Visitors to the mountains of northern Vietnam, don't forget to stop by the bazaars to discover the local cuisine. Here are some delicious dishes that people can easily find in Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai.
Five-color sticky rice
Five-color sticky rice is a popular dish during the holidays of the Northwest people, especially with Thai people in Yen Bai. Depending on the needs, the processor can use more or less color. You can see the common colors of five-color sticky rice such as: white, black, purple, yellow.
The ingenuity of ethnic people is to know how to use natural ingredients to dye sticky rice. With white, people simply use glutinous rice to dress up. Blue and red are made from green sticky rice and red sticky rice. With the black or purple type, the cook uses the leaves of the hump tree to soak the rice, depending on the level of mixing.
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Photo: Vietnam Photo Newspaper
Black banh chung
Black banh chung is a unique dish of the Thai Muong Lo people in Yen Bai province. Usually, banh chung is only made during Tet like the Kinh people, but if you are lucky, you can still see this dish in highland markets.
The special thing about black banh chung is the shape and color of the cake. Thai people wrap a cylindrical banh chung, or fold the leaves like a cake at the bottom. Glutinous rice is soaked with the leaves of the tree to have a characteristic black color. The ingredients are carefully selected, including wild dong leaves, wild boar meat or armpit pigs. When eating, the cake will be cut into small pieces or eaten whole.
![](https://files.migo.travel/20240508/mon-ngon-trong-cho-phien-mu-cang-chai-liyhsrv5.webp?f=ShTDoo5UPEOtjvP0guL32Q)
Photo: dugiahomestay
Grilled stream fish
When it comes to Thai cuisine, grilled fish is indispensable. This unique name means "grilled folded fish" in Thai. They usually only use stream carp for grilling. Chefs use typical ingredients in Thai cuisine such as macadamias, ginger, garlic, and herbs to marinate the fish.
The fish is placed on the charcoal grill directly or on the grate. The meat of stream fish is soft, sweet and fragrant, not crumbling and dry. The taste of the fish blends with spices to make the dish special, lingering in the minds of diners.
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Photo: Thanh Nien Newspaper
Grilled chicken with honey leaves served with diagonal pork belly
With Thai grilled dishes, honey leaves are an important ingredient. Grilled chicken with bile has a sour, sweet and sour taste of leaves. In addition, people often dip chicken with "cross occipital" - a mixture of chicken liver secretions and liver, lemon and chili, garlic, and macadamia. Diagonal occipital is a special type of dipping of ethnic people, slightly comparable and dense. When served with grilled chicken, diners can feel the sweet and sour taste of honey leaves, the mild taste of mac chin and the slight spiciness of chili.
![](https://files.migo.travel/20240508/mon-ngon-trong-cho-phien-mu-cang-chai-13m3wxuv.webp?f=2zTX8dgEbUqLWB6xxPOzBA)
Photo: Bepnhabeo
According to VnE