Specialties In Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Hoa Lu’s rare goat meat

View Photos (4) Image © 2010 Allison Dinh

Ninh Binh's eel vermicelli (Min Luon Ninh Bình)

If you have a chance to visit Ninh Binh and experience the ell vermicelli, you will realize that the most delicious ell vermicelli is that of Mrs. Phan, whose family has a long-standing tradition of producing this dish.

The eels and vermicelli are carefully selected and processed before given to diners. Another important ingredient of this dish is banana flowers which make the dish more special and delicious.

Besides, there are also many other spices and additives like fish sauce, salted shrimp sauce, lemon, pepper, chilly and other fine herbs to be served with Min luon. The flavor of the banana flowers combined with lots of fine herbs and additives will surely attract any diner.

Hoa Lu's rare goat meat

Hoa Lu is blessed with many lime stone mountains which are suitable for raising goats. In order to have a good rare goat meat dish, local people have to perform many steps from the processing procedure to the mixture procedure.

Goat meat is crushed into thin slices and mixed with various spices and additives before displaying in plates. The main ingredients of this dish include ginger, chilly, lemon, seasoning powder, and citronella; all these ingredients and spices are well-mixed with goat meat.

Rare goat meat is a nutritious and delicious dish since it is served with many precious fine herbs which are very good for people's health.

Yen Mac fermented spring roll (Nem Chua Yen Mac)

No one can say the exact time when Yen Mac fermented spring rolls came into existence; however, it has long been a familiar dish for local people as well as visitors. You can enjoy this kind of spring roll right after finishing or you can also enjoy it several days after that without being afraid of losing its original flavor.

Yen Mac spring roll is cover with guava leaves before rolled in banana leaves. The spring rolls are served with fish sauce mixed with chilly, lemon and garlic. Today, this kind of dish can also be found in some other regional area like Yen Nhan, Yen My. In order to produce good quality spring rolls, people have to go through various steps of choosing the input materials and mixing the ingredients together.

Com cháy (Burned cooked rice)

This dish is made from cooked rice sliced into round shapes. After cooled down, the round slices are soaked into hot oil pan until they turn yellow. Beef and pig's heart and kidney are crushed into thin slices and mixed with spices and ingredients like tomato, carrot, onion and mushroom. Then the mixture is well-fried and put into the com cháy bowl. 

* * * * *

Published on 9/17/10