Enjoy Tuna Eyes Braised With Green Pepper at Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh

In the last days of March, when Quy Nhon's summer was coming, a shower of rain came along with a cold wind due to tropical depression. Drop into a restaurant on Nguyen Trung Tin Street, Nguyen Van Cu Ward, Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province, ask about the typical dishes of this region, and you will be introduced to tuna eyes braised with green pepper that will warm your heart.

Chef Nguyen Quang Vu serves tuna eyes braised with green pepper (Photo: Dinh Hoa).

Waiting about 30-40 minutes, the tuna eyes braised with green pepper is ready to enjoy. In an eye-catching blue ceramic bowl, everything is kept hot almost throughout the dinner. Open the lid, hot smoke, fragrant aroma, ecstatic.

Nguyen Quang Vu (29 years old, head chef of Hoai Huong restaurant) said: I was born and raised in Binh Dinh. When I was young, I ate tuna eyes cooked by my grandmother and mother. At that time, due to not having enough spices and not knowing how to prepare it, this dish still had a fishy smell. Up to now, this dish has been processed to meet standards to become a famous delicacy across the country. Not only local people, tourists, and international visitors to Binh Dinh enjoy this dish.

It is known that to have standard tuna eyes braised with green pepper, the chef used more than 10 different spices including ginger, chili, purple onion, green pepper, celery... The side dishes will be two types of green vegetables including spicy mustard greens and chopped perilla.

In Quy Nhon, tuna eyes are processed into many dishes: braised with green pepper, stewed with Chinese herbs, cooked with river-leaf creeper or fish eye hotpot... Different preparations, different spices but all leave diners with a rich taste. The smell of fish eyes, the aroma of herbs and spices clinging deep to the flesh of the fish and the drops of broth. The fish is hot and smells great while blowing and eating. It's absolutely delicious.

Some spices for making the tuna eyes braised with green pepper (Photo: Dinh Hoa).

According to a chef with 9 years of experience preparing tuna eyes, the secret to eliminating the fishy smell of this dish is to choose fresh ingredients and prepare them with ginger and white wine. During the cooking process, large grains of pure sea salt will be used to make the broth sweet and not acrid.

Currently, at some restaurants in Quy Nhon, the price of each bowl ranges from VND 80,000 - 100,000. For fresh fish eyes, the price is from VND 120,000 to 250,000 depending on the size of the fish eyes. With a reasonable price, high nutritional quality, and ease of making, this delicious dish is very attractive to domestic and foreign tourists.

Special bowl to serve the tuna eye (Photo: Dinh Hoa).

Ms. Thu Sang, a restaurant manager in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh shared: The tuna eye dish originates from Phu Yen. However, in Quy Nhon you can also enjoy countless delicious dishes with tuna because the Binh Dinh sea area and Tam Quan area are places that provide the best quality tuna in large quantities. Quy Nhon tuna eyes are also a unique culinary feature. Normally, each diner coming to the restaurant will enjoy 1 bowl (equivalent to 1 tuna eye) which is enough to not get bored. However, there are some customers who enjoy 2 fish eyes at a time because of the appeal of this dish.

Tuna eye braised with green pepper is popular among both locals and tourists (Photo: Dinh Hoa).

“There are large tours or parties where guests order up to several hundred tuna eyes to serve meals. For retail customers, for every 5 or 6 people who come into the restaurant, 3 or 4 people enjoy ocean tuna eyes", Thu Sang added.

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