1 - Thang Co
Thang Co is created by Hmong people in Vietnam,
Someone tried to explain the word by
Chinese-Vietnamese pronunciation - Thang Co
means soup of bones.
Materials to make Thang Co may be bone and
bowels of cows or horses. People in the northern
mountainous regions such as Lao Cai,
Ha Giang,
Yen Bai, when they go to market usually bring a
few bags of "men men" or corn cake put in the
basket bags and buy a bowl of Thang Co, that is
a full quality meal . When the mood is high they
can buy a bowl of corn wine.
Processing Thang Co is simple. Cow or horse
after slaughter , One filters the hams and
muscles apart to sell. The bones are cut to
small slices. Tendons, fat and broken parts are
filtered out along with curdled blood cut into
small pieces plus heart, lung, liver is enough
basic materials to make a Thang Co.
After a fire to boil water in a pan, one put
everything into the pan and cook constantly and
throw away the dirty scum on top. Thang Co is
served very hot, diners have to blow to cool it
down, salt or spicies are left outside , one can
add as much as they like.
2 - "Cha Ruoi"in Hai Duong
Cha Ruoi is made from the most popular
ingredients. According to Vietnamese dictionary,
Ruoi is a kind of worm, with little hairy body,
they are born seasonal and live in breakish
water. Ruoi appears the most in late September
or October every year.
Hai Duong is in the Red River delta , is
surrounded by large rivers full of alluvium
flowing out to the sea, it is the meating point,
the main junction of rivers and tidal waves that
makes breakish water. It is where the Ruoi is
born. Ruoi is impossible to raise, outside the
season no one can find any Ruoi
However in late September of early October the
whole fields are full of immense Ruoi, people
picking Ruoi just use a net or a racket, and if
want to get more of it one has to spend a little
more work. Normally one make a hole on the bank
of the field and let water flow through it, and
they put a net at the hole to catch Ruoi. One
just stands on the bank, put Ruoi into the boat
and bring it to market, the best Ruoi is sold to
hotels, restaurants in Hanoi, normal class is
sold in local markets.
One has to know how to choose Ruoi, the Ruoi has
to be pink and fat, strong and moving fast in
the baskets. After beating Ruoi thoroughly into
powder the Ruoi is yellow, Ruoi will be fried
with eggs. Cha Ruoi is served with some spices
to make it " identity " One cannot just buy
additional bacon, fresh duck eggs, posing
leaves, ginger , pepper , seasoning , fish sauce
especially tangerine peel.
3 - Nhech salad in Thai Binh
In the coastal area of Thai Thuy, beside the
famous seafood of Khoai fish one dish is also
famous is Nhech salad. Nhech has a similar color
and shape as the fresh water eel but a bit
longer. The smaller Nhech is the better salad it
makes as it's bones are soft, smooth and sweet.
Nhech is made clean with firewood ash and
leaves. Head and tail are thrown away, only the
body is served. Nhech is cut into pieces, from
2-3 cm. Each piece has cuts on it, not
completely off apart, then make it dry with
towels and put into bowls, sprinkle with fresh
chili powder, crushed galangal , rice powder and
wait for the flavor to wake up.
Water to make salad taste sour and sweet, make
from tomato and sugar. Nhech salad is served
with vegetables such as lemon. |