Ant egg sticky rice
In spring, black ants begin to lay eggs. At this time, the Tay, Dao and Thai ethnic minority people in Yen Bai go to the forest to find ant eggs for cooking sticky rice.
The dish is made from upland sticky rice and eggs of black ants. It is wrapped in banana leaves and served with fried onion and chicken fat.
Tu Le "Com”
Tu Le "Com” is a perfect combination of nature and the skilled hands of the Thai ethnic minority people in Yen Bai.
Tu Le sticky rice is likened to the "heaven pearl" of Tu Le valley. This is a famous specialty rice of Van Chan land, which is the raw material for making many famous delicacies.
In order to make "com” with original flavor, local people process it using a sophisticated technique. The rice for making "com” must be harvested at the right time when the grain is not fully ripened. The harvesting activities are conducted at night when the rice is still soaked with night dew. After bringing it home, local residents will roast the grains right away, using wood-fired stove, to fully maintain its green colour and sweet and delicious flavour. The roasting pan is usually made of cast iron to ensure that the sticky rice remains sticky and does not overcook.
Scientists hold that the nice taste of the rice comes from the year-round cool weather in the area.
Smoked buffalo meat
Smoked buffalo meat is a specialty of the Black Thai ethnic group in the northern mountainous provinces. In Yen Bai, the dish has its own flavor. It is usually made from the muscle of buffaloes grazing in mountainous areas and hills.
Smoked buffalo meat is a time-consuming creation, requiring patience. It begins with taking a piece of buffalo shoulder, rib-eye or back meat and cutting it into smaller pieces. It is then seasoned with salt, chili powder, ginger, and special aromatic forest seeds named "mac khen". After being marinated for about two hours, the meat slices are skewered on sticks, which are then hung upstairs the kitchen.
The buffalo meat is dried slowly by the smoke from the kitchen, which turns it into a deep brown colour but keeps the insides looking red and fresh. About eight months or one year later, the meat skewers are taken down and the dish is ready to eat.
Muong Lo black glutinous rice cake
The Muong Lo black glutinous rice cake becomes an attractive specialty for visitors.
Every the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, the cake is made by Thai ethnic people in Muong Lo to expressed their gratitude of descendants to their ancestors. This is a must-have dish on trays offered to thank the gods, heaven, earth and ancestors.
The ingredients for making cakes are carefully selected. The sticky rice must be Tu Le delicious sticky rice. The best pork for the dish is bacon with a little fat. To create a black colour for the cake, locals take the stalk of the nuc nac (Oroxylum indicum), strip the shell, or the black sesame flower, burn into charcoal, crush like powder, mix with glutinous rice, stirring until rice blended with charcoal powder into colour.
Luc Yen banana cake
Banana cake is a traditional specialty of the Tay people in Luc Yen district.
The cake, which is made from banana and rice flour, is often used as an offering on important occasions of families and clans. It has become a famous specialty of the locality.
To make a delicious cake with the intact taste of banana and a golden colour like honey, local people have to make careful preparations.
When bananas are ripe, they are peeled and dried. When making cakes, dried bananas are soaked in warm water until soft and then ground into powder. Rice must also be ground with water and mixed banana flour to make the crust. The filling is a mixture of beans, sugar, and peanuts. The cake is made up of simple ingredients, but it’s surprisingly delicious.
Banana cake is like an indispensable spiritual gift of Yen Bai people every festive time.
(YBO)
