Every time before any of my trip to Hue City in central Vietnam, I always get really excited, not only for its stunning sightseeing, but mostly for all the special cuisines that that city has to offer. One of my favorite Hue dishes is Fig Salad which you can find on the menu of any of Hue special cuisines restaurant in the city or even in big cities such as Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi.
Fig tree is extremely closed and popular with the local here. You can find pretty much any temple or household in the suburban area with a fig tree in its garden. Fig is easy to grow, needs very little care and is known to live for quite a long time. Fig has become a part of the local’s life here for many years.
There are a variety of fig salad recipes. Here is my favorite version that last time I got to try when I was in the city: fig salad with pork. The fresh fig fruit was boiled for 5 minutes or so, some people do not like to boil the fig to keep the original taste of the fruits, personally I like it boiled to have a mild taste. Then the whole fig fruit is sliced into very fine thin slices and steamed pork chop is cut in strips, again some people prefer pure meat, some would like to have a bit pork fat to go with. According to them, the pork fat will balance the slightly bitter taste from fig & make the whole salad a bit juicy, to that I would agree with. The sesame seeds and peanut bring to the dish the crunchy taste and balance with other tastes from fig and pork, a lot of time I found that Asian cuisine is all about balance between different ingredients in a specific dish. The sesame seeds and peanut are roasted in hot pan until they turn light brown, pill of the peanut’s skin and crush them before mixing all together with the sesame seeds and set them aside. The last step of the preparation is to set a hot oil pan, fried a bit of onion, pour this mixture in a salad bowl with the sliced fig, pork, peanut & sesame seed, mix everything together. You can season them to your liking at this stage with a touch of salt & minced cilantro. Give it a taste & when you are happy with it, form the salad in a small soup bowl & set up on a bigger plate to serve.
Fig salad can be served by itself, or with local mixed fish sauce or rice cracker. The slightly bitter taste of fig, together with the juicy piece of pork and crunchiness of roasted peanut and sesame seeds & fried onion makes a delicious mixture that everyone who ever tries will love it.
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