When the weather is colder, the whole country is covered by peach flower and ochna intergerrima; it is for Lunar New Year. Tet foods which create a distinctive feel and flavor leave a deep impression on foreigners and make Vietnamese people abroad feeling homesick just by looking at their pictures. Foods for Tet in Vietnam are varied and diverse, have its meanings. They both show the respect and honor to ancestors and the hospitality to friends and guests. Here are five popular foods for you to try in time for Tet.
Traditional Tet Banquet in Vietnam
Banh Chung (steamed square cake)
Banh Chung or Chung Cake is the ultimate Tet dish of Vietnamese people. Chung Cake is a square-shaped rice cake made from glutinous rice, mung beans and pork and other ingredients which all are wrapped with green leaves before being boiled for hours on end.
How to make Banh Chung
The similar of the Chung cake in the North is Tet cake in the Centre and the South
According to the legend, Chung Cake is invented by Lang Lieu-the prince of 18th Hung Kung. Because of its meaning which symbolizes the Earth, it has been chosen as the main food for the important holiday-Lunar New Year.
Chung cake in Tet holiday
“Banh Tet” in the Centre and the South of Viet Nam
Nothing is better than savoring on soft, moist, stick Chung Cake in time for Tet in Vietnam and dip into Vietnamese culture. Unwrap the banana leaves; make your way through all three layers: the rice, the mung beans and finally, the pork.
Vietnamese sausage
Cha – traditional foods in Tet holiday
Gio Cha is another traditional food in Tet holiday. In spite of different culinary taste from the North, the Middle and the South of Vietnam, Vietnamese family in three regions have a common dish on their traditional Tet menu.
Indispensable dishes of Vietnamese people in Tet banquet
Gio is different from Cha because Gio is boiled and Cha is deep-fried. Vietnamese sausage is made from very simple ingredients but in fact it requires lots of experience to select the finest ingredients.
Xoi (Sticky rice)
Xoi Gac ‘s red is symbol of luck and happiness
Another traditional food that cannot be missed in the meal in Tet holiday is Xoi (Sticky rice). A variety kinds of sticky rice such as Xoi Do Xanh (sticky rice with mung bean), but the most common in Tet holiday is Xoi Gac (sticky rice with gac fruit) which has red color. It is the symbol of luck and happiness for the New Year.
Thit ga (boiled or steamed chicken)
Chicken meat in Vietnamese Tet
Thit ga (boiled or steamed chicken) is an essential food in the meal or carry out the worship to ancestors in Vietnam. Chicken meat in Tet can be boiled and sliced, sometimes is remains the whole chicken in a plate. It can be served with Xoi (sticky rice) or Chung Cake. It is always used along with sliced lemon leaves and salt-and-pepper-sauce.
Mut Tet (Tet jam)
Tet jam
Every Vietnamese family prepares a box of Tet jam for Tet holiday as a gift to welcome guests in this special period. Unlike Western jam, Vietnamese jam is mainly in dry form, including dried fruits and some kinds of seeds: sunflower seeds and watermelon seeds. Families often keep Mut in special boxes and place at the table in the living room. Besides some kind of seeds, Mut also includes various tastes of ginger, carrot, pumpkin, lotus seed, coconut, sweet potato. It is nothing comparing with enjoying Mut and having a cup of tea.
