Over time, generation after generation, people of different ethnic groups have created dishes based on natural ingredients. Living in harmony, relying on nature, using natural products to prepare dishes, but people in each region, each area, and each ethnic group have new creations...
These days, many people choose to go to the Northwest and Northeast to see the majestic mountains. There, the climate is fresh and flowers are in full bloom. And during those trips, don’t forget to enjoy the delicious food. Among them, sticky rice leaves many unforgettable aftertastes…
Dien Bien sticky rice
Whenever you have the opportunity to come to Dien Bien, after visiting historical sites, don't forget to enjoy the sticky rice of the Thai ethnic people to feel the special flavor, much different from other types of sticky rice...
Sticky rice is grown in many provinces in the Northwest, but when mentioning the best sticky rice, people often think of Dien Bien sticky rice. The sticky rice grains are plump and round, when cooked they are shiny, sweet, fragrant, and soft.
The Thai people in Dien Bien are very particular about choosing rice. This is the decisive factor in making delicious sticky rice.
In Dien Bien, there are 2 types of sticky rice: upland sticky rice and field sticky rice. And the rice we use in this dish is upland sticky rice.
According to the experience of the Thai ethnic people, the characteristics of upland sticky rice are that the grains are usually large, coarse and have two colors: opaque white (rice grains that have been dried in the sun) and clear white (not yet dried in the sun). Although they blend together, if anyone knows how to eat them, they will often prefer to choose the type of rice with more clear white grains because it will give a more fragrant and sticky flavor.
Steaming upland sticky rice requires much more steps than rice grown in the plains. To have a pot of delicious and sticky upland sticky rice, Thai women often soak the rice for at least 8 hours (soaking the rice so that it does not become hard when steamed). After soaking, the plump, white rice grains are steamed in special wooden steamers of the Thai people. This type of wooden steamer is usually very airtight, so the steam when boiled, they "concentrate" completely to perform the task of cooking the rice grains.
If regular sticky rice only needs to be steamed once, according to the experience of Thai women, upland sticky rice must be steamed twice to be soft and fragrant. The first time, when the sticky rice gives off a fragrant aroma and the rice is just cooked, take it out, spread it out with chopsticks, leave it for a while, then pour it back into the wooden steamer and steam it this time until the sticky rice is evenly cooked. Dien Bien upland sticky rice is cooked by steam, soft, chewy but not sticky at all.
Most people who have had the opportunity to enjoy this sticky rice dish have the same feeling and unforgettable impression, not only because of the fragrant sticky rice grains but also because of the combination of many colors and the unique rich flavor of the Northwest grilled meat dish. This is also a special feature compared to sticky rice dishes of other regions.
Tourists visiting Dien Bien often buy hot sticky rice from ethnic people to eat on the road to warm their stomachs. In the cold of the Northwest mountains, visitors will find it hard to forget the fragrant, attractive taste of sticky rice. It is extremely enjoyable when you roll each handful of sticky rice in your hand, slowly enjoy it and when you spread your palm out, your hand still feels clean, without any sticky feeling.
To cook five-color sticky rice, people often use different types of leaves to create color.
Five-color sticky rice
When traveling to the highlands, you can find five-color sticky rice in many places. The Muong, Tay, Thai people... all have unique five-color sticky rice dishes. If you have the opportunity to visit Sa Pa (Lao Cai), you can learn about the process of making five-color sticky rice of the Tay people living here. The sophistication and meticulousness in the cooking methods of Tay women have created a unique five-color sticky rice dish that represents the unique identity of the highland people.
People here often make five-color sticky rice in ceremonies such as death anniversaries, weddings, housewarmings, and on New Year's Day, the 5th of May, the 15th of July every year, when the village holds a festival or the house has distinguished guests...
Five-color sticky rice is made from 5 types of sticky rice with 5 different colors. They are red, yellow, blue, purple and white. However, depending on the conditions of each region, they can mix or use different colors other than the above basic colors to create five-color sticky rice. The 5 colors of sticky rice represent the "five elements": yellow is the color of earth, blue is the color of wood, red is the color of fire, white is the color of metal, black is the color of water.
The ingredients for making five-color sticky rice include: fragrant, soft sticky rice, even grains, mixed with forest leaves for coloring. Red uses gac fruit, red rice leaves. Green uses ginger leaves, green rice leaves, or grapefruit peel, bitter bamboo shoot peel, burned to get ash and soaked in water mixed with a little lime. Yellow uses old turmeric, pounded to get the juice. Purple uses black rice leaves, or sau sau leaves...
Before dyeing the sticky rice, wash the glutinous rice and soak it in water for 6-8 hours so that the rice grains expand just right.
Divide the rice into 5 parts, each part corresponding to a color: if the sticky rice is red, boil it thoroughly with co khau leaves, drain the water and let it cool, then add the rice and mix well, leave for about an hour. When the rice grains have turned red, then steam the sticky rice, when cooked it has a very attractive bright red color.
Similarly, light red sticky rice and yellow sticky rice are also made from co khau leaves, but the preparation method and incubation time are slightly different. Purple and brown sticky rice are made from the black khau tree. Before being crushed, the leaves are heated over a fire until wilted, mixed with the ash of the núc nác fruit, filtered to get the water and mixed with sticky rice. When the sticky rice is cooked, it is purple, and when cooked, it turns brown...
The Tay people believe that if someone's sticky rice has the right color and is beautiful, they are considered skillful and successful in business.
Through the experience of mixing from folk to create five-color sticky rice, in addition to the delicious, fatty flavor, attractive by the color and substance of the forest leaves, it also has the effect of treating intestinal diseases and improving health very well.
Tay people's wood stove for sticky rice cooking.
Ant egg sticky rice Mu Cang Chai
Coming to Yen Bai, tourists are often "advised" to enjoy many delicious dishes of the highlands, imbued with the colors of the Dao, Tay, Thai people... In particular, the Mu Cang Chai ant egg sticky rice dish arouses curiosity and once tasted, you will remember it forever...
According to tradition, every year in February and March of the lunar calendar is the ant egg season. At that time, ethnic minorities in the Yen Bai highlands go into the forest. Usually, this job is undertaken by men. However, to get good ant eggs, they must be collected on sunny days. Otherwise, the ant eggs will be soaked in rainwater and will not taste good.
Not all types of ants can be used for eggs to prepare food. According to the experience of the people, the type of ant used for eggs is the black ant. When going into the forest, people look for large ant nests on trees and cut them down to collect the eggs. However, the people in the highlands never collect all the eggs in the nest, so that they can reproduce for the next crop.
Processing Mu Cang Chai ant egg sticky rice is quite meticulous and careful. The sticky rice is soaked and washed, soaked for 3-4 hours, then taken out, and steamed. When the rice grains are puffed up, they turn into a clear white color, plump, and fragrant. The ant eggs, after being taken home, are filtered to remove impurities and dirt, then soaked in clean warm water to stir gently, then washed and drained. After that, the ant eggs are marinated with spices and stir-fried with shallots and chicken fat until fragrant, just cooked and fragrant.
Ant eggs are placed in banana leaves and put into steamed sticky rice. The aroma of ant eggs combined with the aroma of sticky rice, the fatty taste of ant eggs along with fragrant fried onion fat will be very attractive to tourists.
People in the Yen Bai highlands often eat sticky rice with ant eggs and dried grilled stream fish with chili salt mixed with lemon...
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