“Cha lui” – a specialty of La Gi town

At first, “cha lui” was created by Mrs. Can, a resident of quarter 3, Phuoc Loc ward. Its material mainly consists of fresh shrimp and bacon. After marinated the two ingredients with spices, then we use a blender and a big mortar to puree and pound the mixture two times or more so that the shrimp and bacon can be intertwined and fine. It is so delicious to put the mixture in the middle of each sliced rice paper and roll it in the shape of a pipe. Finally, we use a sharp stick penetrating through the roll, then put it on a gridiron above fired furnace for baking.  As soon as the inside ingredients is cooked and the outside rice paper gains the right crispy level, pull it out of the oven. Remember not to leave the coal so over-fired that the roll can be burnt, therefore its natural greasy sweetness can be maintained. In order to make the “cha lui” dish more delicious, it is necessary to serve with salad and sauce, two minor dishes but extremely important to “cha lui”. Salad here refers to fresh vegetable, sliced unripe mango, star fruit and cucumber. Regarding to sauce, it must contain enough all ingredients such as: chilly, tamarind, crushed peanut. In general, the qualified sauce has to obtain the hot, sour, sweet and tasty flavor. The dish offers a cheap price at around VND 10,000 – VND 30,000 per portion.

“Cha lui” is originated from La Gi town and gradually appears in many provinces/cities across the country with the brand name “Cha lui La Gi”. For instance, gourmets can visit the following addresses to enjoy ‘cha lui La Gi” at 385 Quang Trung street, ward 10, Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh city or Huynh Van Nghe street, Buu Long area, Bien Hoa city. Moreover, “Cha Lui’ is also available for sell at other municipal provinces including Hue, Phan Thiet, Vung Tau, etc.

Right at La Gi town, there are a lot of restaurants serving “cha lui” in every afternoon and evening. Especially, the youth are likely to get together at the restaurant located diagonally at the corner of Vocational Training Center in Tan An ward. Currently, this dish comes into fashion among the youth, particularly; some of them posted the image of this strange and tasty dish on Facebook, Zing News, Yume, diendannaunuong, foody, youtube...  to disseminate it all over the country and the world.

My Thien (Source: Binfh Thuan Newspaper)