Vietnamese Nem chua among world’s best dishes with hot peppers

Nem chua was the only Vietnamese entry to make the rankings and was placed 52nd on the list.

According to Taste Atlas, Nem chua is a traditional Vietnamese dish of cured and fermented meat. Although it is traditionally made from pork, it can also be made with other types of meat such as beef. In order to prepare it properly, the lean pork is minced then combined with sliced pork skin, spices, chili peppers, and garlic.

The combination is wrapped into banana leaves, then stored for fermentation lasting three to five days in a cold place. These rolls have a sweet, salty, spicy, and sour flavor and are usually served as a snack or an appetizer with raw garlic on top and fish sauce or chili sauce on the side, the website wrote.

It also added that Nem chua is especially popular during Lunar New Year celebrations. The dish can easily be found in the northcentral province of Thanh Hoa and the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap.

Rounding off the list of TasteAtlas’s 54 best dishes with hot peppers in the world were many representatives from throughout the Asian region, including Chongqing chicken of China, Ikan bakar grilled fish of Indonesia, Thailand’s nam phrik chili sauce and Gaeng kiew wan green curry paste, and Kkakdugi of the Republic of Korea.

The list is based on a vote conducted by experts and readers worldwide on criteria such as popularity, flavor, and love from local people and tourists.

TasteAtlas is an encyclopedia of flavors, a world atlas of traditional dishes, local ingredients, and authentic restaurants.

The website was founded in 2015 and it has cataloged over 10,000 foods and drinks, whilst there are dozens of thousands yet to be researched and mapped. It highlights popular cuisines, as well as the forgotten tastes and aromas of every city, region, and village around the world.