Bun chua nuoc, banh te dieu... hard-to-find delicacies of Hue cuisine

Hue is the ancient capital, where culinary art bears its own mark with the beauty of elegance, sophistication and diversity, from royal cuisine to folk cuisine. In particular, Hue women play an important role in preserving Hue cuisine, because they themselves are passed down cooking secrets from their mothers and grandmothers according to family tradition. Generation after generation, they are like artisans preserving the beauty of Hue cuisine through every daily meal in the family.

No matter where they go or what they do, Hue people can never forget the familiar smell of their mother's kitchen.

Ma Thuong left Hue to live in Nha Trang for more than 50 years, but whether she is in Nha Trang or wherever she goes, she still brings Hue dishes with her. As a mother and wife, she cooks every day as a natural and simple thing, cooking each meal for her husband and children, the more she cooks, the more delicious and authentic the dish will be. Even though she is old, she still likes to make Hue dishes for her children and grandchildren to enjoy. For banh nam, bot loc or banh canh tom, she often goes to the market to buy flour, banana leaves and other ingredients, then kneads the dough, cuts the dough, makes the filling, meticulously preparing each step to make delicious dishes for her family.

Tapioca dumplings

Starting with banh bot loc, ma Thuong shares the story of a Hue woman who nurtures family love through ancient dishes.

Ma Thuong wrapping cakes at the Hue event - Remembering our old mother

Hue's Banh Bot Loc is a simple, easy-to-eat, easy-to-make rustic dish. Along with Banh Nam and Banh It, Banh Bot Loc has created a unique feature for Hue cuisine.

Banh nam

Hue Banh Nam is a rustic dish with a delicious, soft, and slightly shrimp-flavored flavor. This is a dish that can satisfy the taste of any tourist who visits the ancient capital and enjoys this specialty.

Shrimp noodle soup

Shrimp noodle soup is also a Hue dish loved by many diners with chewy noodles, rich and sweet broth from shrimp.

If the story of Ma Thuong is the story of a Hue woman who keeps the flavor of her homeland in her home, Dao Huu Quy - a TikToker living and working in Hue, wants to share the story in the way of a young person preserving and spreading the beauty of Hue culture in modern times.

Rice noodles with vinegar

Huu Quy shared that vermicelli with vinegar is considered a precious gift, a dish reserved for the nobility in Hue in the past.

To make the vermicelli with vinegar more flavorful and delicious, striped shrimp and crunchy vermicelli feet are indispensable.

The original Bun Nuoc vinegar is known as a summer dish because the nuoc only appears once a year in the summer in the brackish water areas of Hue.

Dao Huu Quy introduces and guides how to make vermicelli with vinegar

However, nowadays people can replace the nuoc with jellyfish to make this dish more popular. The unique and elaborate feature of the dish is the way of preparing 2 types of broth: one is cooked from liver combined with soy sauce, peanuts and sesame; and one is from goby caught on the Perfume River. It can be said that the sweet and rich taste when combining these 2 types of broth with vermicelli and ingredients such as nuoc, hand-pounded crab cakes, shrimp, adding a little rice paper, raw vegetables, and Hue's typical spicy chili sauce will be an unforgettable culinary experience. Bun chua nuoc is cold, eating it will cool the body. Therefore, Hue people often eat this dish after lunch.

Jam cake

Talking about Hue cuisine, we cannot help but mention the richness of cakes and sweet soups.

Jam cake, a traditional cake often made on occasions when there are parties in the house, ancestors' death anniversaries or simply when in the Hue family's garden there are many ripe fruits, the mothers feel sorry for not eating them all, so they will make cakes, or at the end of the year when the family makes jam for Tet, the leftover jam scraps will also be used to make jam cake.

Cashew cake

In the memories of some Hue people who are descendants of kings and mandarins, every time there is a death anniversary in the family, the grandmother, mother and aunts together make all kinds of cakes and Hue dishes to worship the ancestors. Some of these cakes still exist today, such as the te dieu cake.

There are two types of Banh Te Dieu. The first type is also called Banh 7 Lua, the main ingredient is mung beans and must go through 7 elaborate steps: soak mung beans in hot water, then peel off the shell, roast and grind finely, sprinkle with dew, simmer with sugar water, rub smooth with flour and print in a mold. Next, peel the bamboo, bend and clamp the cake and bake it on charcoal until the cake is golden and crispy. The second type of Banh Te Dieu is made from dried lotus seed powder.

Taste of Home - Remembering My Mother

The series of events honoring the cuisine of Homeland Flavors organized by Man Moi restaurant is a collaboration with prestigious Vietnamese culinary experts, cultural researchers and local culinary artisans, to organize cultural discussions, cooking demonstrations, and culinary tastings... to honor and promote typical dishes from 63 regions of Vietnam, introducing the beauty of local culture through cuisine throughout the regions of Vietnam.

Photo: FB Man Moi

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thoi-trang-tre/bun-giam-nuoc-banh-te-dieu-nhung-mon-ngon-kho-tim-cua-am-thuc-hue-185240626101354517.htm