Delicious meal ofTet holiday

During the nation’s customary Tet days, every feast to honor ancestors must include traditional delicacies such as boiled chicken, banh chung, frozen meat, fried spring rolls, grilled pig buns, a bowl of soup, and a plate of vermicelli stir-fried... Aside from the protein and fat-rich meals on Tet, pickled cassava leaves cooked with fish, trotters, or swine bones is a “unique and strange” dish that changes the flavor of Tet...

People harvest cassava leaves to create pickles.

As a descendant of King Hung, no one has ever missed out on pickled cassava leaves soup, which is a popular and simple dish to prepare. Ms. Le Thi Quyet in Thanh Mieu ward, Viet Tri city, was just seasoning a pot of pickled cassava leaves soup cooked with pig’s feet to entertain friends from Hanoi who had come to celebrate Tet. She enthusiastically added, "What year before Tet, I also salted a jar of cassava leaves to welcome people to the Capital. This classic meal is particularly appealing to guests because of its refreshing and wonderful flavor."

Ms. Quyet opted to cook a delightful pot of pickled cassava leaves soup by picking plump cassava leaves stems from her yard, washing them, and rubbing them to extract the sap. After kneading the veggies, thoroughly rinse them with water until the water is no longer turbid, indicating that the vegetables are fully sap-free. Drain the veggies and store them in jars or salt pans with cooled boiling water. Mix with a pinch of salt to immediately sour the veggies without causing scum. Wait five to seven days before cooking cassava leaves into soup.

When choosing vegetables, save just the buds and young leaves, remove the stems and old leaves, wash, crush, and store in a salt jar.

"Before cooking the cassava leaves, squeeze the water out and place it in the saucepan with the hog leg. Stir-fry until firm. “Just add a little seasoning because the cassava leaves has already been moderately salted, then add water and simmer until tender,” Ms. Quyet explained.

Unlike other forms of soup, stewed sour and pickled cassava leaves soup is the tastiest because the fatty, wonderful, sweet taste of the pig’s feet, bones, or fish is absorbed into the cassava leaves, while the sour flavor originates from the cassava leaves. It also penetrates deeply into the pig’s and fish’s feet, removing the grease. If you cook pickled cassava leaves with fish, the fish will entirely lose its fishy flavor, even if no additional spices are used.

After a few days, when the cassava leaves has turned aromatic and yellow, prepare it with fish, shrimp, pig’s feet, and pork bones.

Mr. Nguyen Huy Bac, 60, an overseas Vietnamese in Germany who returned to celebrate Tet with his family in Cam Khe district, confessed: "It’s been a long time since I’ve had the typical strong perfume, the rich, sour flavor of the fruit cassava leaves and the sweet and rich taste of fresh fish. Eating a cup of pickled cassava leaves soup with shrimps brings back memories of my deprivation-filled youth. Pickled cassava leaves is a modest, rustic cuisine infused with human affection from Phu Tho’s midland area.

Sour and pickled cassava leaves soup transforms into a delectable delicacy during Tet.

Pickled cassava leaves, formerly a traditional meal, has now evolved into a popular specialty. Mr. Tran Van Cong, Director of Lien Gia Trang agricultural cooperative, which produces and processes agricultural products in Thuy Lieu commune, Cam Khe district, stated, "With the desire to preserve traditional products typical of the ancestral land, in 2019, we produced pickled cassava leaves products for sale to the market and are loved by consumers, looking to buy them as a strange but delicious dish with a hometown flavor."

The meal of cassava leaves cooked with pig’s feet is particularly wonderful due of its cool and rich taste.

Pickled cassava leaves products have received three stars from the OCOP since 2021. Pickled cassava leaves goods are currently available in big grocery chains in Phu Tho, nearby provinces, and on e-commerce trading floors, including Go!, WinMart, and Co-opmart. The cooperative’s earnings from pickled cassava leaves products reached VND 500 million per year, providing regular employment for ten local residents.

Pickled cassava leaves is canned and offered at major retail chains.

Pickled cassava leaves soup, which originated as a rustic delicacy, has grown in popularity across the country and beyond. Mr. Nguyen Huy Bac, an overseas Vietnamese in Germany, remarked, "Every time I travel to Vietnam, the gifts I bring back are vacuum-sealed bags of pickled cassava leaves. My German daughter-in-law also enjoys this meal and orders it. Pickled cassava leaves is a Vietnamese specialty.

Chi Huong