In the spring, tourists come back to Hung Yen city, not only to admire ancient relics, immerse themselves in the cultural space at spiritual tourist attractions, but also to enjoy famous dishes with the rich flavor of Pho Hien. Pho Hien cuisine is not simply delicious dishes, but also a story about the sophistication and ingenuity of the people here, preserved through many generations.
I still clearly remember the image of a foreign tourist, receiving a bowl of lotus seed and longan sweet soup, eating and praising it. The lotus seeds were rich, fragrant, carefully selected, combined with plump longan fruits, transparent like morning dew. The longan was peeled, the seeds were removed, and then a lotus seed that had been simmered until soft was skillfully placed in it. When cooked with rock sugar water, the elegant aroma of lotus mixed with the sweet taste of longan, creating a dish that was both refreshing and nutritious. In the summer, cooked with fresh longan, in the winter, cooked with dried longan, both had the same flavor.
Visitors to the culinary booth of the Women's Union of Hung Yen City at the Pho Hien Folk Culture Festival often cannot resist the appeal of a bowl of lotus seed longan sweet soup. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh, a visitor from Hanoi, could not hide her excitement: "I have enjoyed many different sweet soups, but Pho Hien lotus seed longan sweet soup brings a completely different feeling. The sweetness is gentle, not too strong, combined with the cool lotus scent, very pleasant.
Besides lotus seed longan sweet soup, tapioca starch sweet soup with sticky rice is also a simple but popular snack. From pure white tapioca tubers, Pho Hien people have processed it into a smooth, pure powder. When cooking the sweet soup, tapioca starch is stirred evenly over a small fire, creating a smooth, clear sweet soup. Tapioca starch sweet soup is often eaten with sticky rice - a type of sticky rice cooked from fragrant, sticky yellow flower sticky rice, mixed with crushed green beans and a little chicken fat to create a shiny, attractive look.
Enjoying a bowl of tapioca sweet soup with sticky rice, diners can feel the harmony between the sweetness of the sweet soup, the softness of the sticky rice and the nutty taste of mung beans. Not too fussy, not too ostentatious, this rustic dish encapsulates the flavor of the homeland, evoking childhood memories of sunny summer days, when grandmother and mother meticulously prepared a pot of sweet soup in the small kitchen...
If Hanoi is famous for chicken vermicelli soup, Pho Hien has a more unique variation - eel vermicelli soup. This is a dish that requires meticulousness from the selection of ingredients to the preparation. The eel must be cleaned, grilled over straw, then boiled, the meat separated, marinated with turmeric, spices and fried until golden brown. Other ingredients such as thinly sliced eggs, pork roll, pork belly, fried onions, Vietnamese coriander... are arranged harmoniously on a base of pure white vermicelli.
What makes Pho Hien vermicelli soup different is the broth. The broth is clear, rich in the natural sweetness of stewed bones. When eating, diners can add a little shrimp paste to enhance the unique flavor. The bowl of vermicelli soup is steaming and fragrant. Pick up a piece, add a spoonful of broth, and taste the light sweetness but still rich, true to the essence of a dish imbued with the soul of the Northern Delta.
In addition to the above dishes, the festival also introduces many other specialties such as: fragrant sticky rice cakes, fatty peanut cakes, Dong Tao chicken pho... All are made from familiar ingredients of the Hung Yen countryside, but thanks to the skillful hands of the people, they have become delicious dishes that diners will remember forever after just one bite.
Pho Hien Folk Culture Festival is not only a place to honor traditional cultural values, but also an opportunity to promote the cuisine of Longan land to tourists from all over the world. It is so pleasant and relaxing to take a walk along the Crescent Lake in the afternoon, watching the clear blue sky and water, then resting under a fragrant gift stall of a woman with eyes as black as longan seeds... Anyone who has ever visited Pho Hien during the festival season will surely bring back the taste of these exquisite dishes, so that every time Hung Yen is mentioned, the heart is filled with nostalgia, waiting for the next festival season...
PV
Source: https://baohungyen.vn/tinh-te-am-thuc-pho-hien-3179286.html
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