I’m a photography enthusiast, and the landscapes in Northwest Vietnam seem incredible for capturing scenic views. Are there any specific spots that are particularly photogenic...
In addition to the majestic and romantic landscape, Ha Giang is also very famous for its traditional dishes. These Ha Giang Foods are considered the typical foods of the Northern region that every tourist must try.
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1. White Corn Flour Cake (Bánh Bả Trắng)
White Corn Flour Cake
Markets in the rocky plateau always reserve a corner for sellers of charcoal-grilled white cakes. This is a typical, familiar image at every market in Ha Giang. The cake is made from fermented corn flour, soft and spongy, with a slightly sour taste, often served with Thang Co or meat soups.
2. Five Coloured Sticky Rice
Five-color sticky rice is made up of five different colors: red, yellow, blue, purple, and white. Ingredients for making five-color sticky rice are fragrant glutinous rice, with unadulterated grains, mixed with forest leaves to dye.
Five Coloured Sticky Rice
For the red color, people use gac fruit/sweet gourd and red rice leaves. For green color, people use ginger leaves, or green sticky rice leaves, or they burn grapefruit peels, and bitter bamboo shoot peels to ash and soak them in water mixed with a little lime. For yellow color, they grind old turmeric root to get the juice. For purple color, they use black rice leaves. Before dyeing the sticky rice, sticky rice must be washed and soaked in plain water for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Cornmeal Dumplings
Cornmeal Dumplings
Cornmeal dumplings are vegetarian dumplings that look like bread on the outside but are made of cornmeal. The cake has a light and sweet taste.
4. Thang Den Ha Giang
Thang Den
Thang Den is made from sticky rice flour and can be filled with bean paste. It is a bit like the Chinese soup ball in Hanoi but has many colors. Each of the Thang Den balls is bigger than a finger, placed in a bowl of sweet sugar water with coconut milk and ginger, creating a fragrant, fatty, and spicy flavor that is perfect for cold days.
5. Steamed Rolled Rice Pancake
Steamed Rolled Rice Pancake
Steamed Rolled Rice Pancake is a breakfast dish filled with wood ear mushrooms, minced meat, and eggs served with soup/broth, served in a bowl with fragrant pork patties, chopped cilantro green onions. The broth’s flavor comes from the stewed bones, with an irresistible aroma of onions.
People also read: Top 16 Must-do Activities in Ha Giang
6. Hunched Chung Cake
Hunched Chung Cake
Hunched Chung Cake is a specialty of Ha Giang wrapped by hand; the crust is green or black depending on the type of rice. For green cakes, the rice is mixed with galangal leaf, while the black rice is used for black cakes. The filling of the cake contains both lean meat and fat. The cakes are packed daily by several families in Ha Giang City but must be ordered in advance. Each cake costs around 17,000 VND.
7. Chinese Water Caltrop Porridge
This type of porridge is cooked from upland sticky rice, pig's feet, and water caltrop root. People take the roots home, wash them, soak them in rice water for one night, then simmer for about 4 hours until they become soft and crumbly. Then they mix the meat with rice and cook it in pig's feet broth. The porridge has the bitter taste of Chinese water caltrop.
Chinese Water Caltrop Porridge
According to locals, the Chinese water caltrop must be cleaned carefully and simmered because of its toxicity. However, when done nicely, this plant can be used as a cure for joint pain and hangovers.
8. Mint Honey
Mint Honey
This type of honey is usually harvested in September and December of the lunar calendar. Passing through tourist destinations such as Quan Ba, Dong Van, and Meo Vac, visitors can easily encounter beekeeping shacks exploiting honey on the spot. Ha Giang Mint honey is lemon yellow in color, deeply fragrant, sweet, and refreshing, just like mint.
9. Black Chicken Hotpot
Black Chicken Hotpot
Black chicken is a rare specialty chicken breed of the Northwest mountains that has high nutritional content. The special feature of black chicken hot pot is that it is served with a combination of buckwheat vegetables, mustard greens, and peas... making the taste of the broth sweeter.
10. Ha Giang Leaf Mustard
In the northern mountainous provinces, during the fall and winter, the weather is suitable for growing leaf mustard. Mustard plants at this time are often less susceptible to pests and diseases due to the cold.
Ha Giang Leaf Mustard
The plants that grow from the rocky plateau always have a mild sweetness and are not too bitter. Leaf mustard is planted around houses and along highways. Each bunch of vegetables sold here ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 VND.
11. Steamed Ramie Cake
Steamed Ramie Cake
This Ha Giang cake uses traditional ingredients like those in the lowlands such as sticky rice, ramie leaves, and green beans... the only difference is the way the cake is wrapped with wild banana leaves to enhance the toughness. This is a typical cake of Tan Quang commune, Bac Quang district, Ha Giang.
12. Buckwheat Cake
Buckwheat cake is a typical cake of the Mong people in the Stone Plateau and the iconic dish of Ha Giang food. The process of making this cake has many stages: first, the harvested buckwheat seeds are dried, then ground until smooth, then the flour is mixed with water, and then molded into flat round cakes.
Buckwheat Cake
The cake is then steamed on the stove for about 10 minutes. The final product has a fragrant, slightly sweet, and gritty taste.
See more articles on this topic:
>> The Best Things about Na Thac, Khuoi My, and Lung Vai villages in Ha Giang
>> Ha Giang Loop Vietnam: A Scenic Route Not To Be Missed
