5 delicious dishes tourists should not miss when visiting the ancient battlefield of Dien Bien

Dien Bien is a province with many resources, historical and cultural relics with 21 ethnic groups living together. The ethnic groups in Dien Bien today still retain their own customs, habits and identities.

Not only famous for its historical site associated with the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Dien Bien also attracts tourists with its delicious dishes.

The delicious dishes of the ethnic people in Dien Bien are elaborately prepared, with sophistication in the use of unique spices from the Northwest mountains and forests.

In the list of Top 100 unique dishes nationwide by the Vietnam Record Organization (Vietkings), Dien Bien has 5 delicious dishes honored including boiled bitter bamboo shoots, sticky rice, dried buffalo meat, grilled chicken with mac khen, and Pa pinh top (grilled stream fish).

1- Bitter bamboo shoots

Bitter bamboo shoots are a special product that can only be found in mountainous areas like Dien Bien. Bitter bamboo shoots grow on hillsides and mountain slopes, and sprout from the ground. When it rains, the bamboo shoots grow very quickly. The best bamboo shoots are picked before they sprout from the ground, when each bud is white and tender, looking very attractive.

Bitter bamboo shoots are processed into many different dishes. When eating at a restaurant or cultural village, you can order a dish of boiled bamboo shoots with cham cheo, a dipping sauce with pepper, garlic, chili, mac khen, herbs... of the Thai people in Dien Bien.

You can also request to enjoy grilled bitter bamboo shoots; stir-fried with pork, beef or stewed with bones, all of which are delicious. When enjoying, you will feel the bitter, sweet taste of bamboo shoots, the spicy taste of garlic, chili, mac khen, the rich, fragrant taste of coriander.

All the flavors of nature are blended into a dish that creates the difference of the Northwest mountainous region of Dien Bien that cannot be found anywhere else. You can enjoy bitter bamboo shoots with traditional Thai dishes that are very rich and unforgettable.

Bitter bamboo shoots are a favorite dish of diners who love bitter dishes. If you cannot eat bitter dishes, you can still enjoy bitter bamboo shoots by asking the restaurant to soak the bamboo shoots in salt water before boiling, stir-frying, or stewing. The bamboo shoots will be less bitter, then you can enjoy and feel the natural flavor of bitter bamboo shoots and you certainly cannot forget this unique specialty dish when coming to Dien Bien.

2- Sticky rice

Sticky rice is grown a lot in the Northwestern provinces, but when talking about the best sticky rice, people often think of Dien Bien sticky rice.

The Dien Bien sticky rice grains are plump and round, when cooked they are sweet, fragrant and soft. Enjoying the delicious sticky rice cooked by the Thai ethnic people, along with grilled fish, grilled pork and sesame salt is an interesting and attractive experience for any tourist.

The process of cooking sticky rice from upland fields is more elaborate than that of rice grown in rice fields. The sticky rice must be cooked in a special wooden steamer of the Thai people. The sticky rice is cooked by steam, soft, chewy but not sticky. The sticky rice must be soaked for many hours so that it is not hard when cooked.

Sticky rice is cooked very elaborately, it has to be cooked twice for it to be soft and fragrant. The first time, after the sticky rice has released its aroma and is just cooked, pour it onto a tray and use chopsticks to spread it out evenly. After a while, pour it back into the steamer and continue to cook until the sticky rice is cooked evenly.

Tourists visiting Dien Bien often buy hot sticky rice rolls from the Thai people to eat on the road to warm their stomachs. In the cold of the Northwest mountains, tourists will find it hard to forget the fragrant, attractive taste of sticky rice. It is extremely enjoyable when you roll each handful of sticky rice in your hand, slowly enjoy it and when you spread your palm out, you still feel your hand is clean, not sticky.

3 - Dried buffalo meat

Dried buffalo meat is a dish formed when ethnic people slaughter buffaloes. If they don't finish eating all the buffalo meat, the pieces are seasoned and hung over the stove to dry.

