Việt Nam’s biggest, most important traditional festival, Tết (Lunar New Year Festival), is a time of renewal, a time to welcome Spring, a time to thank Gods and ancestors and pray for their blessings. Special dishes are made to offer the Gods before they are shared by family and friends.
Sour & spicy: Dưa hành (pickled welsh onion) helps digest a heavy Tết meal.
In
that spirit, Foodwise shares with you some stories about a few delicious Tết
dishes cooked in the country’s three regions.
There
are nine traditional dishes made in the north of the country, but one that can
be considered the very soul of Vietnamese Tết is the bánh chưng (square cake).
This
special cake carries the fragrance and sweetness of glutinous rice, the buttery
taste of green bean, the meaty flavour of pork and light hotness of
peppercorns.
For
thousands of years, this cake has always been present on the ancestral altar of
every family in the north.
The
legend is that the 6th Hùng King, who wanted someone to succeed him, told
princes that he would abdicate it to whoever brings the most special things to
worship Heaven and Earth before the Lunar New Year.
Most
of the princes searched high and low, in the mountains and the seas, looking
for special offerings, but the 18th prince, Lang Liêu, stayed put. A deity
informed him that there is nothing more valuable than rice, because it is the
food that feeds the people. The deity advised the prince to use glutinous rice
to make square and round cakes to represent Heaven and Earth, and wrap it with
a leaf and a dumpling, representing the mother and father giving birth to a
child.
When
the cakes were offered to the king, he was so pleased that gave up his throne
to Liêu and named the square cake bánh chưng and the round cake bánh dày.
Since
then, these cakes have been indispensable on the worship tray as generation
after generation of Vietnamese people offer their thanks to Heaven and Earth.
The two cakes are also prominent among the many things on the tray when
worshipping the Hùng King’s death anniversary on the 10th day of the third
lunar month.
Lý
Thị Oanh, 80, of Nam Định Province’s Trực Ninh Village, recalled that in the
past, all families, rich and poor, cooked the cake to welcome Tết.
“Though
my family was very poor, my mother spent money on buying glutinous rice and
green beans to make the cake because the village elders always said we can face
hunger all year round, but not on the three days of Tết.”
Oanh
said she’s never forgotten the days when her six brothers and sisters joined
their mother in wrapping the bánh chưng. “I can still remember the delicious and
nutty taste of the cake although it was cooked without a piece of meat.”
She
said she feels sorry for today’s youth, particularly those in urban areas,
because they have very few opportunities these days to wrap and cook bánh chưng
on their own, instead of buying it from markets.
Other favourites
The
other eight Tết dishes typical to the north of the country are: dưa hành
(pickled welsh onion), giò lụa (lean pork paste), giò thủ (pig’s head paste),
thịt đông (pork meat cut into pieces cooked with fish sauce and peppers until
it is well stewed and then let it cool and freeze it on the refrigerator), nem
rán (fried spring roll), canh măng (dried bamboo shoots soup) ,canh bóng (pig’s
dried skin soup), gà luộc (boiled chicken) and chè kho (soft green bean) cake.
MasterChef
judge Phạm Tuấn Hải, a Hà Nội native, said dưa hành was a dish that adds to the
Tết cheer. The light sourness and spiciness of the onion not only adds flavour,
it also helps digest a heavy meal, he said.
Nem
rán, once only cooked for Tết parties, are now so popular that they can be had
everyday or every weekend.
Hải
said he is particularly fund of the fried rolls made by his grandmother because
of its aromatic crispy cover, tasty and delicious filling, and lightly salty,
sour, sweet and peppery dipping sauce.
He
also said a Tết offering tray should never lack a boiled rooster, because it is
believed that offering this dish to Heaven and Earth on the New Year Day will
ensure an auspicious start and bring in an abundance of happiness.
“Dipping
a piece of the yellow chicken covered with thin strips of lemon leaves in a
sauce of salt, pepper, chili and lemon juice is one of the most enjoyable,
characteristic Tết experiences,” Hải said.
The
chè kho (soft green-bean) cake is another popular Tết dish in the north,
particularly among Hanoians, Hải said.
“The
ingredients of chè kho are simple, green beans, white sesame and sugar, but
they come together to create an irresistible taste and texture – cool and so
soft that it melts quickly in the mouth.”
Crisp: Nem rán (fried spring rolls) is one of the most delicious dishes of Tết.
Melting: Chè kho, a soft green bean cake is a popular Tết dish in the north.
Mixed goodness: Dried pig’s skin cooked with mushroom, shrimps and other ingredients.
Soul food: Bánh chưng (square cake) is a dish that is most identified with Tết. — Photos dulichvietnam.com
By Vietnamnews