Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Many people are familiar with grilled pork, but
far fewer have ever tasted grilled pork wrapped in grapefruit leaves. The dish is even unfamiliar to many food connoisseurs in Vietnam, but not for
the Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh province, the third largest among Vietnam’s
53 minority groups.
The dish, known as cha cuon la buoi, is very poplar in the country’s
northwestern region. Bui Van Thao, a Muong resident of Ban Ngoi village in Tan
Lac district says he saw his grandparents making it since he was a child.
Previously, the dish was only prepared on festive days, but now it has become a
daily family staple.
The most important ingredient for this dish is the pork made from one of three
pig species raised by the Muong. They are not kept in pigsties but allowed to
roam freely in the forest. The recipe calls for the grapefruit leaves to not be
too young or too old and carefully washed before wrapping the pork.
Thao reveals his family’s recipe. First, the pig belly is cut into small
pieces. It is then mixed with pepper, minced onion, fish sauce, and glutamate.
“It has also to be mixed with mac khen seeds or doi seeds,” Thao says.
Those two kinds of seed are typical and very important spices in Vietnam’s
northwestern mountainous regions for their special perfume and spicy taste.
The pork is then wrapped in grapefruit leaves, and then grilled over coal for
about 30 minutes. The grapefruit leaves give off a perfumed smell.
Thao explains that local people use grapefruit leaves because they can easily
find them in the garden and they are big enough to wrap the pork pieces.
“We love this dish as it is delicious, simple to cook, and can cure diseases.
We use those grapefruits leaves to cure fever, and headache,” he says.
At Ngoi Hoa cultural and tourism village in Tan Lac district, tourists are
taught how to make cha cuon la buoi in cooking classes.
However, there the recipe is somewhat different from the local traditional way.
The mac khen, or doi seeds is replaced by peanuts, which can be found easily in
Hanoi or other cities. The Muong pork is replaced by regular pork available in
any market.
Though it is not the same as the traditional version of Muong locals, this dish
is very tasty.
Local sticky rice cake
Among various other local specialties, Thao is also proud of a kind of cake
made from sticky rice. It is named banh oc nhon (cone-shaped cake).
Twice a week, family evenings are spent on preparation of this cake.
Local people call it banh oc nhon because of its shape, which is similar to
that of an ice-cream cone.
Thao explains that his family makes this cake for festive occasions, too, but
for daily consumption he makes this cake in a very simple way. He takes sticky
rice wrapped in banana leaves and then boils it in water for two to three
hours.
On festive days the banana leaf is also stuffed with mashed green beans and
pork, in addition to the sticky rice.
Its taste resembles that of banh chung (traditional glutinous rice cakes
popular on the Lunar New Year).
“We make the cake in different forms, we
can also make it square shaped. But this cake is most known in the region in
the shape of a cone snail. My little daughter loves it,” he says, smiling while
sitting in his wooden house on stilts and watching his daughter enjoy the local
delicacy.-VNA