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SEMI FINAL GOLDEN SPOON 2015 - NORTHERN REGION:

Spices from Cu Lao and the highlands were revealed

Thursday, 10/22/2015 14:54
“I was really surprised by the spices in your country. They are fresh, abundant, unique and easy to discover and use” said Mr Seref Ozalp, head chef of Lotte Hanoi Hotel.

A foreigner who is used to fast-food has comments about the spices in Vietnam, but what about our chefs? Here we review the recent, northern preliminary round of the Golden Spoon Contest, attended by chefs from the Central region, Hanoi, the Red River Delta and the Northern Highlands.

Long and hard journeys to search wild vegetables and seeds

Chef Hung Cong Duong from the Novotel Danang Premier Han River reported that it used to take him two days and a night to travel to Cu Lao Cham in Quang Nam province to collect new and unique spices. Actually, they are mainly wild vegetables or seeds that provide different flavors: sour like “Bứa” from the mangosteen family; acrid as in “mỏ quạ” a kind of mulberry; and lightly sweet like “xứng” a type of wild vegetables. These wild vegetables and seeds are normally to eaten as snack or main meal by for local people. Chef Hung said,

“Before, when life was hard and there was little to eat, local people simply ate these plants with just fish paste. Now I want to upgrade them to become “golden dishes”.

Because there are more than a dozen new and strange spices on the table, Chef Hung and his team had to explain to the judges, journalist and gathered guests. “Are these malva nuts? – Yes; seeds like this are good” said Mr Sanh Ly - Chairman of Saigon Professional Chef Association and member of judges.

Malva nuts

Because people believe that these nuts can help to improve bones and joints, Chef Hung uses them to make dessert in the form of a sweet soup called “Hương vị đôi môi”, this means the taste of your lips.

Judge Sang Huy Ly – Deputy of the Organizing Committee of the Golden Spoon was excitedly waiting for the moment he could try the Golden dish from this team: Appetizers have the taste of Cham forest, tuna sautéd and served with boiled wild vegetables and prawn rolls with wild vegetables. “You didn’t disappoint us. The vegetable rolls were very delicious with a special and unique taste. It had a good balance because of the use of Sycamore seeds. If you take these seeds, fry and crush them like peanuts and sprinkle on top of the dish, it will improve the aroma and taste” said Mr Sang Huy Ly.

The Sycamore tree is the symbol of the nobility, luxury and culture in the East, although the seeds are not necessarily considered the best.

Achieving the atmosphere of mountains and jungle

The team representing the Northern Midlands was from the Flamingo Dai Lai Tourist Resort (Vinh Phuc province) and presented “trái ngõa” fruits and leaves which were very interesting. Knowing that “trái ngõa” belongs to the cluster fig family and grows a lot in the forests of the northern mountain in Vinh Phuc, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son provinces ... Its leaves are big and have a oval shape, like the leaf of Dipterocarpaceae tree. It is slightly acrid in the taste.

Leaf and “trái ngõa” fruits (center)

According to Captain Tuan Van Tran- local people living around Dai Lai usually use these leaves to wrap sticky rice with ant eggs, and steam and eat fresh water fish such as like carp. They come in three types: silver, grass and common. They mix the fish with “thính”, a fried rice powder which is quite complicated to cook but is very tasty.

Judges Suong Thi Bui commented that “Trái ngõa” fruit and its leaves are an interesting discovery. However the appetizer made with black pomfret and “thính” rolled win the leaves is quite salty. The table presentation was very beautiful and refined”.

There is another new spice brought by the Sen Trang restaurant (Lao Cai province): Amaranthus. It is a pity that it wasn’t included in the list of ingredients that was registered for the competition by the team. Chef Nguyen Bien Cuong said that this is a common vegetable that grows a lot in his hometown. Its color is similar to the roselle leaf but smaller and there aren’t any leaf shapes that resemble a crows foot. It has a light, sour taste. There is less gum than roselle leaf and Jute. Chef Bien Cuong confirmed that this vegetable is suitable for making catfish salad. It can be used to replace green catfish for grilled or steamed dish. However we think it would be wonderful to make sour fish hot pot or stir-fried quickly then eaten with duck

Other representatives from the Northwest Highlands such as the Red Dao restaurant or Bao Chau Boutique Sapa were also keen to win this competition. One dish was “Thắng Cố” made by Red Dao restaurant. This dish gathered the most unique and popular spices, such as Indian prickly ash, Cardamom, magnolia mediocris Dandy seeds, cinnamon and star anise. Chef also brought a spice to cook this dish, “thắng cố” tree. Its trunk looks like chives, its root like nut grass and it has a very good aroma. “Thắng cố” tree has the role of connecting all the spices together. On seeing this tree in real life, judges observed it carefully and took picture.

There is another spice which has very strange name” “mùng tang” – its scientific name is Alocasia odora. It will be julienned, rolled with horse meat then grilled. It also has a special aroma.

Meanwhile the Chef from the Bao Chau Boutique Sapa brought cardamom to the contest. It has roots and ripe fruits that were served with smoked salmon. Their cooking station attracted many people because of the colors of many spices such as “méo méo” leaves which is similar to the Banyan Tree’s leaves and has a sour taste, flowers of wild dragon fruits and jabutica from Sapa

Fresh Cardamom

To upgrade spices from the highlands to become a golden dish we must mention the grilled venison with local spices of the Northwest, prepared by Lotte Hanoi’s chefs. Chef Vu Van Thanh (captain) studied hard to catch the secret and typical characteristics of spices from the highlands area. These normally have key element and tastes: sour, bitter and spicy. With the seasoned venison tenderloin, there were two that couldn’t be left out: Indian prickly ash seeds and magnolia mediocris Dandy seeds. It is then rolled and sauteed. By doing so the meat is firmed and keeps its round shape when cooked. This dish is served with wild grilled bamboo (bitter taste), Sapa plum (sour taste) and mustard greens (spicy). Besides these it also needs “chẩm chéo” – a sauce combining chili, garlic, salt, Indian prickly ash seeds and MSG, used for all grilled dishes. This dish helped Lotte Hanoi’s chefs win the first prize in the semi-final in the North region.

Of course there are still many interesting and impressive spices hidden out there, all over the country. In efforts to explore and study to upgrade Vietnamese dishes young chefs still work very hard making long journeys to collect news spices in order to honor them as well as contributing to the promotion of tourism cuisine at home. This is a relatively unknown and long term effort, so all the chefs expressed their appreciation to the Golden Spoon contest as it creates opportunities for them to share and show off their local spices.

Tan Trung




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