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ADVENTURE OF FINDING DELICOUS CUISINE IN VIETNAM

Delicious “khoai cánh tiên” sweet soup, similar to potato with a brown skin, like Taro

Thursday, 09/25/2014 12:13
A pot of sweet soup has a green color and the delicious aroma of “khoai cánh tiên” mixed with pandan leaves.

My aunt get married and moved to Binh Thuan province. Sometimes I go to visit her and every time I come she usually cooks many good dishes for me. My favorite is this rustic sweet soup named “chè cánh tiên”. My aunt told me that there is only Taro grown in Binh Thuan and it is the best. Therefore” Chè cánh tiên” is available in Binh Thuan only.



It has been about 7 years since I could come back to visit my aunt in Binh Thuan and I had a mission there. My aunt still cooked for me a bowl of “Chè cánh tiên” and although it’s just a simple dish, it brought back so many good memories.

I like “chè khoai cánh tiên” not because my aunt told me that it is a unique dish in Binh Thuan but because it tastes a little bit fat, clammy and have a good aroma. However despite how much I miss the dish, the distance and a busy work schedule meant that that I couldn’t get back to visit my aunt often, be a child in her arms again and enjoy a bowl of chè khoai cánh tiên.

Khoai cánh tiên” is a kind of potato but has the shape similar as taro and is only available in Binh Thuan province. There are two kinds of root: one has one main trunk and other 5 additional trunks growing out from the main trunk. It looks like a hand with 5 fingers; this is the best root if harvested in the right season. It is called “cánh tiên” which means the wings of fairy. The round kind is shaped differently purely because it is picked early. The skin looks like taro but the inside has yellow color like potato.

Normally they weigh about 100 to 200 gr though they can grow to 300gr. If it doesn’t rain then the potato will have a very good aroma and taste, but if it rains the potato, when cooked, will be hard. When cooking “chè khoai cánh tiên” you shouldn’t cut it but just use the knife to pierce it, because the potato is so clammy that it becomes sticky. By doing this the potato will be softened in the regular way.

It is quite simple to cook this dish. The coconut is scraped and about half bowl of warm water is poured in to create the coconut juice, which is then set aside. Two additional bowls of water are added to draw all the remaining juice out which is then placed into a pot. Then pandan leaves are blended remove the juice. Mix the coconut and pandan juice together in the pot. Add a little bit of sugar and the potato. Also add one coffee spoon of salt into the pot and cook for about 15 minutes before adding the concentrated coconut juice. Cook for a further 10 minutes and wait for the potato to become really soft, before adding more sugar to taste (brown sugar from My Tho province is the best).

Some people cook this dish with peeled green beans and put both potato and green beans into the pot. Just adding green bean is the only difference.

Only a small bowl of sweet soup, but it has a lot of love for the country

When the sweet soup is well cooked it takes on a green color and has the good smell of the potato mixed with the smell of pandan leaves. Each piece of potato is melt in the mouth soft. The yellow color of potato and peeled green bean is as beautiful as the sand-hills at Mui Ne and the blue of the ocean at Binh Thuan. Only a small bowl of sweet soup, but it has the love of the country.

These potatoes are grown a lot in Phan Ri and Phu Long. This dish is very common for all families in Binh Thuan province and is normally cooked for big festivals such as Tet, “Tết Thanh Minh”, a day everyone goes to pay their respects to family members in the cemetery; mid-year celebration; Vu Lan ceremony; or the full moon in October etc. However, if you can’t wait for these opportunities and want to try this dish, then can go to Phan Thiet market or Tanh Linh Viet restaurant.

It has been 7 years since I could get back to Binh Thuan to visit my aunt. She picked me up and treated me with this simple dish, it touches my heart and brought back many good memories.

There was a surprise for me that when I arrived at the Possanus Resort. Mrs Lieu Thi Thu Truong told me that she would introduce me to a sweet soup that can only be found in Binh Thuan, I immediately thought about “chè khoai cánh tiên”.



As I thought this rustic dish, which is usually only for people used to a life of sun, sand and strong ocean breezes, is now served on the luxury tables in expensive hotels and restaurants like this.

I felt happy because each rustic dish, when it becomes a memory, becomes part of your country, culture and your original source.

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Dan tri

Extracted from articles written especially for Golden Spoon 2014 called “A journey of searching traditional rustic dishes”

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