How to Make Stir-Fried Snails with an Unbeatable Sauce Recipe Using a Non-Stick Pan

Extract Tamarind Juice

With 500g of sour tamarind, you will use 800ml of filtered water. Place the tamarind in a bowl, add 500ml of filtered water first, then use your hands to mash the tamarind until it breaks down, then strain through a sieve to collect the first batch of juice.

The remaining seeds and pulp should be mixed with another 300ml of water and mashed again to ensure you extract all the tamarind juice.

Cook Tamarind Sauce

Heat a pan on the stove, pour the tamarind juice into the pan, add 70ml of fish sauce (about 5 tablespoons), 500g of sugar, 150g of chili sauce, and 1 stick of fragrant cinnamon. Turn on the heat, stir while cooking until the sugar dissolves completely, then skim off the foam and reduce the heat to the lowest setting.

Cook the tamarind juice for 40 – 60 minutes depending on your preference for thick or thin sauce. Every few minutes, stir the tamarind sauce to prevent it from burning.

After cooking for the required time, dissolve 1 tablespoon of tapioca flour in half a cup of filtered water and gradually pour it into the sauce mixture while stirring with a ladle to incorporate the flour into the sauce. Cook for another 3 – 5 minutes until the tapioca flour is cooked and the sauce reaches the desired consistency, then turn off the heat.

Final product

The tamarind sauce will have a beautiful golden brown color, with a moderate thickness. When tasting, you will feel that the sauce has a harmonious balance of sour, salty, and sweet flavors.

After cooking, you can use the tamarind sauce to prepare dishes like snails in tamarind sauce, quail eggs stir-fried with tamarind,… and many other delicious dishes.

You can also preserve the sauce by letting it cool completely and then storing it in a jar, keeping it in the fridge refrigerator for up to 30 days.

Blanch the snails

Before stir-frying, you need to blanch the snails first. Place a pot on the stove, add about 1 liter of water, and bring it to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the snails and blanch them for 10 – 15 minutes until you see the snails open their shells, indicating they are cooked.

Remove the snails, rinse them under running water once more to clean, then place them in a colander to drain.

Prepare the ingredients

For water spinach, you will remove all the leaves and cut it into pieces about 5 – 6cm long, then soak it in diluted salt water and rinse it clean.

Minced garlic, and chop the chili. Depending on your preference for spiciness, you can decide how much chili to add.

For Vietnamese coriander, just soak and wash it to remove the dirt.

Make stir-fried snails with tamarind

Heat a pan on the stove, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add garlic to sauté until fragrant. When the garlic is golden, add chili, stir a few times, then add the water spinach to the pan, stir quickly to coat the water spinach evenly with oil and cook until slightly wilted.

Next, add 2 ladles of the cooked tamarind sauce, stir a few times, then add the snails. Shake the pan vigorously on high heat to let the snails absorb the sauce. When the sauce thickens slightly, turn off the heat, plate it, and garnish with some Vietnamese coriander and peanuts to finish.

Finished Product

The stir-fried snails with tamarind prepared this way will be soaked in delicious sauce. The snail meat is crunchy and chewy, absorbing the sauce just right, while the water spinach is glossy, beautiful, and crispy.