Hoàng Lan

The Tày ethic group in the northern province of Cao Bằng often cook special tasty dishes made from pumpkin to welcome in Tết.

The dishes include steamed minced pork in pumpkin, locally known as dồi bí đỏ, grilled pumpkin wrapped in pork belly, boiled and fried pumpkin flowers and young buds, pumpkin porridge and soup, alongside congee and other delights.

Tày housewife Nông Thị Thúy in Cao Bằng’s Nguyên Bình District said dồi bí đỏ is a specialty, often cooked for big parties such as the Lunar New Year holiday, but can also be served at weddings or death anniversaries.

Steamed minced pork in pumpkin or dồi bí đỏ, a specialty of Tày ethnic group in the northern province of Cao Bằng. Photo dienmayxanh.com

The first step for any cook is to choose a sticky pumpkin of around a kilo and a half in weight, clean it well and use a sharp knife to cut out a top part from the pumpkin stem to become a lid like a little hat. They need to then scrape out all the innards of the pumpkin’s inner, so as the vegetable looks like a pot, said Thúy.

Ingredients to make the dumpling include minced pork, minced shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, dried onions, fish sauce, sugar, pepper and sticky rice powder.

Mix all the ingredients together and put them back into the pumpkin, cover it with the lid, and steam the whole thing until it is well cooked.

“The dish is fragrant, rich and tastes great,” Thúy said, adding that the Tày housewives also like to cook steamed chicken in a pumpkin.

Apart from dồi bí đỏ, grilled pumpkin wrapped in pork belly is also a favourite dish cooked by the Tày.

Grilled pumpkin wrapped in pork belly is among other favourite dishes of the Tày. Photo kingfoodmart.com

Thúy said the vegetable needs to be cut into rectangles and the pork belly cut into thin slices, which are then wrapped around each piece of pumpkin, using a bamboo toothpick to fix the meat onto the cut vegetable pieces. They are then placed under the grill for cooking.

The dish is even more enjoyable when dipping it in chilli sauce or some fresh chilli mixed with minced garlic and a bit of lemon juice, said Thúy, adding that it is a very good bar snack, sipped alongside a cup of rice wine.

Another delightful dish the Tày people like to cook is pumpkin porridge with sticky rice, green beans and groundnuts, said Thúy.

“All of these ingredients are cooked until they are all soft and well combined before putting a certain quantity of sugar into the pot and then stirring well. "The porridge is topped with several ginger sliced so to make it even more fragrant,” said Thúy.

The dish is not only enjoyable to eat, but it has many good effects, such as being a refreshing food that warms up the body, being nutritious, and being thought of in folk medicine as being good for dealing with nervous tension.

Roasted and salted pumpkin seeds become an indispensable gift of not only Tày ethnic group but also locals in other provinces and cities. Photo caobangtourism.vn

Thúy said she often cooks pumpkin porridge in summer to cool down in the severe heat and pumpkin soup with pork ribs on the weekend or for ill family members, because the pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, which plays an important role in improving human vision, bone health, regulates the immune system and can help the body repel diseases and viruses.

“During hot days in summer, housewives often boil pumpkin buds and pumpkin flowers to dip them with mixed chilli, garlic and fish sauce,” she said.

In addition, the Tày ethnic group also roasted and salted pumpkin seeds, which are considered a special Tết gift.

“I often send the roasted and salted pumpkin seeds to my friends and relatives in Cao Bằng city and also in Hà Nội as a dear gift for them to enjoy the Tết holiday,” said Thúy.

Tày ethnic group often stores pumpkin to enjoy it all the year round. Photo nongsandungha.com

Thúy’s friend in Cao Bằng City Tạ Ngọc Hiền, said roasted and salted pumpkin seed is an indispensable Tết gift for almost all local families.

“We are very happy to enjoy Thúy’s sticky pumpkin seeds, which are crispy, fragrant with a buttery taste,” Hiền said, noting that it was a favourite of her family and friends.

Herbalist Phạm Viết Sáng said pumpkin is also very good for the brain because it is rich in the acid glutamic, which helps to increase memory capacity, can help after a nervous breakdown and has positive impacts on children with slow development in terms of an intellectual disability. They added that pumpkins have long been closely connected to mountainous people’s daily lives, and they store the pumpkins to use year-round. VNS