M'nong people in Dak Nong province have a very unique soup is R'ja leave sour soup. If we enjoy the hot and spicy R'ja leaf soup with hot rice, we can feel the full flavor of the mountains and forests of the central highlands.
The R'ja vegetable grows naturally in forest, belonging to a woody type, over 10m high. The old vegetable will have flower and fruit bear. The leaves are thin, oval-shaped, pointed and sharp like tea leaves, with a brighter upper surface, 3,5 – 10 cm long, 2 – 5 cm wide.
R'ja leaf sour soup cooked with river fishes from M'nong people
M'nong people often pick the young leaves to cook sour soup. Young leaves have slight yellow green color. It tastes a mild sour when eaten, which is considered as "wild leaf" of M'nong people. The lower the tree is, the better the young leaves will be. In the rainy season, the tree sprouted, and the good young leaves were picked as ingredients for very good sour soup cooking. M'nong people in the province consider this is their own secret to cook an impeccable delicious sour soup.
R'ja leaves can be used to cook into sour soup with many different ingredients such as fish, chicken, shrimp and crab…Every dish is delicious, but the most special dish is sour soup, which is cooked with fish. River and stream fishes such as white fish, goby fish, snakehead fish, anabas… cooked with R'ja leaves, all become the specialties.
The processing way of sour soup from M'nong is very rustic and simple. The clean fish, marinated with fish sauce, wild chili. Putting the enough water pot on the stove, When boiling, add stream fishes inside, continue to boiling again to add R'ja leaves; wait a few minutes for R'ja leaves turn into ripen, then adding salt, seasoning and then lift them down.
On the cold rainy days, the sour soup pot is often cooked more spicily than on sunny days with more grinded wild chili. Cooking the sour soup properly, it is required art. Before cooking, the leaves must be crushed a little to be "released" the sour substance to melt into the broth.
Delicious sour soup bowl on M'nong traditional cuisine tray
Taking a bowl of sour soup, eat while inhaling, the sour taste of the leaves mingles with the sweetness, aroma of stream fish, and the spicy taste of wild chili to create an irresistible charm. The sour substance of the R'ja leaves dissolves in the broth is very smooth, not stiff in the throat. R'ja leaf sour soup is not only delicious, but also helps cure indigestion, bloated belly.
Thanks to the mild sour taste and easy to eat, R'ja leaves are widely known and used by many middle – aged and old people in the M'nong community. For M'nong people, after hours of working in the fields, going home just need a bowl of R'ja sour soup with stream fishes, will feel cool, so much fatigue will be disappeared quickly.
Source: Baodaknong.org.vn (Đ.H translated)