Small Octopus

Visit Halong, you will be able to enjoy the famous dishes. One of them is Halong small octopus. This species of octopus is as small as the big toe of a child. They dug holes in the mud to hide and live their timid lives right next to the mouths of the holes. Thus, the native call them "ruoc lo" which mean "food by the hole".

small octopus with guava leaves for boiling

When buying small octopus, choose the ones with gray color, some green light, still alive which attach themselves to the basket so firmly that you have to jerk it out. After that, grab a handful of guava leaves. Wash the leaves and the octopus then put together into a pot and start to boil. When it's boiling, shake the pot for several times. This small octopus when cooked becomes pink in color, the tentacles curve into cirles.
Mix shrimp paste with lemon, sugar, chili, garlic beat until the it bears foam for dipping source. Get the dipping sauce ready for the boiled octopus.

Small octopus boiled

The small octopus of Hoanh Bo is boiled differently in that with chun mun leaves. Chun Mun is a kind of wild tree in the forest. The leaves taste a little sour like dracontomelon leaves, figures are the same but a little smaller. Maybe due to that facts, boiled small octopus from Hoanh Bo taste sweeter, more flavor..