4 elaborate and delicious dishes that evoke the flavors of Tet in old Hanoi.

It's not easy to cook a traditional Hanoi Tet feast with many strict requirements, even requiring a large group of people to work together. In a conversation with journalist Vu Thi Tuyet Nhung, who has years of experience researching Hanoi cuisine, Travellive learned many interesting things: "To cook Tet dishes exactly like my mother did, you need many siblings to gather and work together. For example, to make a bowl of bun thang (a type of noodle soup), one person needs to fry the eggs, another to pick the vegetables, and another to watch the broth pot to finish. Nowadays, it's much harder work."

According to Ms. Vu Thi Tuyet Nhung, there are four distinctive dishes that clearly reflect the atmosphere of traditional Hanoi Tet, requiring many skills that not everyone can master. Each dish is eaten on a different day of the new year, bringing a complete and fulfilling Tet celebration.

Beautiful dark veining

Moc Van Am is a dish somewhat similar to jellied meat because it also uses pork skin to form a jelly, covering the ingredients inside. For many families, this dish isn't very common. However, in ancient times, it was a traditional dish eaten on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

According to Ms. Tuyet Nhung, her mother's recipe for "moc van" refers to the three main ingredients: minced pork, pork skin, and shiitake and wood ear mushrooms: "Nowadays, people add carrots and peas, but in reality, only minced pork, pork skin, and shiitake and wood ear mushrooms are needed for the dish to last longer and not lose its flavor."

First, mince the ground pork until very smooth, then mix it thoroughly with hot pork (freshly butchered meat) and fish sauce, pepper, wood ear mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms. The cook gently applies a little lard to their palms and rolls the mixture into small balls, placing them in a steamer and steaming them over vigorously boiling water. After steaming, the meatballs are placed in a broth made from simmered pork bones and pork skin, seasoned with fish sauce and salt, and strained until clear.

Next, the pork skin is thoroughly cleaned of hair, washed several times, then simmered until tender in water, and the steamed meatballs are added. Afterward, it's placed in a bowl to solidify, then inverted onto a plate like jellied meat. The pork skin forms a cloud-like covering over the meatballs, hence the dish's name, "cloudy meatballs."

Shrimp rolls require meticulous hands.

Traditionally, shrimp rolls were a popular dish on Tet (Lunar New Year) feast tables on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th days of the lunar month. According to Ms. Tuyet Nhung, this is the time for offering sacrifices to the ancestors, and people want to eat a refreshing, unique dish that is still nutritious.

Each shrimp spring roll consists of a freshwater shrimp, a piece of rice vermicelli, a sprig of herbs (such as Vietnamese coriander and cilantro), shredded omelet, and thinly sliced ​​boiled pork. All of these are wrapped in a lettuce leaf and tied with a blanched spring onion.

Like all other spring rolls, the dipping sauce is the soul, giving the shrimp spring rolls their special flavor. Ms. Tuyet Nhung reveals her secret to making a truly excellent dipping sauce.

First, mix one ladle of fish sauce with one ladle of vinegar and one ladle of sugar, then add five ladles of water, and a few drops of water beetle essence. If using water beetles, omit pepper and garlic. The dipping sauce for shrimp rolls is incomplete without chili peppers for an appealing spicy kick. Another special ingredient is fermented rice vinegar simmered with molasses. All of these elements combine to create an unforgettable shrimp roll dish.

She added: "This dish requires meticulousness and skill because if you don't roll it properly, it will fall apart. But once rolled, the whole meal looks much more beautiful and vibrant."

The vermicelli soup has a fragrant aroma.

Bun thang is a dish many people enjoy after the second day of Tet (Lunar New Year), when the whole family has started to get tired of chicken and banh chung (traditional Vietnamese rice cake). Making bun thang is elaborate, and it's only possible for a large family to cook it.

First, the cook uses dried prawns (if not available, use peeled prawns) and simmers them with chicken bones, pork bones, and a few pieces of roasted sugarcane. While cooking, the heat must be carefully controlled to ensure the broth is clear. Once the broth boils, immediately skim off the foam and reduce the heat.

For the chicken, housewives choose castrated roosters or laying hens, boil them, and debone the meat. Next, they add carefully picked coriander. The rice noodles must be thin noodles that have been blanched briefly in boiling water.

According to Ms. Tuyet Nhung, traditional bun thang (a type of Vietnamese noodle soup) didn't include onions and shiitake mushrooms, but now people are starting to use them. For her, the most laborious step is frying the eggs: "Frying eggs for bun thang is not simple at all. The pan should be only slightly hot, then lightly greased with a little lard and wiped clean. Beat the eggs quickly with white wine, salt, and a little water, then pour them into the pan in small spoonfuls, spreading them around the pan to form a thin, round piece, flipping it quickly, and removing it from the heat."

In the end, it was time for everyone to lend a hand. The omelet was sliced ​​into thin strips, then arranged on a plate. The pork sausage was chopped into chunks, and the pickled radish in fish sauce and sugar was also laid out. Someone poured a ladle of piping hot broth over the noodles and the already cooled ingredients in the bowl, added a spoonful of shrimp paste, and then enjoyed it. It was this final spoonful of shrimp paste that helped the seemingly disparate ingredients blend together, awakening a taste buds that had grown weary of fish, meat, and sticky rice dishes...

In the old days, mothers-in-law often tested their daughters-in-law's culinary skills with plates of sliced ​​omelets. The challenge was to slice them skillfully and evenly. Bun thang (a type of Vietnamese noodle soup) is also served with a little shrimp floss made from dried shrimp, creating an attractive and delicate flavor in the bowl.

Sauté almonds for a drinking party.

Almond stir-fry, a clever dish to counteract the richness of other foods, was invented by our ancestors for the Lunar New Year. Moreover, it was a popular snack that every family used to have on their table during the first days of the new year, enjoyed with celebratory drinks.

"In the old days, almonds were very precious, and people often mixed them with peanuts in stir-fries, but now they only use almonds in stir-fries," journalist Tuyet Nhung confided.

Almonds are stir-fried separately with other ingredients such as chicken gizzards, pork tenderloin, kohlrabi, carrots, jicama, and peas. Then, the cook meticulously blanches the vegetables in chicken broth or bone broth with salt. Next, the stir-fried vegetables are mixed with the meat and salted roasted almonds, then briefly fried in oil. Everything is mixed together, served on a plate, and sprinkled with pepper and cilantro. This was a prized dish in the old days, with its harmonious blend of vegetables and meat. The dish has a light and pleasant flavor, making it a favorite accompaniment to rice and drinks, appreciated by everyone in the family, young and old.

These four dishes not only embody the culinary essence of Hanoi in every bite, but also represent the pride of skillful housewives of the past. In the old days, mothers-in-law often tested their daughters-in-law's cooking skills with these four challenging "tests."

This goes to show that lavish feasts have existed throughout history, but to create and perfect delicious, harmonious dishes with rich cultural identity, we, their descendants, must also learn from and contemplate the dishes of our ancestors. If you're unsure what to cook this Tet holiday, Travellive invites you to try your hand at preparing a feast with the dishes mentioned above!

Ha Chuu