Market in Mekong Delta in the eye of a foodie!

As a promise from a previous post "Day trip to Western capital"
I'd love to share not feelings but some captures in this traditional market in Cần Thơ!

My parents house is very close, less than 5' minute walk, to Chợ Bàu Sen - a small market but probably
over 60 year old in Nguyễn Trải street. Right in the center of the busiest fashion street!
I grew up with this market!

I love to go there. Every market wherever I've been!
Bali, Phuket, Taipei...up to Tokyo or even Helsinki, down to Melbourne, Tasmania.
To feel lively atmosphere. To mingle myself with the colorful, smelly picture.
To see how people communicate with each others. Bargain. Shout. Laugh.
To find something new. And to buy a lot of never used stuffs!

Colorful edible flowers. 
From red agati (bông so đũa đỏ) to yellow pumpkin flower.
Representing speciality in many class restaurants in Sài gòn.

I wish to list down all names here, but the color, the shape blurred together and confused me. 

Mango season. 
Xoài cát Hoà Lộc (name of mango species cultivated in Mekong Delta) is most famous.
Very sweet, aroma, turn yellow when ripe.
Most expensive! Bigger in size, higher in price!  

Bánh tét - glutinous rice cake in southern style!
During Tết, our traditional Lunar New year, almost every family has this cake or bánh chưng (northern style) for celebration.
Last year, I've been here and I saw this bánh tét in the market.
Impressed by its inside colors, I really want to try this time.
In Cần Thơ they have own recipe and with the finest local ingredients, the quality seems different from what we have in Sài gòn!

Dried fish and shrimp (cá khô, tôm khô)
We can always find dried fish or shrimp in many markets! 
But we don't have in Sài gòn this traditional vendor selling these items as seen in the picture.

Dried shrimp (tôm khô) is expensive!
It's a must-ingredient for many dishes. Soups. Fried dishes. Steamed dishes. Or very good snack for beer drinkers if we soak it in sweet vinegar together with pickled oriental onion (củ kiệu)!  

Dried fish (cá khô) - speciality from Mekong Delta.
Popular food for the poor in the old days, but not now.
Some dried fish can be very expensive. Dried but not salted as we thought.
Dried fish can be grilled or fried, usually fried with some sweet sour sauce (or without anything!).
Have it with good rice - it's in seven heaven!
But very strong smell !

It reminds me half-dried fish from Cambodia.
I said "half dried" because it's not 100% dried, it's still soft (!?).
I've been to Phnom-penh several times, if I had a chance I always bought dried fish from Tonle sap (Biển Hồ). Very tasty when it's fried, but the bad thing is that a strong fish smell will fill your room for hours!

Mắm. Fermented veggies, fish, shrimp.
I learn from my father's old friend, who is famous cultural researcher - musician, he said: "Chinese can do many dishes with fish, but not "mắm". In Asia only Vietnam has a such variety of mắm! From North, Central and especially in South Vietnam, every where has own special mắm!".
He also shared a funny story happened to his friend in Paris in late 40s, when the Paris policemen confused mắm odor from his friend's apartment with... the dead body's one!
Too bad! Scientifically mắm is the best source of enzyme!   
   
In Cần Thơ mắm mostly comes from Châu Đốc!
Most famous, to me (it means I can enjoy!), is fermented cucumber (mắm dưa), green papaya with fish (mắm thái), snakehead fish (mắm lóc), eggplant (cà pháo)!


It's sweet. It's spicy. It's salted. It's smelly. It's stinky. And it's good!    

Mouthwatering fermented eggplant!

Ba khía, fermented small crabs ( actually it's not crab, it's a kind of crustacean - loài giáp xác).
It's surely not for me! It's not appealing at all!
But many people like it! Can't think what people can enjoy from this little creature!

Lạp xưởng or Chinese sausage.
Originated from China!
Very popular here! Made from pork or shrimp, seasoned with special rice wine!
A must-ingredient in many dishes from sticky rice to fried rice! Or simply stir fry in water (not oil!) you will have a perfectly cooked meal for lunch or dinner!

Nem chua (fermented sour pork) 
Traditional speciality made from fermented raw pork meat, pork skin, stir fried rice powder (thính) wrapped in guava leaves and banana leaves for outside!
Sweet, sour, chewy due to pork skin texture. It's good and a must-try dish!
Try it with raw garlic! And it goes very well with beer!

Vietnamese pork ham (chả) 
The best pork ham or any traditional ham probably comes from North or Central.
I don't know about ham from Mekong Delta. But anyway very popular dish for many occasions!
Made from pounded pork meat, seasoned with fish sauce, salt, pepper.
It can be fried (chả chiên)!

or wrapped in banana leaves and cooked (chả lụa)! 

The cooking time is perfectly done when an incense stick (cây nhang) is completely burned!   

Sương sáo (black jelly made from seaweed)  
By the end of every meal, we should have a good sweet dessert.
Don't judge it by the look!
It's a very good sweet dessert in summer days!
Add sugar, coconut cream sauce, sweet green mung bean, pomegranate-seeds-like pearls!

There are three kinds of jelly: green jelly (sương sâm), white jelly (sương sa) and black jelly (sương sáo). The white one is most expensive while the green one - most affordable!  

Here is our sweet and ready-to-eat dessert made from black and white jelly with pomegranate-seeds-like pearls! (sương sa hạt lựu)!

Bon appétit!