5 Vietnamese traditional dishes in Tet

These days, Vietnamese people are celebrating the Lunar New Year completely with explosions, tradition and food. As follows are five popular Tet foods, all full of glutinous rice, mung beans, and banana leaves for you to try out. Is it a little work to eat? Yeah, and it might not be the healthiest thing either, but hey, you probably gave up on being leaner already, and you might as well get some good luck (and red envelops) for your hard work.

1. Bánh chưng (Sticky rice cake with pork and beans)

Bánh chưng, the ultimate Tết dish, is a square-shaped rice cake made out of glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork wrapped in banana leaves. The ingredients are soaked and wrapped carefully before being boiled for hours on end, resulting in a rice cake that’s soft, moist, stick and wonderful. The preparation’s a lot of work, but it’s New Years. To eat bánh chưng, you unwrap the banana leaves the way you would a gift (please, please, please remember to unwrap the banana leaves). From there on out, you can go to town, making your way through all three layers: the rice, the mung beans, and finally, the pork.

2. Xôi gấc (Sticky rice with baby jackfruit)

Lucky 

Xôi gấc is bright red, so obvious you should eat it for good luck. Want a good year? Eat xôi gấc. Want to fall in love with a hottie that’s sweet and smart? Eat xôi gấc. Want all forms of good fortune? You should probably eat xôi gấc.Xôi gấc is a sweet glutinous rice dish made with a fruit similar to jackfruit and appears at every joyful Vietnamese celebration. Tết (only the biggest Vietnamese celebration of them all) is, well, no exception. If sweet, chewy xôi is on the dinner table, you know something good is going on, which is all the more reason to celebrate by stuffing your face.

 3. Chả lụa (Vietnamese sausage)

 

Chả lụa is a Vietnamese sausage with a cold-cut feel and sausage-like texture. Like banh chung, gio is wrapped in banana leaves and needs to be unwrapped before consumption (please unwrap it). Chả lụa is slightly salty, which makes it a perfect partner for banh chung and xoi gac, two lighter dishes.

4. Mứt Me (Vietnamese tamarind-flavored Gushers)

 

If you want to try anything remotely close to Vietnamese Gushers, try mut me. There are multiple candies to try from the Mứt Tray (a circular tray filled with Vietnamese Tet candies), but mut me is a unique, gushy candy, which is neither a seed or candied fruit, unlike the rest of the tray. The taste of the mut me is slightly sour and, when consumed, the tamarind flavor gushes out of the candy wrapper like, well, gushers.

5. Bánh tet chuối (Cylindrical banana rice cake)

Bánh tet chuối is a cylindrical-shaped banh chung filled with bananas instead of pork. Think of it like a sweet, chewy Vietnamese burrito with rice instead tortilla. Or maybe a chewy dessert egg roll. Like most forms of Tet food, you will have to, once again, unwrap the banana leaves to get to the content of your bánh Tết chuối. But hey, by now, you might just be getting the hang of it.

5 Vietnamese traditional dishes in Tet

Chung cake - the soul of Vietnamese New Year!

“Banh Chung” (square glutinous rice cake) is a traditional cake of Vietnamese people in Tet Holidays. For the Vietnamese, making “Banh Chung” is the ideal way to express gratitude to their ancestors and homeland.

 

 

 

 

“Banh Chung” was invented by the 18th Prince of Hung Emperor in the contest of looking for a new Emperor.

According to the legend, 3,000-4,000 years ago, Prince Lang Lieu, made round and square cakes, the round Day cake symbolizing the sky and the square Chung cake symbolizing the Earth (under the ancient Vietnamese perception), to be offered on the occasion of Spring.

In the ancient conception, the Earth is square; hence “Banh Chung” has a square shape to reflect the Earth shape.

Since the cakes he offered were of special meaning and delicious taste, Lang Lieu was selected to be the next Emperor. Since then, in honor of this 18th Prince, Vietnamese people always make and have Chung cake in the Lunar New Year.

Up to now, Chung cake has become the most famous and irreplaceable traditional Vietnamese food in Tet Holiday.

This legend aims to remind the next generations of the ancient tradition as well as the reason for Chung cake. Besides, it emphasizes the important role of rice and nature in water rice culture.

In contrast to the fast food in modern life, the process of making “Banh Chung” is time-consuming and requires the contribution of several people.

Main ingredients are glutinous rice, pork meat, and green beans wrapped in a square of bamboo leaves that will give the rice a green color after boiling.

Rice cake is wrapped in a square shape, and the wrapping power must be neither tight nor loose. Then the cake will be boiled in about 12 hours by wood.

The “Banh Chung” has nutrition with an original tasty flavor and may be kept for a long time. Eating “Banh Chung” with vegetable pickles will bring you unforgettable taste!

In the traditional conception of Vietnamese people, the process of making Chung cake is the opportunity for family to come together.

Sitting around the warm fire, all members in the family tell one another the past stories and are ready for a New Year with wishes of best things.

Nowadays, in some big cities, the business lifestyle of modern society prevent people from preparing the cake, however, the habit of worship ancestors with Chung cake never changes.

It is the evidence of the Vietnamese loyalty and deep gratitude to ancestors.

Chung cake - the soul of Vietnamese New Year!