Nam O Raw Fish Salad

Nam O raw fish is famous for a long time for its taste. The fish in this raw dish can be pilchard, anchovy, top fish,… but the most suitable is herring because it has sweet and firm meat. This dish’s sauce is the combination of boiled fish water, Nam O fish sauce, chili, flour, and MSG.

Nam Ô raw fish salad, locally known as gỏi cá, is named after the small fishing village where the dish was born a hundred years ago. It attracts many visitors and travelers to the central coastal city of Đà Nẵng.

Visitors can tour the beautiful land and experience the dish at Nam Ô Village, which is located near the Cu Đê River outfall of Liên Chiểu District, only 15 km from the central city. 

Before sunset, a fleet of boats return home, bringing baskets of fresh fish, mostly herring, to the beach to sell to traders and restaurants to make the special fish salad.

In the past, the dish was only available on the daily meal trays of locals, but now it has become a famous speciality that helps to put Đà Nẵng on the map, said local Phan Hồng Chuyên from Nam Ô fishing village.

“We choose fresh herring to make the fish salad because it is tastier with sweet meat compared with others,” said Chuyên, adding that the fish helps to make the dish famous with its characteristics that nowhere else in the country has.

There are two sorts of this fish salad: dried and wet. They both attract eaters and travelers to Đà Nẵng, she said.

To make the salad, herring the size of two fingers is usually chosen. The fish’s head, inner bones and bones are removed. Its meat is cut into thin slices and washed in water with salt and vinegar to reduce the fishy smell, Chuyên said.

For the dried salad, the filet is carefully mixed with vinegar and lemon juice for a few minutes before squeezing with roast rice powder (locally known as thính), spice, chili, ginger and roasted sesame, she said.

“We boil the squeezing water by adding our hand-made fish sauce, chili powder, tapioca starch, broth mix, and ground roasted peanut to make a dipping sauce for the dish,” said Chuyên, noting that these ingredients help to make the dish much more fragrant.

The filet is mixed with ginger, galangal roots, garlic, minced chili, sugar and locally made fish sauce for the wet salad. It is then marinated for between 30 and 60 minutes and wrapped in rice paper. It is eaten with herbs, green bean sprouts and banana flower pieces.

A Nam Ô villager, Nguyễn Văn Hỏi, said the dish is enjoyable when eaten with ming aralia, wild banana slices, mango salad, cucumber, and star fruits.

“I’m an addict to the dish. I ask my wife to make it every week,” Hỏi said.

Hỏi said there are two ways to enjoy the fish salad: first, put herbs, and marinated herring slices on rice paper, wrap it up and dip it in the sauce; the second is to mix all ingredients such as herring slices, herbs and dipping sauce and eat it with baked rice paper.