|
Banh
Chung
As the banh tet
trung thu is a must for Tet Trung Thu, the banh
chung is a must for the celebration of Tet.
Banh chung is made of glutinous rice, pork meat, and
green bean paste, wrapped in a square of bamboo leaves,
giving the rice a green color after boiling.
Banh chung is a must for Tet not only because it is
a nutritious and delectable treat, but also because the
story of its origin resonates the beauty of Vietnamese
culture and folk-lore. Following is the story of
the banh chung, as re-told by San Francisco
Chronicle’s Mai Pham:
Legend has it that
King Hung Vuong VI one year challenged his 22 sons that
whoever came up with the best food dish for Tet would
inherit the throne. While all
the other princes searched far and wide for the most
exotic dishes to present to their father, Lang Lieu, son
No. 16―the shyest and kindest of all―created an
extraordinary dish using simple ingredients. The recipe
was based on a dream in which a genie told him the dish
that wins the throne must be made with rice. He
instructed the prince to take sticky rice and form it
into a square to symbolize the earth and tuck mung bean
paste and pork in the middle. After that, wrap the cakes
with banana leaves and cook for one day and one night.
The prince followed the
genie's instructions, and prepared banh chung for
the king. After eating the cakes, the king was ecstatic
and proclaimed son No. 16 heir to his throne. Later when
he learned of the dream, the king became further
convinced that not only did the cakes represent the
bountiful green earth (the green tinge came from the
banana leaves) but the cakes were blessed because of the
celestial connection. The king ordered that the recipe
be shared with all commoners, and thanks to that decree
banh chung is today an official Tet food.
 
Fruits
Sweets and
candied fruits dyed in bright red or orange are consumed
for good luck are a must for Tet. Homes are decorated
with potted tangerine or kumquat trees because they
symbolize prosperity and fertility and red festive
banners with gold script offer wishes and greetings for
the new year.
   
Main Dishes
For many families, the rest of
the Tet menu can include any dish, although whole
chickens and fish are traditional because they symbolize
abundance. However, these dishes also traditionally
vary by the location where families live in Vietnam, as
the availability of different foods vary by region.
These regional differences result in a rather diverse
array of main dishes that Vietnamese people in America
now choose to cook, to create their own flavors of Tet.
Following are the traditional main dishes of North,
Central, and Southern Vietnam.
|
Northern Vietnam
|
Hue
(Central Vietnam) |
Southern Vietnam |
|
The
menu for the Tet banquet includes pig trotters
stewed with dried bamboo shoots, boiled chicken,
carp cooked in salted sauce, jellied meat, and
kohlrabi, cauliflower or onion fried with pig
skin or lean pork. Thus, the menu includes meat,
fish and vegetables. In addition, there are two
other items that can not be missed: Banh
chung and hanh muoi (pickled onions).
|
In
Hue, the ancient imperial city, the culinary
arts reached its best in feudal times with
hundreds of dishes created for the occasion of
Tet for the kings and the royal family. Now
during Tet, every family in Hue has Banh tet
(round shaped glutinous rice cake),
sugarcoated coconut, roasted melon seeds, and
different pork dishes. The menu may also include
beef cooked with garlic and garligale, various
kinds of meat pies such as gio thu (pig's
head meat pies), cha lua (pork bologna),
grilled shrimp pies, boned pig's trotter stuffed
with meat, nem chua (fermented pork
hash), pickled scallion, unripe banana cooked in
sweet and sour sauce. Preserved fruits are also
masterpieces of Hue women. Women here make all
kinds of preserved fruit such as ginger, waxy
pumpkin, apple, orange, lemon and carrot in
various shapes and colors. To welcome Tet is to
welcome the spring. However, in January, which
is spring time, the weather is still cold. It is
a good idea to warm up with a cup of hot tea and
a slice of preserved ginger. In Hue, ginger is
grown on the hills. A ginger root from Hue is
not as big as the ones grown in Hanoi, but it
has a golden yellow color and a special flavor.
|
For
Tet, every family has a pot of pork cooked in
coconut milk with salt. As the coconut tree is
very popular in his region, the Southerners are
accustomed to making use of its milk or its oil
when they prepare food, which gives cooked food
a special flavor. Pork cooked in coconut milk
should have all the skin, fat and lean sections.
When done, the fat section looks transparent and
the lean one turns reddish with the flavor of
coconut milk. Also, there are pickled green bean
sprouts with leeks, sliced carrot and turnip.
When you eat pickled bean sprouts with pork
cooked in coconut milk, you will enjoy it and
never get sick of it. As it is warmer in the
South than in the North and the Central region,
cooked meat is more popular in the North as it
stays unspoiled for a longer time. Another
favorite for many people is bitter melon stuffed
with meat. It is believed by many older people
that bitter melon is antipyretic, nutritious and
may treat many diseases. Banh tet and
banh trang (rice waffle) are a must on the
Tet menu. Vegetables boiled or cooked meat and
pickled bean sprouts wrapped in a thin banh
trang make a good dish in hot weather.
Banh tet usually goes well with dried
turnips soaked in fish sauce.
|
     
For a link
to other Tet recipes:
http://www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/vietnam/culture/foods_fruits/vif.frmfoods.htm
Sources
“Festivals Tet.” [On-line].
Available:
http://www.wompom.ca/vietnam/vnfestiv02.htm
“Let Them Eat Cake.” [On-line].
Available:
http://www.vwam.com/vets/travel/tetcakes.html
Pham, Mai. “A Vietnamese New
Year” San Francisco Chronicle February 20, 2000
[On-line]. Available:
http://www.lemongrassrestaurant.com/eastwest-newyear.htm
“Tet
Nguyen Dan.” [On-line]. Available:
http://www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/vietnam/introduction/people_customer/tet_nguyen_dan.htm
“Vietnamese Foods.” [On-line].
Available:
http://vietnam.sawadee.com/food.htm
Ward, Tracy. “Tet-The Vietnamese
New Year.” [On-line]. Available:
http://www.teacherlink.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/wardtet.html
http://teltic.vnn.vn/entertainment/huongvivn/mienbac/huongvi_mienbac.html |
