Enjoying unique Ha Giang specialties is an eternal pleasure for travel enthusiasts. Let’s learn about the extremely unique Ha Giang culinary map!
When it comes to Ha Giang, people not only tell each other about the rocky plateau, the buckwheat fields, or the backpacking routes, but also about the unforgettable dishes. In order to make dishes with the typical flavors of the local land, the people of Ha Giang are forced to embark on many stages as well as complex and elaborate methods.
Over decades with many generations passing down the cultural and spiritual values of the people of the highlands, there is a Ha Giang at the headland that always looks to all regions of the country. An unforgettable Ha Giang for the flow of people traveling to the most remote places of the S-shaped country: with specialties that have been preserved forever. So what are you waiting for, this article from Klook is dedicated to the gourmets of delicious dishes in Ha Giang.
Delicious Ha Giang Dishes You Should Definitely Try When Traveling to Ha Giang
Photo source: Frankie – Unspash
If you have the opportunity to travel to Ha Giang, #teamKlook should not be so engrossed in exploring the backpacking routes that you miss out on the local specialties. Let’s take a look at some of the must-try Ha Giang delicacies.
1. Men Men Ha Giang
Nguồn ảnh: Vietnamnet
Men Men, also known as corn rice, is a specialty of the Hmong people. Men Men is made from corn. After harvesting, corn is dried thoroughly, then each corn kernel is separated and damaged kernels are removed. Men Men in Ha Giang is made entirely by hand, from the process of pounding the grains with a stone mortar, filtering the corn flour, and then steaming it until the corn flour is cooked and delicious. To get the fragrant fermented product, the Mong people have to steam it twice.
Making men men is also an art, you have to make sure the corn flour is not too dry, nor too crushed, requiring the maker to have experience in adjusting the amount of water as well as mixing well so that the men men reaches a certain consistency.
The sweet and rich flavor of Men Men, a traditional dish of the Mong people, is now widely sold in markets, bringing the traditional flavor to the people of the lowlands.
2. Thang Den
Thang den is a famous dish of Ha Giang people, this dish is made from sticky rice flour, can be made without filling or with green beans, sesame. In terms of appearance, thang den is similar to the floating cake that we often eat. Each thang den ball will be shaped into a round shape, inside is filled with beans, sesame, coconut. After shaping, the cake will be dropped into a pot of boiling water until the cake floats to the top, then it is cooked. Thang den will be eaten with mai flower sugar water and a little coconut water with roasted peanuts.
Ha Giang people say that thang den is a winter snack, so people here only make the cake when the monsoon season comes. In the cold weather, amidst the peaceful and rustic beauty of Dong Van ancient town, eating a piece of fragrant thang den is truly heartwarming.
3. Thang Co
Nguồn ảnh: Wikipedia
Thang Co is one of the specialties in Ha Giang that anyone who comes to this land must try. Traditionally, Thang Co is made from horse intestines. Horse intestines have a unique flavor, a slightly unpleasant smell.
Nowadays, to serve tourists and ensure the taste is suitable for everyone, the locals here have used meat and organs of buffalo, cows and pigs as ingredients instead. After being pre-processed, cleaned and marinated with 12 spices such as cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger and many other spices, the organs will be simmered for an hour, creating a pot of thang co with an impressive flavor for tourists.
4. Au Tau Porridge
Nguồn ảnh: Xuanduongvan87 – Pixabay
Au Tau porridge is made from Au Tau root, a very special dish in Ha Giang. After going through the processing stages to remove toxins, Au Tau root is stewed with fragrant sticky upland rice and minced meat or pig’s feet to increase the nutrition of the dish. When eating porridge, it has a slightly bitter taste, but the aftertaste is sweet. This dish helps to nourish health and prevent bone and joint diseases. When eating, people often add a little onion, coriander and pepper to make it more flavorful and more suitable for the cool weather here.
5. Buckwheat Cake
Ha Giang is famous for its vast buckwheat fields, which in the blooming season will dye the entire hillside purple. Buckwheat cakes are made from the seeds of this flower, so they have also become a specialty of Ha Giang. Buckwheat cakes are usually a little bigger than the palm of your hand, with the purple color of the flowers. If you have the opportunity to visit the Ha Giang market on weekends, you can easily see the image of ethnic women sitting by hot charcoal stoves, baking delicious and attractive buckwheat cakes.
6. Humpback Chung Cake
Humpback Chung Cake is a cultural symbol of the Red Dao people. The cake is only as small as the palm of a hand, simulating the shape of women carrying a basket on their backs. The main ingredients to make humpback Chung Cake are not much different from the Chung Cake we often eat, also sticky rice, green beans and fatty meat. Unlike traditional Chung Cake, humpback Chung Cake is only wrapped in a layer of dong leaves on the outside, giving the cake a characteristic green color that is extremely beautiful.
7. Sour Pho
Pho chua is a dish originating from China. The main ingredients of pho chua are pho noodles, char siu, roast duck, Chinese sausage and stir-fried chili. The special thing about pho chua is the sweet and sour sauce made from rice vinegar, sugar, seasoned with a little bit of mountain spices and mixed with tapioca starch to create a thick consistency.
Delicious Specialty Fruits of Ha Giang
Fruits in Ha Giang are mainly grown in the forests or on rocky mountains, so the flavor of these fruits is especially delicious. If you have tried all the tropical fruits in the lowlands, do not hesitate to try more fruits from the mountains of Ha Giang!
8. Red Plum/ Stone Plum
Nguồn ảnh: Congerdesign – Pixabay
As a typical and most famous fruit in the land of buckwheat, red plums have been sought after by tourists for many years because of their delicious taste, although the price is not cheap. Red plums here are popularly known as blood plums or Chi Khay La, the most prominent is Chien Pho plums (Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang), which have long been famous for their color and delicious flavor.
