Perfume River mussel cooked rice (Com hen song Huong)

“Com hen Song Huong” is a dish served at room temperature, made with mussels and leftover rice. It is a complicated recipe that includes sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter and spicy flavors.

Com hen Song Huong (or Com hen in short) is the very simple and low-priced specialty of Hue, the ancient citadel of Vietnam. Accordingly, the way of serving this special kind of food is of great ancience, simplicity and deliciousness.

Com hen has a sweet-smelling flavor of rice, onion, and grease, as well as strange tastes of sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter, and peppery-hot. You have to arrive to Hen river-islet in the Perfume River to have the original Com hen. However, you can find out the dish on some streets in Hue City. It requires 15 different raw materials to prepare for the dish, including mussel, fried grease, watery grease, peanuts, white sesames, dry pancake, salted shredded meat, chilly sauce, banana flower, banana trunk, sour carambola, spice vegetables, peppermint, salad, etc.

Com hen is always attractive to many customers since it is tasty and, at the same time, economical to anybody.

What makes this simple kind of food popular is revealed in the great endeavor to adopt and process its main ingredient – mussel. Mussels are sea species, which must be dipped in water for a long while before being processed. Accordingly, people often say that com hen somehow expresses the strenuous work of the maker.

Where to find it? Very easy as it is popular everywhere in Hue and these days, elsewhere in Hue restaurants in Vietnam. More favorably, it is a low-priced specialy, thus you could eat it in luxurious restaurants in Hue or even in vendoring mobile shops on the streets.

“Visiting Hue could not miss Com hen, or else you have not come to Hue ever!” is the most common remark of visitors elsewhere to Hue. So, please come and enjoy it yourself!

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My Tho Noodle Soup (Hu Tieu)

My Tho noodle soup (Hu Tieu) is a traditional dish, so specific to Southern Vietnam. As a Chinese long-aged dish, this food was reciped to taste My Tho delta people to become well-known nationwide.

Back in the 1960s, a shop in My Tho, 70 km from Ho Chi Minh City started serving this dish. Ever since then, its reputation has grown to become a very well known meal in Vietnam. It is said that the most delicious noodle soup is made with Co Cat rice, from the most famous rice growing area of My Phong village, a suburb of My Tho City.

My Tho seafood noodle soup is different from Chinese noodle soup, Nam Vang soup, as well as Hue beef noodle soup. The intersting thing is its secret recipe. In stead of herbs and lettuce, you will be tried the flavour of soy bean, lemon, chili, and soy sauce.

How does it taste?

The sweet aroma of the broth comes from the meat, dried squid, and special condiments. Not less important is the broth to cook from shinbone, pork, squids, additives and seasonings to taste subject to family secret as revealed by Chef Ba Chau to a well-selling shop in Trung Trac Street, My Tho City.

Taken as a national dish and something to recollect the delta land of My Tho, this noodle soup reciped in the Southern cuisine is second to none in meeting with various appetites of both oriental and western diners.

Can you find a bowl of Hu Tieu in Ha Noi?

You are in Hanoi, and wondering if such a My Tho’s specialty appears in Hanoi or not. Of course, My Tho noodle soup comes up quite often in many streets of Hanoi. It is better to ask your hotel receptionist to recommend a place nearby or you can refer to the following reliable address: Arab Kebab, 9B Thai Van Lung Street, Ha Noi.

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Grilled minced fish ( Cha Ca)

Hanoi now has several stores selling Cha ca La Vong, but none of them can be equal to the Cha Ca Road’s in terms of quality and flavor. As a popular dish, La Vong grilled fish pie is indeed a remarkable culinary invention.

In ancient days, there was a street selling paints, called the Paints Street. The Doan family, located at house No, 14 of this street, hit upon a new idea that sold fried fish pie served with soft noodles and seasoning. Encouraged by the appreciation of customers, the family specialized in this trade and the shop was called as "Cha ca La Vong store" as a wooden statue of an old fisherman (La Vong) holding a fishing rod and a string of fish stands at the door. As the specialty grew famous with every passing day, the street was renamed by the people as Cha Ca Street (fried fish pie street).

