Hanoi dishes - a pilgrimage of delicacies

According to Mr. Cuong, the shop “Xôi Yến” sells sticky rice on Nguyen Huu Huan St, and is voted as one of the best shops in Hanoi. Almost all the time there are customers waiting for their turn to be served. There is also another “Xoi Yen” shop next door which has a bigger advertisement board, but because it is not the original shop it is always as quiet as a temple. There are almost 10 dishes in the shop, such as sticky rice with pork, sticky rice with green bean called “xôi xéo”, sticky rice made of “gấc” fruit, sticky rice with pork cake…”Xôi xéo” rice has the yellow of chicken fat, sweet and soft served with chicken torn in small pieces or pork stewed with eggs. It is very delicious and fulfills your stomach.

In addition, Pho roll is a new dish that Hanoian people can introduce to their friends coming from other cities or provinces. Hung Ben shop in Ngu Xa St sells the Pho rolls and is always busy and crowded with standing and sitting customers. It is also called Pho, but it is not fibrous, but looks like fresh rice paper. It is thicker than the rolls in Saigon, but flatter. The beef is in the middle of the Pho rolls which is just cooked a la minute. Some lettuce and basil is also rolled together with beef (if there are some of water mint then the taste will be more harmonized). This is served with sweet and sour fish sauce, with sliced green papaya and some drops of red chili sauce.

The fried pho of this shop is even more attractive and delicious. It is impressed when you dip a piece of deep fried pho, which has a yellow color and looks very yummy, but sometimes when the shop is too busy Pho has been taken out of the pan when it hasn’t been turned into yellow yet into the sauce that made of beef and spices you will feel it’s fatty and sweet as well as good aroma. It is VND 45,000 per small dish.

However some people born in Hanoi think that some of the rustic dishes have been changed and have gradually disappeared.

Difference?

The foods expert at grade 3 Mrs. Tuyet Thi Nguyen lives in 132 Kim Hoa St, Dong Da Dist, Hanoi. She shared that there are very good dishes before that can no longer be found in Hanoi, such as grilled millet paper which has four layers: rice paper, green bean in the middle, millet in the middle and sugar.

In Phu Thuong village there are fewer shops or persons who sell grilled rice paper made of millet, and the layer of millet has gotten thinner. About 30 years ago the price of the millet paper was only about 5 coins to VND 1 but it is very delicious. At that time we still use the leaves of the sea almond tree to hold the cake. Some of people also prefer to pour steamed millet with steamed green bean and sugar into a small bowl, so you don’t need to have more grilled rice paper.

About the La Vong fish cake, the main ingredient to make the fish cake is the filet of hemibagrus

fish because it has firm meat and is a big fish. The basic spices included: Galangal root and “mẻ” – a kind of vinegar but made of rice and fresh turmeric. Nowadays people usually replace snakefish with 1 to 2 kg per fish but its meat is normally too soft and flat.

It is similar to the shrimp cake in Ho Tay which also has been changed and doesn’t taste as the authentic one before. The sweet potato was traditionally cut into thin fibers, but nowadays it is replaced by sweet potato powder and mixed with flour. The shrimp used before is fresh water shrimp, and as big as your finger; the skin very thin and the meat is firm and sweet.

Fried spring rolls which carry the spirit of the country

It is known that the dish is called stewed sticky rice or it also called “Bee sweet soup” which our ancestors had to prepare in many stages because of it requires intricate skills. After frying the sticky rice until it turns brown and shiny like the back of a bee, it is steamed 80-85 percent doneness. Once cooled, molasses is boiled with the juice of young ginger and when it is almost done you take it off the stove and add the slices of ginger, then control the flame and wait until the molasses thickens. Once you see fibers it is stir fried with the sticky rice.

If the sugar mixture doesn’t cook well enough then the sweet soup will be broken and if the sugar mixture is overcooked then the sweet soup will be too hard. According to Mrs. Tuyet, most young people nowadays cannot properly make this dish because they cannot measure the sugar mixture. If it is made properly then the sugar won’t melt. Each rice seed will be covered by a layer of sugar and have the smell of ginger, which is very attractive.

If it is new sticky rice then you have to soak it in water for six hours, and if it is old sticky rice then the time is doubled. Now only “Ba Toi” shop in Nguyen Huu Huan Street, Hanoi, still retains nearly all of the original taste. The rice is really sticky and soft, lightly sweet and has a slight fragrance of ginger.

Another dish is rolls with shrimp, which must have in the meal of rich family. It has been modified and modernized nowadays but some are unsure if it is as delicious as before. To make this the housewife has to choose the appropriate grain - normally the same that is used to make alcohol - make a low fire then add molasses, good soya sauce and pepper or chopped chili (whichever the chef depends).

However before that onion and garlic are browned in a pan. “Nowadays the rolls are served with a boring sweet and sour sauce,” said Ms. Tuyet sadly. Before the rolls have a red shrimp, a piece of white bacon and a piece of pork cake with yellow egg fibers in the middle, so it looked very delicious and you would want to try it immediately.

Fortunately, organizers of the 2014 Golden Spoon contest wanted to draw a culinary map of Vietnam that covered the whole country by hosting foods festival with the theme “Hometown taste”. The aim was to gather the special dishes of all regions in order to promote Vietnamese cuisine as well as preserve traditional dishes that have a risk of being lost. Accordingly, there were 13 dishes that represented Hanoi entered into the festival organized at the exhibition center of national construction planning at Do Duc Duc St (Route 7), Me Tri, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi capital in the afternoon September 23^rd 2014.

In particular, there are more than 120 guest judges, including hotels and restaurants owners, teachers and students of Hanoi Tourism College, local authorities. These guests will be invited to taste the foods then vote for the dish that they like the most. The person who have three dishes voted the most will receive a gift from sponsor which worth 5 million per prize.

Followed by Tan Toi
Photo: Phi Nguyen
The Gioi Tiep Thi Magazine