When coming to Ha Giang in June and July, you will encounter gardens of bright red ripe plums standing out in the green forest. The most interesting thing is to pick the ripe plums yourself and bite into the sweet and attractive flavor. This will definitely be an extremely fun and relaxing experience.
9. Ha Giang Peach
Nguồn ảnh: Stevepb – Pixabay
The plump, ripe peaches, with brilliant colors and rich flavors that captivate and captivate many tourists are another specialty of Ha Giang.
During peach season, right in the town center, roadside stalls, and especially walking around Bac Ha market on weekends, visitors will be fascinated by baskets of extremely eye-catching ripe peaches sold right on the side of the road. Gently peel off the velvet skin on the outside to see the extremely attractive golden peach flesh. Enjoying the taste of just the first bite, #teamKlook will be completely conquered by that fresh, crispy and fragrant taste.
10. Le Ha Giang
Nguồn ảnh: Piro4D – Pixabay
Around October, anyone who goes to Ha Giang does not forget to bring some pears back as gifts. Those who have once enjoyed the taste of pears here will never forget the sour, slightly refreshing taste of this fruit.
There are two types of pears in Ha Giang rocky mountains, one with eye-catching yellow-green skin, the other with brown skin that the locals call mac cop fruit with a slightly astringent taste. No matter which pear variety you try, the flavor is delicious.
11. Ha Giang Dream
Nguồn ảnh: Stevepb – Pixabay
Apricots in the land of buckwheat are very juicy, sour and sometimes slightly bitter. Ha Giang people often dip apricots in seasoning powder, soak them in sugar, soak them in wine, dry them, or make them into dried apricots. No matter how you use them, apricots always have a special, rich and unmistakable flavor.
12. Ha Giang Apple
Hawthorn is the most popular fruit, sold a lot in the markets in Ha Giang. This is a small, crunchy, slightly sour and astringent apple. Hawthorn can be eaten fresh or soaked in wine, very delicious. Wine soaked from hawthorn is an effective medicine to treat high blood pressure, known by many people.
What Ha Giang specialties should I buy as gifts?
A culinary experience is definitely not complete without delicious dishes to buy as gifts. These are usually specialties, with the flavor of the Northeast mountains and forests and can be stored for a long time. Join Klook to discover what you can buy as gifts for friends and relatives.
13. Smoked Buffalo Meat
Smoked meat is a specialty of the Black Thai people used to entertain distinguished guests. Smoked buffalo meat has a spicy taste from Mac Khen, a rich sweetness from fresh buffalo meat and a characteristic smoky smell that makes anyone exclaim in praise.
To buy delicious buffalo jerky, you can go to the big stalls at Dong Van market, or on your trip to visit mountainous families in Ha Giang, visit Xo My Cooperative, where there are many households famous for making delicious buffalo jerky.
14. Smoked Sausage
Similar to buffalo meat, smoked sausage is a Ha Giang delicacy that you can buy as a gift. The sausage is made from wild boar meat, using small intestine as the outer layer, marinated with some mountain spices such as mac mat, mac khen, white wine and ground ginger. After processing, people will hang the sausage over the fire for a long time to absorb the smell of smoke, creating a burnt, fragrant and fatty flavor.
15. Ha Giang Stone Cake
Ha Giang is a mountainous province with many poor villages, so candy and snacks are something that children dream of. The ingredients for making snacks are also just rice, corn and sticky rice. But because of that, Ha Giang people have created a special stone cake that cannot be found anywhere else.
Banh Da is a “strange” cake in Ha Giang. The cake has an elongated shape, and is as white as rice. The reason it is called Banh Da is because the cake is “thrown” into the stream for months until it grows moss and looks like a pebble. When you want to eat it, you go to the river to get it.
After picking up the stone cake, the moss will be scraped off to reveal the pure white color of the cake, then cut into finger-sized strips. Each person has a different way of eating it, some eat it instead of noodles, others use it as a thirst quencher after hours of hard work in the fields. You can also cut it into small pieces and put it in a pot of boiling water, wait until the cake is soft, then eat it with palm sugar water and roasted peanuts as a snack.
16. Types of Fruits in Ha Giang
Not only the West is famous for its fruit orchards that delight people’s hearts. Like most other localities in the North, Ha Giang province is remembered by many tourists for its large, round red plums with a characteristic color and delicious taste. If you are a fan of sweet and fragrant oranges, this land at the head of the Fatherland will give you a refreshing experience with the juicy but also extremely sweet and cool navel orange. In addition, people here often use wild apples to soak in wine and consider it a remedy against the symptoms of high blood pressure. Not only that, the French hybrid peach or the chum tangerine and sen tangerine also make Ha Giang unforgettable in the subconscious of tourists.
Why Shouldn’t You Miss Ha Giang Cuisine?
Ha Giang is a province in the Northeast of Vietnam, with a mountainous terrain, so the climate here is distinctly colder than neighboring provinces. Therefore, traveling to Ha Giang has long been considered a form of exploring new lands and experiencing the culture of ethnic people in the far North of the country.
Not only famous for its majestic and lyrical landscape, Ha Giang also attracts tourists by its unique and rich cuisine. Blessed by nature with precious raw materials and fuels, Ha Giang cuisine has become a unique feature that not every region has.
Because of the highland, Ha Giang people’s cooking spices are mainly spicy and hot. The main spices used are mac khen or doi seeds, which enhance the flavor of the dish and keep the body warm. In addition, the smoked meat dishes are also focused on preserving and storing food for the cold winter.
