In the days near Tet, we visited the families of Tran Thi Kim and Dang Van Hai from the Hoa ethnic group in Tu Mot village, Quy Son commune (Luc Ngan district). According to the customs of the Hoa people here, the Tet meal, besides chung (square) cake, Chinese braised pork, and bia cake, cannot be without khau nhuc. 

Khau nhuc after being steamed.

This dish is called by different names in different places such as khao nhuc, khâu nhuc or nam khau and processing methods are also different to suit the taste and characteristics of people in each region. While the Chinese people in China add tofu, in Lang Son soya sauce and in Son Dong Yew’s ear mushroom, those in Luc Ngan only use minced garlic, cardamom, soya sauce mixed with the water extracted from dia lien (Kaempferia galangal).

Talking about processing, Kim said this dish is very sophisticated. Materials include half fat and half lean meat, five spices, dia lien, cardamom, garlic, ginger, vinegar, monosodium glutamate, pepper and soya sauce. Especially, you have to choose a piece of pork with thin skin so that the food will have an eye-catching colour after being soaked with spices and processed. 

The stuffing is sprinkled on pieces of pork.

When processing, cut the meat into half-kilogram square pieces, clean and boil them, and then take them out to cool, carefully needle the skin and soak the pieces in water with vinegar and ginger. Fry the meat in a hot fat pan to make it brown. The pieces are immediately soaked in cold water just after taken from the pan, and then boiled to make the skin soft. After that, the meat is taken from the pot to be cooled. 

A finished dish of Khau nhuc: pork is tender, with fragrance and deliciously buttery taste.

Each piece is cut into six equal portions, put in a bowl, and sprayed with spices. Then they are put into a pot for steaming for 2-3 hours so that the meat could be tender and mixed well with spices. When eating, just turn it upside down on the plate, the pieces of pork are arranged in a circle according to the bowl shape, with the brown of the skin above...

Currently, khau nhuc is not only a dish of the Hoa ethnic people but also very popular among people in Luc Ngan district. The delicious food is indispensable in the menu at weddings, birthdays and death anniversaries. It also means that the well-being and good things will come in the New Year.

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Hoai Thu