Boiled snails are a familiar dish that many families love and choose to enjoy on a summer day. A hot boiled snail with a bowl of spicy and sour dipping sauce, and a few slices of fragrant lemongrass always bring an attractive and interesting feeling.
However, how to boil snails needs to know a few secrets to avoid snails from getting foul, bland or tough.
Choose fresh snails and soak them thoroughly before boiling
To have delicious boiled snails like in the stall, first choose fresh snails with shiny shells, when you touch the snail mouth, it will close. With popular snails such as crab snails, jackfruit snails or snails, you should choose to buy them early in the morning at seafood markets to ensure their freshness.
Soaking snails properly will help remove mud and odor. Housewives can use rice water, add a few slices of chili or iron knives to stimulate the snails to release dirt. The soaking time is from 2 to 3 hours and this is an important step to help the snails retain their natural delicious flavor, no more the fishy smell of the mud when boiled.
Boil snails with lemongrass, lemon leaves and ginger
Boiling snails with lemongrass, ginger and lemongrass leaves will make the aroma more attractive. Slice the lemongrass into small pieces and beat it to create a fragrant aroma, thinly sliced ginger helps to remove the fishy smell, and the lemon leaves bring a gentle fragrance when boiling snails. Arrange the lemongrass at the bottom of the pot, pour the snails on top and spread a few slices of ginger and lemon leaves.
Do not boil snails with too much water, just about 1/3 of the water in the pot, cover and heat until boiling. When the water boils, open the swing to avoid the fishy smell being steamed back into the snail. Boil snails for about 2 - 3 minutes until steamed and be careful not to boil them too long as it will make the snail meat tough.
Spicy and sour dipping sauce
The boiled snails will lack completeness without a bowl of standard dipping sauce. Popular recipes include fish sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, finely chopped chili and thinly sliced lemongrass. The sugar should be dissolved in lemon juice before adding fish sauce to achieve a harmonious flavor between sweet, salty, sour, and spicy.
A little tip to make the dipping sauce taste good is to puree ginger and garlic, then stir with the lemon and chili fish sauce mixture. Add a little diced lemon leaf to enhance the flavor when dipping in boiled snails.
