Leaf Salad - A "cooling" salad made with over 30 types of leaves, a Kon Tum specialty that customers keep rolling until their hands ache.

When mentioning Kon Tum's specialties, people often immediately think of familiar names such as bamboo shoot sticky rice, red vermicelli, bamboo-tube rice, dishes made from wild game meat such as free-range pork, sun-dried beef, deer meat, porcupine... or grilled fish from the Serepok River and streams,...

However, this region also boasts another equally appealing dish, loved by many diners and almost exclusively available to those visiting the area. That is the leaf salad.

Leaf salad is a popular dish in many provinces and cities in the Central Highlands, but the most common and beloved is the leaf salad from Kon Tum (Photo: Ai Nhi Pham).

Kon Tum leaf salad was also once voted one of the top 10 Vietnamese dishes that embody the culinary essence of Asia (Photo: Yen Vy Leaf Salad).

As the name suggests, this dish primarily consists of various types of leaves, about 30 different kinds, divided into three main groups. First, there are simple leaves that are easy to find and grow in home gardens, such as cabbage, perilla, mint, Centella asiatica, basil, fig leaves, guava leaves, green onions, centella asiatica, Houttuynia cordata, and mint...

Secondly, there are familiar but still relatively unfamiliar leaves on Vietnamese dinner tables such as guava leaves, mango leaves, star fruit leaves, and Acanthopanax leaves... Finally, there are various forest leaves from the Central Highlands, usually only known to locals, such as Terminalia catappa leaves, red-leaved leaves, bear bile leaves, Garcinia cambogia leaves, Terminalia chebula leaves, Passiflora incarnata leaves, wild tamarind leaves, Xam Xuong leaves, and Choi Moi leaves,...

Ms. Huong, the owner of a restaurant on Tran Cao Van Street in Kon Tum City, said that leaf salad can be eaten year-round, but the quantity of leaves used varies seasonally, depending on the weather and climate.

"During the rainy season, when the forest trees are lush, it's also the time when the variety of leaves used in leaf salad is at its greatest, sometimes up to 50-60 different types. But in the dry season, the number of leaves used for salad is reduced to about 30 types, yet it still ensures the dish's distinctive and delicious flavor," she said.

The salad is served on a large tray, decorated with countless types of leaves. Notably, this dish doesn't use rice paper; instead, the leaves themselves are used to wrap everything (Photo: Viet Dong Duong, Khanh Nguyen Tran).

To harvest these leaves, the locals usually have to go into the forest to pick them early in the morning. Only then will the leaves be young and delicious, ensuring the excellent flavor for this refreshing and light dish.

However, only those who are healthy and experienced can trek through the forest, navigating through bushes teeming with insects, snakes, and other venomous creatures to gather the leaves. Furthermore, they must be able to distinguish between different types of leaves, knowing which are edible to avoid picking poisonous plants that could be dangerous to eat.

Besides the main ingredient of various leaves, this salad is also served with pork belly, stir-fried prawns, and pork skin. The pork belly must be a piece with both lean and fat, boiled until cooked, and then sliced thinly. The prawns are beheaded, cleaned, and then stir-fried until golden brown. The pork skin is also boiled, sliced into long, thin strips like minced pork sausage, and then mixed with roasted rice powder and some accompanying spices.

The people of Kon Tom also prepare a plate of coarse salt, black peppercorns, and bird's eye green chili peppers to stimulate the taste buds, helping diners fully appreciate the famous leaf salad dish (Photo: Thuy Tran).

Besides, one of the most appealing elements of this salad is the dipping sauce. Instead of using sweet and sour fish sauce or soy sauce like other traditional salads, authentic leaf salad must be dipped in a mixture made from fermented glutinous rice, infused with dried shrimp and pork belly. This mixture is then placed in a hot pan with sautéed shallots, fermented rice paste, chili paste, and other seasonings, then simmered over low heat, stirring constantly.

According to locals, because the leaf salad requires elaborate preparation and cooking, appreciating its unique flavor requires a refined palate. Diners cannot eat hastily but must follow a specific sequence to properly wrap a delicious salad.

When eating, diners roll the leaves slowly, one by one. First, they use a large leaf, such as a fig leaf or a guava leaf, to roll it into a funnel shape, then add 5-7 other leaves of their choice, place a slice of boiled meat, pork skin, and shrimp on top, then pour in the dipping sauce, add a little green chili or green pepper, and finally put it in their mouth to enjoy.

A truly well-balanced salad made with leaves must have the rich flavor of meat and shrimp, the spicy kick of pepper and chili, the saltiness of salt, and the tangy, creamy taste of the dipping sauce... All these elements blend together to create a delicious, refreshing flavor that helps diners cool down and relieve boredom (Photo: Do Trang, @reviewkontum).

Because leaf salad is made mainly from various leaves, which helps to cool down and effectively reduce the feeling of being full, diners jokingly call it a "cooling" dish, and it is most popular in the summer (Photo: Andy Tang).

If you have the opportunity to travel to Kon Tum, you can easily find and enjoy leaf salad at many restaurants and eateries in the city, especially on Tran Cao Van Street.

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