The way to make dried buffalo and beef is quite simple. Large pieces of meat are marinated with salt, mixed with typical spices such as ginger, mac khen, gac, chili... After marinating, the pieces of meat are dried until they are dry, then they are steamed, after the steaming is finished, they are continued to be dried on the stove until completely dry.

4- Grilled chicken with mac khen

In the Northwest, Thai people call this dish “cay pinh”, which means grilled chicken. Thai grilled chicken is popular perhaps because of the special flavor created from mac khen seeds. The seeds have a characteristic aroma of a mountainous spice.

It is this special spicy, numbing,... taste that makes the dish so special and attractive. Grilled chicken with mac khen has an attractive golden skin and sweet, fragrant meat with a strong mac khen aroma that makes anyone who enjoys it exclaim how delicious it is.

The way to prepare this dish is also very special. When preparing, choose good chicken, clean it, marinate it with spices such as mac khen seeds, lemon, ginger, lemongrass, chili, salt, ... mix them together, crush them and stuff them into the chicken's belly. Rub the remaining spices into the chicken skin to make the dish more flavorful.

The chicken is grilled over charcoal with a low flame. While grilling, the chicken fat will melt and the skin will turn golden brown. When the chicken is cooked, the mac khen spice will be brushed on. When exposed to heat, the mac khen gives off a fragrant aroma. The chicken is marinated with mac khen and many other familiar spices to create an irresistible dish that you will remember forever after eating it once.

When the chicken is cooked, leave it whole, tear each piece with your hands and dip it in Cham Cheo, there is nothing more interesting. Place the herbs in the chicken's belly on a plate, take a piece of chicken, add some herbs with the smell of Mac Khen, the flavor is very special. Diners can eat with fried sticky rice, bamboo rice or hot rice, add a little lettuce, herbs and dip with Cham Cheo.

Anyone who has been to Dien Bien and had the opportunity to enjoy it will surely not forget the delicious, firm, sweet taste of the chicken and the rich aroma of this grilled chicken with mac khen.

5- Pa pinh top (Grilled stream fish)

Pa pỉnh tộp can be understood as a whole grilled stream fish. The special thing about Pa pỉnh tộp grilled stream fish lies in the way the fish is marinated and grilled. Unlike other types of fish, the ingredients must be carefully selected to retain the sweetness and delicious flavor of the fish.

The fish chosen will be carp, silver carp, and grass carp living in mountain streams. The most important step in processing is gutting the fish. People use a sharp knife to cut from the back down, split the upper part of the fish body from head to tail, do not cut the belly of the fish, do not cut the mouth of the fish. Because when folding the fish, the tail will be tucked back into the mouth of the fish to keep the spices in the belly of the fish from spilling out.

Spices include mac khen and bamboo shoots of cardamom, wild vegetables, herbs such as basil, onion, green onion, lemongrass, chili, ginger, ... are chopped and stuffed into the belly of the fish. In addition, when marinating, it must be folded in half horizontally. When grilling, use bamboo tongs or a grill, then grill over hot coals.

In particular, pa pỉnh tộp cannot lack mac khen seeds - a typical spice of the Thai people. The fish is grilled on charcoal, when almost cooked, the fish fat drips onto the firewood, crackling, the fatty fish fat mixes with the smell of spices to create a fragrant aroma. With a more elaborate preparation and seasoning than regular grilled fish, pa pỉnh tộp has a particularly delicious taste when eaten.

Thanks to this special grilling method, the fish meat absorbs the spices evenly, cooks quickly, and has a rich, delicious flavor. Fresh fish meat combined with spices and mac khen seeds will create a strong, slightly spicy, and delicious aroma. Pa pỉnh tộp must be eaten hot with cham cheo dipping sauce, along with a little bit of herbs and spices such as coriander and chili to be truly delicious.

The dipping sauce is a combination of mac khen seeds, minced garlic, pepper, chili water, and coriander, which will make the dish more delicious and flavorful. The best way to eat pa pinh top is to drink it with corn wine, which will make the dish even more delicious.