Imagine that you are one of the guests…

While you sit down at the table, the waiter starts laying there some seasonings includes a bowl of well - stirred shrimp paste sauce mixed up with lemon. After dropping the liquor, he will decorate the bowl with a few slices of red fresh pimento, a plate of grilled ground nuts of gold yellow color, various species of mint vegetables o­nions in small white slices. 

To many customers, the sight of such seasoning already greatly stimulates their appetite. A few minutes later, fried fish, yellow in color and flagrant in smell put o­n a plate of anethum vegetable, is brought in. But that is not all. A few seconds more, as soon as a cauldron of boiling fat is brought in, the waiter starts pouring it o­n each bowl of grilled fish, thus producing a white smoke and sputtering noise.

Now, this is the time for picking and choosing what you like from the dishes on the table; sticking them into your bowl. Everything in all dishes should be eaten together. Let’s taste…

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Minced Meat Rolls (Giò Chả)

On the Tet Traditional Tray of food according to Vietnamese Culture, with traditional dishes such as Chung Cake (Banh Chung), Chicken Meat, Spring Rolls and so on, Minced Meat Rolls (Giò Chả) is one of the Traditional Vietnamese Food. There are many types of Vietnamese Minced Pork Rolls such as: pork-pie, beep dumpling, pork and skin paste, lean and fat pork paste, fried pie. Each type has a particular taste but the most important thing to make Vietnamese Minced Pork Roll dishes really attractive is that the fragrance of banana leaves and fish sauce combined in the piece of Vietnamese dainty morsel in spring.

Fried Pie (Giò xào):

In all kinds of Vietnamese Minced Meat Roll (Giò Chả), Fried Pie is the easiest one to prepare, so families often make it themselves when Tet is coming. The main materials are parts of pork such as: ear, nose tongue, pork cheeks and cat’s ear mushroom (Mộc Nhĩ). The materials must be subjected to preliminary treatment, boiled through hot water, sliced, mixed with spices, pepper and fried.

After wrapping the fried pie, keep it in the refrigerator so that all the materials link together. The pie that is delicious must be wrapped carefully, raw materials must not be too dry and the dish will stir fragrance of the spices.

Beep Dumpling (Chả bò):

Also processed as fried pie, beep dumpling is often added for more fat so that it is not too dry. When cutting a piece of beep dumpling, it is slightly pink as the color of the beef. Especially, pungency and fragrance of pepper feature the typical characteristic of beep dumpling. This Traditional Vietnamese Food is more welcomed in Northern area.

Pork Pie ( Chả lụa):

Pork is chosen to make pork-pie must be lean, delicious and fresh meat. It is continuously ground until the meat is fine. These days, the meat is ground by machine, which makes the process more quickly and helps to save the maker’s strength.

However, the pork-pie is make in the traditional way remains the delicious flavor that is different from the one ground by machine, since the makers must use more strength so they take proper care of their product. Fish sauce for making pork-pie must also be tasty and fragrant. When being cut, the pie must have the color of ivory-white and the surface has some small holes, surely that the pie is so delicious. I really love this Traditional Vietnamese Food. I usually eat one or two of them in just three days.

So, what do you think? Is it amazing dish? There still have many other kinds of Minced Meat Rolls (Giò Chả) in Vietnam, so do not miss a chance to taste this Traditional Vietnamese Food whenever you come to Vietnam, especially on the Tet holiday. Hope you have an amazing trip with your friends and family in Vietnam. Good Luck.

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Green Sticky Rice - Autumn Special Gift (Cốm)

Green stick rice is the Traditional Vietnamese Food that is made only in autumn and cherished by all Vietnamese. For Hanoians, nothing evokes autumn like the taste of young rice from Vong Village( Circle village); the grain so sweetly scented that they left a lasting impression.

