Buzz
When it comes to Hà Nam's specialties, visitors must indulge in the top 10 dishes mentioned below to fully experience the culinary beauty of this region.
Exploring the Delicacies of Hà Nam - A Must for Food Enthusiasts
1. Braised Fish from Vũ Đại Village
2. Mountain Goat Meat
The rocky mountains of Kim Bảng, Hà Nam, provide an ideal environment for raising free-range goats. Grazing on herbs and grasses, the goat meat becomes tender, aromatic, and nutritious. Local residents skillfully prepare goat meat into various enticing dishes such as goat with lime, grilled goat, and stir-fried goat. The most special dish is the '7-course goat feast' which many diners favor. This feast includes dishes like goat blood pudding, steamed goat, goat stir-fried with lemongrass and chili, goat with lime, goat hotpot, goat wrapped in fat, and green bean goat porridge.
3. River Snail Noodle Soup
River snail noodle soup is one of the must-try specialties for travelers visiting Hà Nam. According to locals, this dish was once offered to the King. The broth is simmered from river snail bones, giving it a distinctive 'meaty and sweet from bones' flavor. The snails are cleaned and marinated with spices, not fried or grilled, so they're not greasy and still retain a sweet taste. A serving of river snail noodle soup includes noodles, tender snail meat, broth, and some greens (or coriander), fragrant herbs.
4. 'Gradual Enlarging Birds'
'Gradual Enlarging Birds' is a Hà Nam specialty with a unique name often chosen by many travelers to enjoy when they have the opportunity to visit here. The reason for the name 'gradual enlarging birds' is because diners will taste the flavors of various types of bird meat from small to large such as sparrows, swallows, cuckoos, wild ducks, egrets... even including 'rare' birds like hawks, night herons... With the secret recipe for enticing preparation, this dish will surely bring diners an interesting culinary experience.
5. Đầm Village Square Cake
Đầm Village, located in Liêm Tuyền commune, Thanh Liêm district, Hà Nam province, has a traditional craft of making square cakes that has lasted for hundreds of years. This is also one of the 5 most famous square cake-making villages in the North. Đầm Village square cake is a Hà Nam specialty that contains the fragrance of glutinous rice, the richness of green beans mixed with a bit of fatty, rich pork flavor.
In Đầm village, locals craft square cakes from sticky rice sourced from the Hải Hậu region (Nam Định), mixed with yellow-flowered sticky rice for a smooth, chewy texture without hard grains. Notably, rainwater is used instead of well water in the cooking process, and the pot must be made of tin to produce the finest batches of cakes. Đầm village square cakes feature fillings made from familiar ingredients like green beans, pork..., offering a distinct aroma and chewiness when eaten.
6. Phủ Lý Steamed Rolls
The city of Phủ Lý, Hà Nam province, is widely renowned for its steamed rolls. With this type of cake, two thin layers are spread with milled rice flour. People here produce two types of steamed rolls: plain ones and ones with wood ear mushroom filling.
Phủ Lý steamed rolls are served with fried shallots; grilled minced pork shaped like Chinese cabbage flowers or grilled nem made from delicious fresh pork that is meticulously marinated, then grilled on charcoal stoves. The unique aspect of Phủ Lý steamed rolls is that they're served cold but dipped in hot dipping sauce with a balanced sour, spicy, salty, sweet flavor.
7. Móng Duy Tiên Chicken Meat
Tiên Phong commune formerly (now Tiên Sơn commune), Duy Tiên town, Hà Nam province, is home to a rare breed of Móng chickens, a precious specialty here. Compared to other traditional chicken breeds, Móng chickens have delicious aromatic meat, crispy skin without fat, moist and not dry meat. With this breed of chicken, locals can prepare many different dishes, but no matter what dish is made, the chicken meat ensures its naturally sweet and delicious flavor.
8. Tái Kênh Village Noodles
Tái Kênh hamlet, Đinh Xá commune, Bình Lục district, Hà Nam province, is renowned for its long-standing noodle-making craft. To create white, chewy, and fragrant noodles, Tái Kênh villagers undergo meticulous processing through various stages, from selecting raw materials for making noodles, soaking rice, grinding rice, kneading dough to boiling, pounding... all requiring the utmost skillfulness.
Tái Kênh noodles are white, transparent, chewy, delicious, and evenly round. Particularly, no preservatives are used in the noodles to create their chewiness and deliciousness, ensuring absolute safety and no harm to the health of consumers. From Tái Kênh noodles, various enticing dishes can be prepared such as noodle with grilled pork, noodle with crab soup, snail noodle soup, bamboo shoot noodle soup, pork leg noodle soup... All together, they create the characteristic culinary feature of Tái Kênh village in particular and Hà Nam province in general.
9. Bình Lục Fermented Anchovy Paste
Bình Lục is a district located in the southeast of Hà Nam province, about 10 km from Phủ Lý city. This place is famous for its specialty, fermented anchovy paste, with a characteristic flavor that is both pungent and spicy, with a strong aroma.
After catching anchovies, they are cleaned and crushed in a stone mortar. During the crushing process, salt is added, and everything is put into the same pottery jar along with crushed galangal and ginger. Next, the jar is tightly covered with cloth, sun-dried for a day, then buried underground. The longer it is buried, the more aromatic and attractive the fermented anchovy paste becomes. The finished fermented anchovy paste will have a striking amber color, a fragrant aroma of galangal, a salty taste of salt, and a slightly spicy taste of ginger. Fermented anchovy paste is very suitable for dipping boiled meat, boiled vegetables, stir-fried dishes...
10. Lý Nhân Tangerines
Lý Nhân is a district located in the eastern part of Hà Nam province, along the Red River, famous for its tangerine variety with a distinctive fragrance, color, and flavor. Lý Nhân tangerines have flat fruit, thin peel. When ripe, the peel turns into a beautiful golden yellow color, and when eaten, you will feel the crispy, natural sweetness of this tangerine variety. Lý Nhân tangerines are not only famous in many provinces and cities of Vietnam but also exported to the international market.
According to Mytour
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Reference: Mytour Travel Handbook
MytourJune 8, 2023
