Enjoy sour soup in a different way
When rainstorm pours down in summer, it would be a great choice to enjoy a hot bowl of cranoglanis sour soup.
Summer is the time when cranoglanis from upper reaches of the rivers in Central Part get back to the lower sections.
Cranoglanis is a relative of catfish. It is smaller than catfish and very easy to be distinguished with other kinds of freshwater fish since its body and head are flat, and its skin is slippery.
Cranoglanis eat miscellaneously; so it is very easy to choose the bait to catch this kind of fish. We only need to drop the line for a few hours to get enough fishes for the whole family.
We can use cranoglanis to cook with curcuma, star fruit, fresh banana, but the best way to enjoy the fish is making sour soup. With people in the Central Part, cranoglanis sour soup is not only popular but also a specialty in rainy summer days.
In the North, sour soup is made by using ferment or dracontomelum and in the South; people prefer tamarind or some leaves that have sour taste. Differently, in the Central Part, people use bamboo sprout to make sour soup.
The process of cooking cranoglanis sour soup is quite simple. The two basic ingredients are cranoglanis and bamboo sprout. In addition, we need some fresh banana, star fruit, tomato, fish sauce, and some spices.
First, we remove some peels outside of the bamboo sprout, and then cut it into thin slices. Soak the bamboo into water and then put it into concentrated rice water. Based on the hot climate and the concentration of the rice water, the bamboo sprout would become sour.
Clean the fish carefully so that we would not break its ovary since this is the best part of the cranoglanis. Remove the two pointed bards on the two sides of the fish, keep its tail and fin, and then embalm the fish with spices.
Simmer the fish until its meat twisted, then put bamboo sprout, fresh banana into the pot and mix them all steadily. Next, pour that mixture into boiling water. Finally, put star fruit and tomato into the pot, wait until the water boils again and we finish cooking
Cranoglanis sour soup can be served with rice or rice vermicelli. We should enjoy the dish when it is still hot so that we can completely feel all its delicious tastes. It would be such a pity if we miss a chance to enjoy this specialty of the Central Part.
