Must-Eat Food When in Hanoi
This is also the time when dishes from “Cốm” (green rice) take the throne and become more delicious than ever. Probably only in Hanoi you can enjoy the best green rice in Vietnam. Every autumn, people immediately think of dishes cooked with green rice - one of the rice kind of Hanoi's autumn.
From the fragrant green rice, the people of Hanoi have created many delicious dishes that are loved and missed by many people when they are away from Hanoi. In a few days, the most beautiful season of Hanoi will end, but unfortunately, I am in Moscow. I found photos I took last autumn and couldn't help wanting to introduce this special dish to everyone.
“Cốm or simply called green rice is a flattened and chewy green rice in Vietnamese cuisine. It is not dyed green but is immature rice kernels roasted over very low heat then pounded in a mortar and pestle until flattened.” [1]
Now you all know what is green rice, let’s get right into our main part. The dishes that are made from green rice.
Fresh green rice
Many people say that when you see green rice, you see the whole autumn of Hanoi. In autumn Hanoi's weather starts to cool and street shops sell green rice. Pople always try to "hunt" the street shops of green rice in the Hanoi Old Town.
The fresh grains of green rice are wrapped in old lotus leaves, the scent of lotus is mixed with the flavor of green rice. It is the soft and subtle taste that makes everyone admire that taste forever. I can say that the more you eat it, the sweeter it is and the more you will want to eat.
You can go to the best shop selling green rice in Hanoi that I often go to at the address: Along Ly Quoc Su Street, Hoan Kiem District or Hang Than Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.
Opening hours: 06:30 - 18:30
Price: 25,000 VND for 100grams.
Sticky green rice
If you do not try green rice in Hanoi in autumn, it will be a great omission. This is a very popular dish. Sticky green rice is now sold all year round, but it is a must-try in the fall because it’s delicious not only by its tatse but also the atmosphere of Hanoi in the fall.
Sticky green rice has a combined taste. You’ll feel a familiar taste like the taste of the sticky rice in sweet soups, and the aroma and fleshy taste of coconut sticky rice, and a little sweet green bean flavor. All tastes blend together to create fragrant sticky rice and it is wrapped in lotus leaves with a strong scent of heaven and earth.
The address that I often go to eat is Along Ly Quoc Su Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.
Fixed opening hours are: 06:30 - 18:30.
The price of this dish is very cheap, only 25,000 VND per 100 grams.
Green rice cake
The cakes on the traditional Vietnamese wedding tray that make every child excited. The cake is served in square boxes. This cake is a gift that leaves a strong impression in the hearts of the Hanoians and any tourist from afar because people love the aroma and sweetness of green rice cake.
Although eating green rice cake, you can't feel the authenticity of fresh rice because it is no longer kept the original grain, but is made from green rice flour and has a sweet green bean paste. Each thin cake, only the size of an adult palm, will be wrapped in white paper and packed in square green boxes. The flexible, fragrant green rice cake has become a gift of Hanoi to bring everywhere.
To buy these cakes, you can go to Hang Than, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi for 5,000 VND/box.
Green rice sweet soup
Cốm is only delicious when eaten right in the first 1-2 days, after that, the rice will no longer be soft. That's why green rice sweet soup is cooked so that people could preserve the flavor of cốm for a longer time, gradually making it an unreplaceable side dish in the autumn days of Hanoi.
Although I have tried it in different shops, coconut green rice sweet soup on 1976, Tran Hung Dao street for me is the best. You can come there and have a cup of sweet soup with just 50.000 VND.
Hope that you can have a chance to try those dishes too.
Source:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%E1%BB%91m
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