Purple sticky rice
Purple sticky rice is a famous specialty of the Thai, Day, etc. ethnic groups in Lai Chau . It is cooked from large, plump, and even-grained upland sticky rice, so when eaten, it has a naturally attractive sticky aroma. In particular, this sticky rice dish also has a beautiful purple color created from the Khau Cam tree - a typical forest tree found only in Lai Chau.
To make delicious, flavorful purple sticky rice, the locals must carry out a meticulous and elaborate processing procedure. They must use the right type of wooden steamer made from fig trees to steam the sticky rice and the sticky rice must be steamed on a wood stove. Absolutely do not steam sticky rice on an electric stove or gas stove to ensure the dish has a delicious flavor.
According to the locals, this purple sticky rice is not only delicious and beautiful but also good for health. The leaves of the Khau Cam tree contain many nutrients and have the effect of enhancing intestinal function. Therefore, this dish is loved by the locals not only during the holidays but also on normal days.
Bamboo shoot salad with Bauhinia flowers
When mentioning Lai Chau specialties, we cannot fail to mention the sophisticated bamboo shoot and ban flower salad, made from fish and quintessential vegetables and flowers of this land.
To make delicious bamboo shoot salad with Bauhinia flowers, people use bamboo shoots or bitter bamboo shoots. After that, the bamboo shoots are chopped and soaked in salt water, then boiled twice, and drained. If using bamboo shoots, they need to be shredded into bite-sized pieces after boiling.
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Bamboo shoot salad with Bauhinia flowers has a blend of sour, spicy, salty, bitter, sweet, and rich flavors, stimulating the taste buds, so it is often enjoyed by locals and diners in early spring, helping to cool down and relieve indigestion (Photo: Tran Phuong Thao)
For the Ban flowers, locals choose fresh flowers with thick petals. The fish is made from stream fish with firm meat, processed by grilling, filtering the meat, and removing the bones. Once finished, the ingredients are mixed with a sweet and sour fish sauce, garlic, and chili, and chopped basil is added to enhance the aroma.
Fern salad
Fern salad is a rustic dish, imbued with the mountainous flavor of the Thai people in Lai Chau in particular and the Northwest people in general. To make delicious fern salad, the locals often choose to pick young fern shoots with medium-sized leaves, then bring them home to wash and dry them in the sun until they are just wilted.
Before processing, the fern is steamed instead of boiled, ensuring that the vegetable retains its sweet taste and has a beautiful green color. When the vegetable is cooked, people put it in a large bowl, season it with spices such as salt, sugar, lemon juice and add chopped herbs, chili, ginger, garlic and mix well. Wait about 5 minutes for the salad to absorb the spices, add crushed roasted peanuts and enjoy.
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Fern-like (also known as “pac cut” in Thai) looks like a fern, with a large trunk, wide canopy, and smooth green leaves. This plant only grows on stream banks, streams, and places with high humidity (Photo: Ha Thi Tham, Pham Thi Thuy Hien)
In addition to salads, Thai people also process fern into many other unique dishes such as stir-fried fern with garlic, stir-fried fern with sour bamboo shoot juice...
Bitter leaf soup
One of the famous specialties of Lai Chau that tourists should not miss when visiting here is bitter leaf blood soup. This dish is made from the main ingredients of bitter leaves (also known as duck gall leaves), lungs and pig blood.
To pick delicious bitter leaves, the locals have to sneak into the forest edges and streams. Because picking the leaves is quite laborious and time-consuming, in the past, this soup was usually only prepared by the host to entertain distinguished guests.
After picking, wash and crush the bitter leaves. Prepare the pig lungs carefully, then chop them with the blood pudding and season to taste. Wait for the mixture to soak for about 10 minutes, then put it on the stove, bring to a boil, then add the crushed bitter leaves and herbs and cook.
soot
Although it has a strange name that makes tourists curious, in fact, lam nho is a dish made from familiar ingredients such as beef and buffalo meat. In the Thai language, lam means grilled, nho means tender, lam nho means "grilled (until) tender".
To make authentic lam nho, Thai people must choose pieces of buffalo or beef that have just been slaughtered, ensuring the freshest and most delicious taste and keeping the meat intact. Next, the meat is soaked with a dry towel to remove excess blood/blood instead of rinsing it with water. This method helps the meat retain its delicious flavor and prevents bacteria from entering.
After cleaning, the meat will be grilled over hot coals. When the meat is cooked, it is sliced into thin slices and mixed with typical highland spices such as ginger, garlic, chili, mac khen, etc. Then, the marinated meat will be put into bamboo tubes with some vegetables and grilled evenly over charcoal.
When the meat fibers begin to tighten, people will take the meat out, use chopsticks to mash it, then put it back in the bamboo tube, grill it one last time until the lam nho dish is well-cooked.
Phan Dau
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