Buzz
As the cultural and economic center of the Central Highlands, Dak Lak attracts numerous travelers in search of majestic mountains, pristine landscapes, and the rich mountainous culinary experience...
Deer Meat
Deer meat, a distinctive specialty of the Tây Nguyên mountainous region, awaits your taste buds in Dak Lak. The fresh venison, with its tender texture, fewer tendons, and snowy white color, surpasses beef and even veal. While beef in 7 different ways has its allure, the 7 venison dishes offer a surprising twist, making them incomparable to beef or veal.
Specialty venison restaurants in Buon Ma Thuot, the central city of Dak Lak, have incorporated venison into their daily menus and feasts. Grilled venison, lemongrass-infused venison, vinegar-dipped venison hotpot, fried venison ribs, tripe porridge, and finally, dried venison - a complete set of 7 dishes, surpassing the diversity of beef. Notably, grilled venison, lemongrass venison, and dried venison stand out as the most representative dishes.
Spicy Fire-grilled Chicken
Actually, this is the homemade version of the famous Ban Don grilled chicken. However, as it is made from scratch, it retains its originality with the unique method of using bamboo sticks instead of grilling sheets and avoiding any spice marination or pre-steaming for quick cooking.
Leafy Salad
If you ever find yourself in the mountainous streets at the northern tip of the Central Highlands (Kontum), I invite you to join the locals in savoring the specialty dish of the region, the Leafy Salad. This dish features a selection of over 40 different leaves, some familiar and others sourced from the Tây Nguyên forest.
The dipping sauce is crafted from distilled rice wine, purified cooking oil, and mixed with duck egg, resulting in a rich and savory sauce. Whole peppercorns, sea salt, green chili, and onions are essential spices. Pile up various leaves, add meat, shrimp, pork skin, and spices. Then, enjoy them all at once, chewing thoroughly to experience the diverse flavors - a perfect blend of bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and the rich tenderness of meat and shrimp.
After each bite, complement the experience with a sip of long-soaked liquor made from the roots of the ginseng tree. Finally, relish a pot of piping hot snakehead fish porridge to soothe the stomach. According to the locals, indulging in Leafy Salad is highly beneficial as most leaves used possess medicinal properties. It is believed to aid individuals with heart-related ailments and digestive issues.
Wild Forest Hot Pot
There are more than 10 types of leaves used to concoct the Forest Leaf Hot Pot, accompanied by fermented meat, baby shrimp, and boiled meat. Each leaf is meticulously chosen, with the crucial factor being their non-toxicity and non-reactivity with one another.
The Forest Leaf Hot Pot embodies the millennia-old wisdom of the indigenous people, a distilled experience passed down through generations. Each leaf contains unique nutritional compounds, offering significant health benefits.
Tree Spirit Elixir
As the harvest season concludes, the Bahnar, Xê Đăng, Jrai people venture into the deep forest armed with bows and essential supplies, embarking on what they call the Ninh Nơng month. Their deep forest journey includes an unmissable delight: indulging in Tree Spirit Elixir!
During the Ning Nơng season, various groups converge in the forest to savor the piquant and distinctively fragrant elixir. Spread leaves on the ground, ignite a small fire, and roast the freshly hunted wild animals such as rabbits and foxes. The forest meat, dipped in salt and crushed green chili, accompanied by a sip of potent elixir amidst the cold mountain air, is an experience not easily forgotten!
Tree Spirit Elixir is typically consumed during the day, often directly from the tree trunk. It holds no commercial value but is perhaps a peculiar reflection of the village-forest cultural uniqueness.
Leek Bamboo Shoots
During the rainy season along the highways of the Central Highlands, one encounters countless leek bamboo shoots markets. People from Ba Na, Gia Rai, and Xê Đăng, with their sun-kissed skin, sit motionless beside piles of leek bamboo shoots, waiting for buyers to arrive.
Fresh leek bamboo shoots are delicious, but dried ones surpass fresh bamboo shoots, leek bamboo shoots with tender fibers, and various other bamboo shoot varieties. In the villages, a special invitation involves a meal of homegrown rice served with leek bamboo shoots cooked with dried deer meat, accompanied by rare and precious salt and crushed chili leaves.
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Source: Mytour Travel Handbook – Via VietQ
MytourJanuary 3, 2014