Served with red persimmons or ripe bananas, Green sticky rice is truly delicious. Vong village, on the outskirts of Hanoi, is said to produce the best Green sticky rice in northern Vietnam. When autumn comes, Hanoians everywhere always remember the special taste of this Traditional Vietnamese Food which is a special gift from the soil made by hard-working peasants, holding a simple and fresh fragrance.

Green sticky rice is often eaten by hand, directly from the lotus leaves, a pinch at a time. When eating green sticky rice, you must enjoy slowly and chew very deliberately in order to appreciate all the scents, tastes, and plasticity of the young rice which is sweet, nutty and buttery.

Visitors to Hanoi during the green sticky rice making season are invited to go to Vong Village where they will have a chance to listen to the special rhythmic pounding of wooden pestles against mortars filled with young rice and see women shifting and winnowing the pounded young rice.

In Vong Village, making Green sticky rice used to be a common trade. People from Vong village are said to have the most complicated process for making this Traditional Vietnamese Food .Firstly, glutinous paddy is planted. To produce their famous green sticky rice, residents of Vong village grow a special variety of sticky rice. The sticky rice must be harvested at just the right moment. When the paddy begins to ripen and still contains milk it is reaped but only at early dawn. The rice is plucked off manually so that the grains are not broken.

Next, the choice grains are carefully selected, sifted and washed. At night, the grains are dried in a large pan over a soft fire and then pounded in stone mortars. Following this, the young rice is removed from the mortar and winnowed before being poured again into the mortar and the process repeated. This is then repeated exactly seven times so that the entire husk is removed from the young sticky grains.

There is an art to this part of the process. If the pounding is done irregularly and in haste, or it is not repeated seven times, the green color of the grains will disappear and be replaced by an unexpected brown color. Then the whole process will have been to no avail because customers will refuse to buy such produce. This should go some way to explaining exactly how difficult the whole process of Green sticky rice making is.

So, are you excited about this dish? Do not miss this Traditional Vietnamese Food when you visit Hanoi, especially the autumn time. Hope you have an amazing trip with family and friends in my beautiful country. Good Luck.

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Vietnamese Square Cake (Bánh Chưng)

Square cake (Banh Chung) is the most popular and delicious Traditional Vietnamese Food and irreplaceable cake of Vietnamese people in the Tet Holidays and King Hung’s anniversary (10th March Lunar). For the Vietnamese, making this cake is the ideal way to express gratitude to their ancestors and homeland.

The legend of Square cake (Banh Chung)

This cake was invented by the 18th Prince of Hung Emperor in the contest of looking for new Emperor. According to the legend, 3,000-4,000 years ago, Prince Lang Lieu, made round and square cakes, the round Day cake symbolizing the sky and the Square cake symbolizing the Earth (under the ancient Vietnamese perception), to be offered on the occasion of Spring.

In the ancient conception, the Earth is square; hence this cake's shape is square, too, to reflect the Earth shape. Since the cakes he offered were of special meaning and delicious taste, Lang Lieu was selected to be the next Emperor. Since then, in honor of this 18th Prince, Vietnamese people always make and have Square cake in the Lunar New Year.

Up to now, this Traditional Vietnamese Food has become the most famous and irreplaceable food in Tet Holiday. This legend aims to remind the next generations of the ancient tradition as well as the primary of Chung cake. Besides, it emphasizes the important role of rice and nature in water rice culture.

How to make a Chung Cake?

In contrast to the fast food in modern life, the process of making Square cake is time-consuming and requires the contribution of several people. Main ingredients are glutinous rice, pork meat, and green beans wrapped in a square of bamboo leaves that will give the rice a green color after boiling. The sticky rice must be very good and was soaked in water in the previous day.

