Ms. Truong Thi Le Nhung (Madam Nhung) is a famous chef in Hanoi. Ms. Nhung's family was originally from the old Ky Dong street (now Tong Duy Tan food street). Since childhood, this chef has inherited her love of cooking from her grandmother and mother.
Growing up and pursuing a career in the culinary industry, Ms. Nhung has always preserved the traditional features of Hanoi cuisine. She always spends time meticulously preparing the ancestral altar on holidays and Tet. According to tradition, the ancestral altar of the ancient Hanoians usually has 6 or 8 dishes, vegetarian or non-vegetarian depending on taste.
According to Ms. Nhung, the Vietnamese offering tray is not only a cultural and spiritual feature, but also a family reunion meal. “The whole family gathers around the tray, connecting the generations,” the female chef born in 1973 shared.
The "key" dish on the Vietnamese Tet tray is banh chung - symbolizing the earth according to folk beliefs.
Banh chung is square with a smooth green crust, rich green bean filling covering soft lean meat and fat. The best banh chung is wrapped in fragrant sticky rice from Tu Le (Yen Bai).
Boiled chicken with fairy wings is always the most important dish on the Tet offering tray. According to Madam Nhung, boiled chicken must have a healthy shape, firm meat, and crispy, golden skin.
She said that in the past, people often called the offering chicken “Mr. Chicken” for solemnity. The boiled chicken had to be a flower-shaped rooster, the kind that crows only when it is young. The fairy-winged chicken displayed on the altar on Tet holiday symbolizes the wish for the family to have good luck and health in the new year.
Having tried processing many chicken breeds in Bac Giang, Hai Phong and Thanh Hoa, Ms. Nhung is most satisfied with the Son Tay flower rooster (Hanoi). The white meat is not mushy, the thigh meat is firm, crispy, soft, and the skin is thin and crispy without fat.
Fried spring rolls are an indispensable dish on the Tet or holiday offerings. “Each family has a different way of making spring rolls. For me, the best spring rolls are the ones my grandmother and mother made in the past. Usually, people make traditional meat spring rolls or seafood spring rolls. I usually make crab spring rolls,” she said.
The ancient Hanoians had a tradition of offering sticky rice on full moon days, new moon days or Tet holidays. Nowadays, in addition to traditional sticky rice, people have created many versions such as sticky rice with gac fruit and sticky rice with green rice.
Besides, there are traditional dishes such as fried pork roll, roasted pigeon, and ball soup. Besides ball soup, many families also cook bamboo shoot soup.
Nhung’s family also burns incense for young sticky rice cakes during Tet holidays. The cakes are made from half sticky rice flour, half fragrant sticky rice, and do not stick to leaves. The small cakes are bite-sized, with the green bean filling from Nghe An still retaining the flavor of new beans, mixed with crispy pork cartilage.
On the Tet offering tray in Hanoi, there is also a dish called Bun thang, served with raw spring rolls (called thang and cuon by the ancients). This is considered the dish of the 4th day of Tet - a summary of the remaining ingredients and food from the Tet holidays but with a more unique variation.
Not only is she meticulous in her family's Tet offerings, Madam Nhung also tries to package the sophisticated traditional cuisine of Hanoi into products. Her shop is a familiar address for Hanoian foodies, many customers order food to be delivered abroad, customers from diplomatic agencies order feasts to introduce Vietnamese cuisine to foreigners...
About 10 years ago, Ms. Nhung started an online business and became one of the pioneers of this model in Hanoi.
“Nowadays, not everyone can spend time cooking a complete feast, so many families buy pre-made food. The dishes are simmered, carefully calculated, then vacuum-packed and frozen. Customers just need to follow the instructions to have a complete feast,” said Ms. Nhung.
Every year, her online kitchen serves hundreds of Tet dishes for Kitchen Gods Day and New Year's Eve. During one Tet season, her family sells out 10,000 Chung cakes.
