Rau Ranh is known as a straight-stemmed plant with long leaves similar to soursop leaves but thinner. This plant grows on low hills along streams, some plants are a few meters tall.
In early summer, the trees grow many new leaves, people often break off branches to take the young shoots home. Rock snails are a type of snail that lives in the crevices of rocks throughout the streams.
These two types "make friends" with each other in the menu of the highlanders, especially on these hot summer days, having a bowl of water spinach and rock snail soup to cool down is great.
During this season, along the main road Provincial Road 622B through Tra Bong district or throughout the traditional markets of the district, everywhere you can see bundles of fresh green vegetables, next to baskets of snails sparkling in the early morning sun.
Rock snails are small but for the people of Tra Bong district, Quang Ngai province, they are a specialty snail that can be processed into many delicious dishes.
For people in the highlands, “rau lanh oc da is ca nau nguon” (a source of water spinach) is a food present in every family meal. After going to the fields, people walk under the forest canopy to pick fresh vegetables and wade through streams to catch snails in the clear blue water.
Bring the snails home and soak them in rice water to remove the slime. Then, scrub the snails clean, cut off the tail, wash them and then put them in a basket to drain. Take the lemongrass stem near the base, chop it finely with chili and marinate with the snails and spices for about ten minutes.
Gently pick the young leaves, tear them into small pieces and wash them. Boil a little cooking oil and add the snails to the pot, stir well with chopsticks. Next, pour water into the pot, bring to a boil and add the vegetables. After about five minutes, season to taste and remove from the stove. You will have a rustic, flavorful soup.
Dark green leaves lie next to black-brown snails, hiding the sweet flavor in a bowl of rustic soup. Slowly enjoy the soft, fatty greens with a sweet and slightly astringent taste, sip another spoonful of soup, then pick up the snails in the bowl and bring them to your mouth, gently suck the intestines out of the shell, then slowly chew.
An attractive plate of stir-fried rock snails.
The sweetness of the snail meat blends with the spiciness of chili, lemongrass and the taste of moss from the streams in the great forest, there is nothing more delicious than that. It is simple and rustic like the temperament of the people in this highland region, yet strangely familiar and attractive.
The mountainous region in the west of Quang Nam has many interesting things. The nature here is majestic and poetic. The life of the people here is simple and peaceful.
The people live in harmony with each other in the mountains and forests with unique cultural traditions. They have delicious dishes from the mountains and forests, of which the specialty of rock snail and vegetable soup will surely conquer visitors at the first try.
Coming to Tra Bong (Quang Ngai) this season, visitors should not forget to try the stone snail vegetable soup to enjoy the cool, sweet aroma of nature in this rustic soup and feel all the love of the land and people in the highlands.
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