Salted, pickled onions are one of the most tasty foods at Tet (Photo: monngon.org)Hanoi (VNA) - Rich or poor, Vietnamese at home or abroad carefully cooktraditional dishes to put on the home altar to worship their ancestorsduring Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.
At Tet, each ethnic group has its own culinary specialties that reflectthe culture of their people. Most Kinh (Vietnamese ethnic majority) peoplestart preparations a month before the festival.
Many people usually cook nine dishes: banh chung (square sticky ricecake), dua hanh (pickled onions), gio nac (boiled lean porksausage) and gio thu (boiled pork head sausage), thitdong (frozen meat), nem ran (spring rolls), canhmang ( bamboo shoot soup), canh bong tha (dried pig skin soup),boiled chicken, and che kho (sweet green bean paste).
Of all the dishes, banh chung is the soul of Tet, reflecting thequintessence of heaven and earth through the skilled hands of humans. My motherhad to invest much time and effort to make the cakes. She had to choose the mostfragrant and fibrous sticky rice to make a cake that can last for a month. Theyoften had pork, green beans, dried onions and pepper in the centre.
I remember my mother wrapping the cake like a professional. In two hours, shewould wrap 30 big square cakes (1.5kg each), which she asked us to line them upin a big pan for almost 14 hours. “Your mother’s banh chung are themost tasty and they are much bigger than others,” said one of my neighbours.
The cakes are often eaten with dưa hành (pickled onion) because itssour and light peppery flavour helps digestion. Meanwhile, gionac and gio thu have remained on the offering food trayat Tet from the past to the present.
Culinary expert Nguyen Anh Tuyet said for Vietnamese, a plate of these foodshad played an important role in turning traditional offerings into delicacies.
Thit dong (frozen meat) of pork or chicken is aparticular Tet dish for northerners.
Tuyet said the dish was easy to cook. Ingredients included bacon or chickenplus 0.2kg of pig skin. All are cut into small rectangles (two fingers) thenstewed slowly for an hour and then let cool before putting in a fridge.
“In the past, few people had a fridge, so I often put a pot of thitdong on the ground outside for the night during the winter. The cold frozethe food, which was served with pickled onions,” said Tuyet. "One neverforgets its taste."
Most Vietnamese offer a whole boiled chicken to their ancestors.Nem (spring rolls) is a popular dish in the north that always has a placeon a Tet food tray because it is so flavourful and healthy. It ismade out of minced pork, carrots, wood ear fungus, green-bean sprouts, beanglass noodles and other ingredients. The fried rolls are then dipped into abowl of sauce of mixed fish sauce, sugar, lemon or vinegar, chili and mincedgarlic.
The Tet food tray of northerners never lacks a big bowl of canhmang kho (dried bamboo shoot soup). Tuyet said the soup could be eatenthroughout the Tet holiday. “Canh mang with rice vermicelli or noodleshelps always is a winner,” she said.
Canh bong thap cam (Assorted dried pig skin soup) is a Hanoi delicacy madefrom kohlrabi, carrots, peas, shrimp, pork tenderloin, and lean pork paste. “Itis a dainty dish. Hanoians often cut the carrots into flower shapes, scoop thepork paste into balls and slice the fried eggs into thin threads. They add itto the chicken broth with dried skin pig (similar to dried fish bladder),” saidTuyet.
The last two dishes on the tray are boiled chicken and che kho (sweetgreen bean paste). People believe the boiled chicken offered to heaven inspring will bring advantages and happiness year round. Yellow-chicken meatcovered with sliced lemon leaves is dipped in a bowl of salt, lemon, chili andpepper. “It is more enjoyable when eating a 1.3-1.4kg free range chicken raisedby small farmers,” said Tuyet.
Che kho is another popular dish with Hanoians. The dish is made of greenbeans, white sesame and sugar. Elderly people say the dish brings children goodluck at studies and good health for themselves. “The dish exudes the specialfragrance of green beans and has the buttery taste of white sesame. It melts inyour mouth,” Tuyet said.
Che kho or soft green lentil cake is a Tet desert believed to bring good luck. 
Bamboo soup helps people to feel better at Tet. Ethnic groups, such as the Mong, Thai, Muong, Tay, Nung, Dao, and Co Tu,have their own New Year dishes.
Culinary expert Le Kim Chi said for the Mong, their Tet tray shouldinclude dishes such as pork, wine, round cakes made from glutinous rice andmaize cakes.
Fried fish is the specific dish of the Thai. They believe the stream deity willprotect them from danger.
Chi said the Nung group often made banh khao from dried glutinousrice powder, minced pork fat and sugar to worship their ancestors. The elderlysaid the sweet fat in the cake would prevent unlucky happenings in the NewYear.
Meanwhile, the Co Tu in Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands) make their ownwine known as ruou Ta Vat and ruou can to welcome Tet. Allvisitors at New Year are invited to enjoy these wines.
Buffalo-horn cake from the Co Tu ethnic group in the Central Highland region. Each Dao household has its own thit lon chua (sour pork), locallyknown as o sui, in New Year holidays. Ingredients include pork, salt, andcool rice. The dish should be eaten with la lot (wild lolot leaves)and la prang lau (a kind of wild leaf), and dipped in a bowl of mixedlemon and chili.
The Tay welcome Lunar New Year with a roast piglet. They often chooselocal piglets with small bones, firm and lean meat weighing from 20kg to 30kg.People often put mac mat (a kind of wild leaf and fruit) mixed withspices in the pig’s belly and cover the skin with honey. They then roast it oncharcoal for three hours until well done. The food is dipped in a sweet andfragrant sauce gotten from the pig’s belly.
One Tay elder, Nong Van Coong, said in the past rich people often offered anentire roast piglet on their altar, while the poor used only the head.
Coong said this tradition had existed for hundreds of years because his peoplebelieved the pig offering brings them a bumper harvest and good life in the NewYear.-VNA
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