Hanoi in the past was understood as the capital, the market, a place with a rich culture and also the place where craft villages, craft streets, and bustling trading activities were formed. That is why this land has created its own culinary style with delicious and unique gifts. Gifts of the old Hanoians were often sold on the streets and alleys. The vendors were mostly women, often wearing brown four-panel shirts, crow-beak scarves, betel-bitten lips, black and even teeth like custard apple seeds, carrying carrying poles, baskets, and trays on every road, every street corner...
Hanoians are very sophisticated in snacking, there are snacks they can eat all year round but there are also things that are only eaten seasonally. In the autumn of Hanoi, when mentioning those “timely” snacks, we cannot ignore two famous specialties that have become the “brand” of this capital city. They are: Com lang Vong and ripe dracontomelon.
If you have the opportunity to visit the capital, you cannot miss green rice and ripe dracontomelon.
The scent of young rice lingers from the past until now
Com lang Vong is a specialty of Vong village, formerly known as Hau village, in Dich Vong commune, Tu Liem district, now in Dich Vong Hau ward, Cau Giay district, Hanoi city. According to the legend told by the village elders, Com lang Vong was accidentally born in an autumn thousands of years ago, when the rice began to "curl", it suddenly rained heavily, strong winds, dikes broke everywhere, the highest rice fields were also submerged in flood water, at that time the people of Vong village had to dive in the water to cut the young rice flowers to bring home to dry and eat to stave off hunger. They did not expect that this reluctant product had its own flavor, so attractive that the people of Vong village often made it for fun every autumn, gradually their Com products were used as tribute and became famous everywhere.
Com lang Vong is a specialty made from young sticky rice, going through stages such as: harvesting, soaking, roasting, pounding, then winnowing to produce many delicious com dishes famous in Hanoi. The most delicious are com la tamarind or com giot, more popular are com dau siem or com gia... These types of com are still a favorite gift of many people, only bought in autumn for the whole family to enjoy.
The special feature of Com Lang Vong is that this dish is often wrapped in two layers of leaves: the inner layer is fresh taro leaves to ensure that the Com does not dry out, the outer layer is a layer of lotus leaves that still have a faint fragrance and are tied with strings of sticky rice straw, making the dish imbued with its own unique identity and very sophisticated of Hanoi.
Green rice with banana and quail eggs is a specialty with the flavor of old Hanoi.
When the green rice season comes, Hanoians often eat green rice with bananas. Green rice used for this dish is usually green rice with tamarind leaves, or green rice depending on preference. The bananas to eat with it must be selected from the fragrant pink bananas due to ripeness, the type of banana with a thin skin on the outside that is dotted with small spots that are often compared to the color of "cuckoo eggs".
To enjoy this dish in the true Hanoi style, regardless of whether the diner is male or female, they must break the banana in half, peel it, and then dip it in fresh green rice. This combination creates a rich sweetness of banana mixed with the richness of green rice, the gentle aroma lingering on the tip of the nose helps people feel a delicious but very familiar taste. Not only fresh green rice, Hanoi people also create many famous delicious dishes such as: green rice dessert, fried green rice, green rice sticky rice, green rice sausage, green rice ice cream... Each dish made from green rice is delicious and has its own uniqueness.
Green rice also has many ways to prepare and eat as a fun snack.
When it comes to dishes made from green rice, perhaps the most special one is green rice cake. Green rice cake is a wonderful and sophisticated creation of the women of Hanoi in the past and then became famous without anyone knowing it gradually became deeply ingrained in the wedding culture of Hanoi people, so on each important occasion, green rice cake is always a product chosen as a wedding gift next to medicinal tea, lotus jam and betel and areca nuts... Green rice cake is made from fresh green rice, then people cook it with sugar and spread it thinly to cover the fried green bean filling with grated coconut inside. The standard green rice cake is not too sweet but has a light sweetness, retaining the aroma of green rice, green beans and grated coconut... This dish as well as other green rice dishes always delight diners everywhere.
Stir-fried green rice and green rice sticky rice are dishes you should try at least once.
Stir-fried green rice and green rice sticky rice are dishes you should try at least once.
The rich taste of star fruit over the years
Hanoi's star fruit is now less grown than before, but its flavor has not faded. Hanoi's star fruit is usually big, not astringent, and has a stronger sour taste than star fruit from other northern provinces such as Thai Nguyen, Lang Son or Ha Nam... The ripe yellow star fruit is a snack, peeled round with seeds, dipped in chili salt. In the past, ripe star fruit was often sold on the street and the vendors put it in a funnel-shaped paper package, along with a small packet of chili salt, instead of shaking it with salt and sugar like today. When enjoying ripe star fruit, people eat and dip it to feel the crunchiness of the star fruit pulp and the rich sweet and sour taste of this specialty.
Ripe star fruit just needs to be dipped with salt to be delicious enough.
Until the subsidy period later, ripe apricots were often sold in front of cinemas or theaters. On the old streets and old streets of Hanoi with countless other dishes such as: dried apricots, candies, chewing gum, ripe apricots... These dishes are like indispensable snacks for moviegoers.
Star fruit is a seasonal fruit, so people have processed many other dishes from star fruit such as: star fruit soaked in sugar, star fruit jam, star fruit soaked in fish sauce... to eat all year round. Star fruit soaked in sugar is always a favorite refreshing drink every summer in Hanoi. The star fruit must have the right amount of sweetness from rock sugar but still retain the characteristic sour taste and the strong spicy aroma of ginger. To make a delicious star fruit dish, it takes a lot of effort and a little secret. The finished product after processing is the star fruit that must be crispy, blooming, not shriveled or rotten, not looking unappetizing. The water for soaking star fruit must not have scum, have the aroma of ginger, and be a little spicy. When using, each cup has only two or three star fruit, drink the water to quench your thirst and eat to enjoy, exclaiming and craving.
Dried apricot is a dish that can only be found in Hanoi, few places can make it like this. People choose fresh and delicious apricots, the skin must be slightly dark to have a good taste, the young ones will spoil easily and the overripe ones will not be sour. The apricots are cleaned, then dried and blanched in boiling water, stir-fried with sugar until the apricots have a brown color like honey cake, then taken out. At this time, people add ginger and stir-fry with the apricots until the skin is firm, the ginger sticks to each apricot, then it is considered complete. Dried apricots are sweet, sour, spicy, rich in flavor, diners eat them and smack their lips, still feeling the aftertaste on the tip of their tongue.
Summer is also the season of crocodile soup.
In addition to dishes such as pickled apricots or apricot jam, Hanoians also use apricots to make soup. The apricots used to make soup must be of the “banh te” variety, not too old, not too young, to have a characteristic sour taste. The hardworking housewives of Hanoi usually only use apricots to sour soups made from pork or pork ribs, but never use them for soups made from fish or seafood. Every time the seasons change, people feel spoiled, so eating a bowl of vermicelli with apricot ribs is truly refreshing!
Nowadays, when many regions in the country have made green rice and sour plums, these gifts should still be enjoyed in Hanoi every autumn to fully experience the flavors and unique features. Autumn in Hanoi is often the most beautiful season, more beautiful than all other seasons of the year and is also the moment that easily moves and stirs people's hearts. When diners from all over the world have the opportunity to visit the capital, they should definitely take the time to try a package of fresh green rice and add some ripe sour plums to experience the unique flavors of a Hanoi from a long time ago.
*This article was consulted by traditional food restoration expert, chef Nguyen Phuong Hai.
Chef Nguyen Phuong Hai, expert in recreating traditional Vietnamese dishes.