Rice cake is wrapped in square shape, and the wrapping power must be neither tight nor loose. Then the cake will be boiled in about 12 hours by wood. The green has nutrition with an original tasty flavor and may be kept for a long time. Eating this food with soured chinese shallot (Củ Kiệu)  will bring you unforgettable taste! Do not miss this Traditional Vietnamese Food for the Tet holiday at Vietnam.

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Traditional craft villages in Vietnam

For a long time, craft villages have been important for the agricultural development in Vietnam. The first villages where the population at least seasonally pursued a craft were already found in the 11th century, particularly in the area of Hanoi. A wide variety of goods were manufactured ranging from food and everyday products to skilfully designed silk and religious articles. Products were directly sold at local markets or via retailers distributed to the capital or even abroad. From their beginning craft villages were closely interwoven with the economic network. In the communist era they remained to be a main pillar of the Vietnamese economy. Since the introduction of the economic reform policy workforce and production volume of craft villages are continuously growing.

Bát Tràng ceramic village

Bát Tràng, a small village in the north of Việt Nam, is about 13 kilometers southeast of Hà Nội center, on the other side of the Red River. The village is famous for ceramic and pottery products of high quality.

The 700-year-old Bát Tràng village is located 13km away from Hanoi's center. It's an ancient village, which is very famous for making ceramic products. Many of these ceramic products have been exported for years, as a result, they are a good income for the locals. There is a ceramic market in the village, where we can buy ceramic tile paintings, flower vases, tea pots and cups, bowls, plates, spoons, even ceramic dogs. Some famous characters in the Vietnamese literature like "Chí Phèo" and "Thị Nở" were also created in an amusing way, same as a traditional Vietnamese fortune teller wearing sun glasses. Not only the local houses where we can see how to mix material, make and paint ceramic products, but there are also classes where we can learn how to create a vase or anything from clay that we want, or just to paint the ready-made products.

Vạn Phúc – Silk trade village

Located on the bank of the Nhuệ River with velvety mulberry groves and rice fields, Vạn Bảo fiefdom has been known as mulberry planting and silkworm breeding village since the 9th century. According to a local legend, progenitor of the profession is Madam A Lã Thị Nương, the beautiful and well-mannered daughter of the land of Cao Bằng.She descended the profession to villagers and helped “seven villages of La and three villages of Mỗ” to become the leading silk weaving villages in the country. Since long ago, the local people have honored her as tutelary god for their villages. Specialty of Vạn Phúc textile village that is known everywhere include “lissome bud silk” with high durability, plain silk, embroidered silk, satin silk, etc. All the materials help people to feel their clothing airy and cool.

Son Dong statue sculpturing village

For over 300 years, the craft has been preserved and developed by devoted and talented artisans. One of them was Nguyen Duc Dau (1898-1988). In 1986 when the national economy started the renewal process, Dau coordinated with Ha Noi College of Fine Arts to organize training courses in sculpturing statues for people in his commune. Since then, the craft has developed and the village now has 300 households engaging in the craft and about 4,000 skillful sculptors. The main products of the village are statues of Buddha, saints, national heroes and sacred animals for worshipping, such as horses and cranes. Here, the artisans only use the core of jackfruit trees to create statues because this type of wood is quite durable and rarely cracks which is suitable for making worshipping objects. During sculpturing, each artisan has his own secret to make unique products. Particularly, the artisans in Son Dong have become famous for the technique of sculpturing the faces on the statues. Thanks to the artisans’ skillful hands, the statues look refined with details of soulful and merciful expressions. In Son Dong, the technique on red-lacquer trimmed with good is rather sophisticated which uses gold and silver litmus. To further develop the traditional craft, the villagers have invested in modern machines and advanced technology, and specialized production. Each workshop takes responsibility for one stage, such as sculpturing, painting and designing.

