Jellyfish Salad in Danang city, Vietnam

• ›  Travel guide for Bac Lieu province
• ›  Vinh Hung Ancient Tower in Bac Lieu province

Tourists to Da Nang, on summer days, can savor the unusual taste of jellyfish salad which is appropriate for eating in the hot days with rather cheap price.

Although appearing like vegetables, Jellyfish, soft and clear, are a kind of coelentera and belong to the coral family. Jellyfish appear in many colors, including blue, pink and violet. As sea water accounts for 95 percent of their body, jellyfish can be as thin as paper if dried under the sun for twelve hours.

In summer, Jellyfish without any eyes, fins, ears, tails and bones, in summer, emerge colorfully like a garden of flowers above the seawater. Nevertheless, jellyfish can bear any powerful waves and wind. To catch jellyfish, fishermen usually encircled it with a net and tugged them into the shoreline by using motorboat. Because jellyfish are usually cut into pieces as small as our ears, they are termed as ear jellyfish. The tentacles, entitled tentacle jellyfish, are cut into many small pieces. Ear jellyfish are clear, light blue and juicy while the tentacle jellyfish, more delicious and more expensive than ear one, is milky and like sinew and gristle.

After being cleaned in fresh water, the jellyfish are evaporated on a flat bamboo ray.

The salad of ear jellyfish is required to be cooked by competent hands. Ear jellyfish, waterless after being placed in a bowl in layers, are encircled by ground peanuts, thin slices of plantain, unripe mangoes, chili, mint and savory leaves. Now we can enjoy our yummy jellyfish salad.

Tentacle jellyfish salad is more challenging and overpriced to prepare. The jellyfish, after being cut into small pieces, washed in cold boiled water, are mixed with cooked chicken or thin slices of pork, boiled eggs, chili, unripe mango, ground peanuts and mints.

Although grilled rice cake (banh da) and ginger sauce are two main things often served with jellyfish salad, you can also savor it with beer or wine.

Many restaurants in coastal region serve jellyfish salad as a special and delicious food on their menu.