feel the salty, crunchy jellyfish taste, mixed with fatty pork belly, sweet shrimp, and fragrant peanuts. In addition, there is the acrid taste of green bananas and guava leaves, the sourness of mango, the fresh aroma of basil, and the richness of chili garlic fish sauce.

Unlike other families, in my house, the roles of parents are swapped. After resigning for health reasons, his father stayed at home to grow crops and raise chickens. My mother sells fruit in the city, only coming home once a month. Because of that, my father took care of my sisters and me from the food to sleep, but he was never sad or embarrassed about it.

My kitchen is missing the cheek, and the image of my father is bold. Each season three is presented to make each recipe, full of rustic dishes full of countryside. On a hot summer day, my father made jellyfish to cool off, and cooked jellyfish noodles. After preliminary processing, three soak the jellyfish in guava leaf juice to make the acrid taste of the leaves make the jellyfish more crunchy. Then, three philips are compressed in peanut oil, stir-fried with eggplant to make a sauce. Sliced ​​mackerel or tuna to taste, marinated with spices until fully absorbed, wait for the broth to boil, then add the fish, a little onion, chopped cabbage.
Jellyfish are added in the last step, when everything is cooked. Dad turned off the stove quickly right after that. Jellyfish vermicelli with light sweet and sour water, fatty and fragrant mackerel, and crispy jellyfish is my sister’s favorite food on sunny days.

Every time we look at our father hunched over in the kitchen, the fire and smoke blur our eyes. A trio taking care of our sisters and brothers to grow up healthy. The more I practice cooking, the more I realize that all dishes cooked with sincere affection are delicious. Sometimes they’re good for the taste, sometimes for the emotion.

Dad used to leave the pages of books for us to go to the kitchen to cook traditional dishes. When I grew up, I was able to go everywhere, the delicious dishes from the four directions were also fully displayed. I thought my dad was always there waiting for me as a matter of fact. But then my father passed away on a sunny spring day that was not yet warm. For almost six years, I struggled with tormenting thoughts. Every time it’s jellyfish season, I wish I had three so I could have a good meal.

People have soaked jellyfish for a long time to reduce the natural salty taste of the sea. No matter how many places I try, I still can’t find jellyfish as delicious as the mixed jellyfish I made. If it’s not home, then every place will lack the warm and happy feeling of the past.

In April, the wind brought the passionate sea breath to the beach, I waited for the calm waves to wait for the jellyfish to return so that this afternoon I could make a dish of mixed jellyfish to put on my father’s altar, light incense to send the old dish to the distant sky.

According to www.phunuonline.com.vn