Chuông Conical Hat Village

Located in Thanh Oai District, Hà Tây Province, Chuông Conical Hat Village is well-known for its special product “nón” by many foreign and domestic visitors. This small village is crowded with people who not o­nly come here to place orders but also witness the process of making “nón”. The main material for making “nón” is palm leaf. Chuông villagers have to choose the white shoots from Phú Thọ Province or “nón” leaf from Hà Tĩnh Province. Bamboo hammocks and conical hats must be imported from other provinces. Not o­nly old people but also children in this village know how to make conical hats. They take advantage of leisure after harvest time to make “nón”. This occupation helps villagers increase their incomes, improve their living standards and contribute to bettering their home village

Bronze casting village of Ngũ Xã

Ngũ Xã village is located on the side of Trúc Bạch Lake in Ba Đình District nowadays, and it is known as the craft village with traditional bronze casting profession. Legend has it that Zen Buddhist Grand Monk named Không Lộ who lived in the Lý Dynasty (1009-1225) was progenitor of the profession. He took best workers of five villages from the original Kinh Bắc area (Bắc Ninh Province today) to Thăng Long to establish a copper casting village called Ngũ Tràng Xã.

Since the 17th century, Ngũ Xã Village has become famous with many domestic appliances such as boilers, trays, and basins. Other famous products made by Ngũ Xã Village include Buddha statues, bells, incense burners, among which the greatest work is the bronze statue of Trấn Vũ God in the Quán Thánh Temple in Hà Nội.

The statue is 3.96 meters high, four tons in weight and was completed in 1677. In the temple of the village, there exists a Buddha statue with 5.5 meters high, weighting 14 tons, completed in 1952. In the 19th century, there were 90% of households in the village which ran the same copper casting job with some sophisticated technologies and know-how handed down from generation to generation.

Dong Ho Painting Village

Folk painting is o­ne of the special cultural features of Vietnam. Since the ancient time, there have been a lot of painting villages, such as Dong Ho village (Bac Ninh province), Hang Trong village (Hanoi), Kim Hoang village (Ha Tay province), Nam Hoanh village (Nghe An province), Sinh village (Hue city), and other villages in the south and mountainous areas. Dong Ho is located on the southern side of the Duong river (40km to the east of Hanoi) is one of the villages that preserves ancient cultural relics of Kinh Bac area (Red river delta, north of Vietnam). Dong Ho painting is printed by hand on the surface of wooden plate. Each printing colour has its own engraved board. The black one is printed last. Thanks to this way, paintings are made in bulk and do not require sophisticated techniques.

Tay Tuu flower village blossoms

Although the village of Tay Tuu was one of the last to switch from traditional farming to cultivating flowers, following the lead of villages like Ngoc Ha and Quang Ba, it has blossomed into being considered the flower granary of Hanoi Tay Tuu has become famous for its large variety of beautiful flowers that not o­nly grace local markets but are also exported abroad, and all the households in the village have become involved in this industry. Farmers in Tay Tuu used to specialise in traditional agriculture but this yielded a low income. In the 1990s, however, the farmers changed to growing flowering plants and spices. These crops brought in good profits and the standard of living in the village improved markedly. The Tay Tuu villagers first planted daisies imported from Taiwan and Singapore, but now are concentrating on growing roses on a large scale. 

Dong Xam Silver Village

Dong Xam Silver Village is located in Hong Thai Commune, the north of Kien Xuong District, Thai Binh Province. From 1681 up to now, the silvercraft skills in Dong Xam villages (Hong Thai district, Kien Xuong province) are still reserved as secret, inherited skills and like other traditional handicraft, the silvercraft of Dong Xam village has had to face a lot of challenges. During the feudal regime, to be able to inherit and learn the silvercraft skill was very difficult, moreover, the difficulty in good exchange activities between areas within small consumption market at that time had limited the silvercraft development.

After the war, from 1954, Dong Xam craftmen joined together with great determination to revive the traditional workshops. Cooperatives were opened to produce goods for the State such as cigarette trays, standing oil lamps, and fine-art boxes. During this period, Dong Xam silver products were mainly exported to Eastern Europe and Russia.

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