Plenty of specialties

A colleague working in Lao Cai newspaper said that there are about 20 of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic minority groups living in Lao Cai Province, such as H’Mong, Dao, Tay, Giay, Phu La etc…Each group has at least one specialty dish not to mention specialties from neighboring provinces, such as tea from the Thai Nguyen or the dried buffalo of Tuyen Quang.

Mixed Pho at the busy fair

What did the judges think?
Mr Sau Dinh Dang from Sapa Tourism Association said, “I see that this is a big festival and the organizers have good experiences so the festival was organized successfully. All dishes are representative of North Western cuisine, such as village pig, “thắng cố”- stewed horse meat and “Khau nhuc”-

Huong Thi Do, a final year student in Accounting Faculty of Lao Cai Community Colleges, "This is my first time to attend a festival with so many specialties like this. I like the rice dish called Seng-cu served with salt and sesame.

Food expert SuongThi Bui:”Very good. There are many good dishes from the countryside. I love the sticky rice with four colors.”Hộp chỉ chứa chữ.

The fair in Bac Ha town, Lao Cai province is very busy and crowded each Sunday. The atmosphere at the fair is very interesting, with many sounds coming from the activities happening all around. The sound of the pig “eng ec”, the voices of H’Mong people’s children crying as they have their hair cut, the sound coming from the footsteps and the excited faces of husbands, wives and children in the highlands, created unforgettable features.

Everyone was trying to sell chicken or a bunch of bamboo shoots, to raise the money to buy a bowl of sour Pho (mixed Pho). This dish is quite exotic. It is a combination of soya paste with slices of chili and lemon juice plus herbs such as fish mint leaves, water mint and a little pork with peanuts.

All of these create a combination of flavors with the spice, sweetness and fat, which is delicious. The Pho noodles are made of rice that has been grown in the terraced rice fields (it is called “gạo ma làng” which is very sweet and sticky). A local friend recommended the Ha Vinh shop as the best place to get this dish, the tastiest and the healthiest. The “best friend” of “rice grown in a terraced rice field is sticky rice, also grown in terraced rice fields. This is the key ingredient in making the delicious sticky rice dish with 5 to 7 colors.

Good sticky rice with a good aroma

12 specialties from 5 provinces (Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang, Thai Nguyen) were presented at the Food festival in Highland Northern region with the theme “Home taste”: Chicken steamed with broccoli, sticky rice with 4 colors, sweet soup with chestnuts, “cốn sủi”- a kind of mixed Pho with sauce instead of the usual broth, Sapa
sturgeon grilled with green pepper, steamed rice, pork grilled with Cardamom and “ cơm lam” – rice baked in bamboo, Sapa salmon fish cakes, salmon rolled with chayote and grilled, “thắng cố” – stewed horse, “ khâu nhục”- stewed pork and green tea.

However the winners were a big surprise. The first prize went to the mixed Pho with sauce called “cốn sủi”. Second prize: chicken steamed with broccoli and the third prize was awarded for the “khâu nhục” – stewed pork.

According to him, the “H’Mong” pig (sometimes called black pig) has very flavorsome meat because it eats only corn, bananas, sweet potato leaves and wild vegetables. Although it can also be reared in a cage, the meat will still be very firm and it will have a good aroma. Its weight is between 50 and 60 kg/ after 6 to 7 months.

There’s a pig which is so small a person can easily hold it with one hand, even the name “heo cắp nách” means “a pig that could be carried by your side”. They are free and roam around gardens and farms to rummage for food. These weigh about 8 to 12kg after 6 to 7 months. One pig is enough to feed 24 to 25 persons. Local people who know this pig like to roll a piece of the intestine, sausage or salted meat with “nhọi” leaves.

This is a wild vegetable grown along the river or stream. It has an acrid and is a little bit sour, meaning it will help to release the fat when eaten with pork. The pig’s bones will be used to stew with young pumpkin and served with “Séng-cù” rice. It has an excellent flavor. The seed of this rice is small, quite sticky, has good aroma and separates easily.

However these are just some of typical dishes that represent the Highland Northern regional cuisine in the food festival, called ‘Home Taste’ organized by the Golden Spoon Contest at the Swiss-Bel Hotel Nguyen Hue St, Lao Cai hotel on September 9^th 2014

There are 12 dishes in total prepared by 7 teams. It surprised the 100 guests, most of whom are businessmen, traders and students. The taste the food and cast their votes to select the three most delicious dishes. Each prize will be worth VND 5 million.