A Bravery Challenge with Phan Thiet Sand Lizard

Sand lizard is a unique specialty dish of Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province. Visiting Phan Thiet without trying sand lizard is like never having visited this land at all.

However, if you have never tried reptile dishes, you might need a bit of courage to experience this unique dish for the first time.

The sand lizard is a reptile that lives mainly in deserts and sand dunes. Capable of enduring long periods without water and thriving in hot, dry environments, it is also known as the king of the sand dunes.

[i]Sand lizard – A specialty of the Phan Thiet region[/i]
Sand lizard has long been considered a specialty dish of Phan Thiet, so in addition to catching them in the wild, many sand lizard farms have been established in Phan Thiet today. When bringing sand lizards to farms, people still create a separate living environment for them and take care to protect them. Since sand lizards often dig burrows and live underground, to prevent them from digging deep and escaping, farmers must build underground walls 1.5 m deep into the earth, and the top of the wall must be over 1.2 m high so the lizards cannot climb out.

[i]Sand lizard is known as the king of the sand dunes[/i]
Sand lizard can be prepared into many delicious dishes such as grilled sand lizard, stir-fried sand lizard with lemongrass and chili, sand lizard salad, and sand lizard soup with melon; every dish is delicious and unforgettable. Sand lizard meat is white like chicken, but firmer, tender, and sweet.

[i]Grilled sand lizard[/i]
Grilled sand lizard is easy to prepare and has a flavor that is the most accessible to enjoy. A firm lizard weighing around 300 grams is chosen. When catching a live lizard, the cook quickly breaks its back bone so it stops thrashing. After cleaning the skin, the lizard is marinated with chili salt and sate sauce for about 15 minutes, then grilled over red coals until the meat turns firm, slightly golden, and releases a fragrant aroma. The piece of sand lizard meat is tender yet firm, sweet, and rich—pairing it as a drinking snack with a shot of rice wine or a mug of beer on hot summer days is simply top-notch.

[i]Sand lizard salad[/i]

[i]Sand lizard spring rolls[/i]
Sand lizard spring rolls are also made with finely minced lizard meat pounded with various spices like chili, onion, pepper, garlic, pork fat, and cooking oil. Then, chopped wood ear mushrooms and herbs are mixed in; the mixture is rolled in thin rice paper into finger-sized rolls and deep-fried in hot oil until crispy. Sand lizard rolls make a delicious drinking snack and also pair perfectly with rice.

[i]Sour sand lizard soup[/i]
After a drinking session, gourmets often love to sip a hot bowl of sand lizard porridge. The lizard meat for porridge is also finely pounded, usually saved extra from making the spring rolls. Before cooking the porridge, the lizard meat is briefly sautéed in cooking oil and boiled. The rice for the porridge must be fragrant rice, lightly soaked in plain water then poured into the boiling meat broth, seasoned with fish sauce, salt, MSG, spring onion, and pepper to taste, creating a warm pot of porridge to nourish the body.

Delicious dishes from the coastal sand area are simple yet captivating enough to pull travellers back to this sunny and windy land.

[i]Source: Collected[/i]