Vietnamese New Year Food: 3-Region Traditional Cuisine

On the day of the Lunar New Year in Vietnam, each region has a tray with its own traditional food for Vietnamese lunar new year. If the North cannot be without pickles, banh chung, and fried spring rolls, the Central area has sour shrimp and beef rolls… The traditional Tet tray is diverse in dishes and focuses on the presentation and color of the food. Let’s find out the Vietnamese new year food through the article below with Tasty Touch.

Northern Vietnamese new year food

Vietnamese Red Sticky Rice (Xôi gấc)

According to the concept of ancient grandparents, red is the color of luck, the color of happiness. Therefore, during the full moon days, and holidays, especially the Lunar New Year, there must be a plate of Gac sticky rice.

Gac sticky rice is cooked from delicious glutinous rice mixed with fresh Gac fruit and then put in a steamer. After the sticky rice is cooked, it will have a beautiful bright red color, delicious but very nutritious with high vitamin A content.

Boiled chicken

Boiled chicken is a simple but indispensable dish in the Tet tray of the Northern people. The sweet and aromatic chicken served with lemon leaves, salt, and pepper will bring a unique and unforgettable taste. The plate of boiled chicken presented in a tray of rice stands out thanks to its bright yellow color, tender meat, and beautiful glossy skin.

Spring rolls (Nem rán)

Fried spring rolls outside are golden yellow, and the inside is filled with pork, wood ear, shiitake mushrooms, and bean sprouts. This dish brings a delicious, crispy, and very attractive taste that is indispensable in the Lunar New Year days of the Northern people. Fried spring rolls are loved by many people and are also considered a dish symbolizing the “national soul, national essence” of the Vietnamese people.

Lean pork paste (Giò lụa)

Lean pork paste is often placed in the center of the Tet tray, meaning being warm outside and bringing good fortune to the house. This lunar new year food Vietnamese is made from pureed pork wrapped in banana leaves and then boiled. The crispy, delicious lean pork paste can be eaten with rice or bread. You can store it in the refrigerator and bring it to your guests at any time, especially during Tet.

Pickles (Dưa muối)

Pickles are a rustic but very special dish in the Tet dishes of the North. This dish has a sour, mildly spicy taste and is used to serve with banh chung or frozen meat. Pickles are considered an extremely effective anti-boring dish, especially during the New Year as you need to know.

Pork skin ball soup (Canh bóng bì lợn)

Pork skin ball soup is also known as drop ball soup. This dish always appears on the tray of every Tet holiday for the Northern people. This dish has the sweet taste of broth, greasy growing meat, crispy skin, fragrant mushrooms, and vegetables that help create the full flavor of the word.

Stir-fried spring rolls (Giò xào)

This is a traditional Tet dish of the Northern people and is now popular throughout the country. Stir-fried spring rolls with the main ingredient are fried minced meat with some ingredients such as wood ear, salt, seasoning seeds, and ground pepper, … then wrapped and compacted in banana leaves.

Dried bamboo shoot soup (Canh măng khô)

In the days of Tet to Spring, it is often indispensable to have a bowl of hot bamboo shoot soup with a delicious and greasy taste. The pot of bamboo shoot soup cooked with pork leg is a typical dish of the Northern people every Tet holiday. This is also considered a traditional culture of the ancient grandparents with the habit of eating foods derived from nature.

Frozen meat (Thịt đông)

Frozen meat is a familiar traditional dish for people in the North at the beginning of each year. People here often use pork legs, pork ears, chicken, and geese… to cook frozen meat. Frozen meat is a unique dish of the Northern spring.

In cold weather, frozen meat becomes more delicious. This dish is made from pork, sometimes using chicken and a piece of pork skin. Everything is then simmered. Then let it cool overnight to have delicious frozen meat.

Glutinous rice cooked with split peas (Xôi vò)

It was thought that sticky rice only appeared in everyday life, but it also appeared in the Tet tray as a feature that could not be ignored.

The cup of sticky rice is soft, fragrant, and unbelievably attractive. You can also serve the dish to make the dish more full of flavor. The method is extremely easy, so what are you waiting for without going to the kitchen to show off your talent right away?

Banh Chung

Banh Chung is indispensable in Vietnamese family holidays. According to the currently popular concept, along with banh tet in the south, banh chung symbolizes the ancient Vietnamese conception of the universe. The cake has a green, square shape, which is considered typical for the land in the beliefs of the ancient Vietnamese and other ethnic groups in Asia.

Central Vietnamese new year traditional food

Banh Tet (Bánh Tét)

Banh Tet means the convergence of earth and sky, one of the indispensable traditional dishes in the Tet tray of the Central people. If the North has banh chung wrapped in dong leaves, the banh tet in the Central and the South is wrapped in banana leaves. Although the ingredients are the same, the banh tet is wrapped in a cylindrical shape. Banh tet is often cut and eaten better than banh chung because it is easier to roll and squeeze after boiling than banh chung.

Fermented pork roll (Nem chua)

For a long time, people in Central Vietnam have considered nem chua as a meaningful and convenient gift, giving it every New Year to spring to show the most sincere affection. Some people explain nem Chua to worship ancestors and pray for luck and prosperity because it was previously made to advance the king during Tet.

If you have the opportunity to play Tet in the Central region, you will be treated by the people here to sip some wine and “bait” which are grilled spring rolls. This specialty Vietnamese new year food tradition is made from pork, after being marinated with spices, the meat is wrapped in guava leaves or gutted leaves for a few days to have a sour, crunchy, spicy taste.

Sour shrimp (Tôm chua)

Another indispensable Vietnamese new years food in the Tet tray of the Central people is sour shrimp, a specialty of Hue. The sweet taste of shrimp, the greasy taste of meat, the spicy and aromatic taste of galangal, garlic, and chili, the sour taste of star fruit, the acrid taste of figs, the aroma of herbs, etc. All create a “flavor symphony”. attractive that anyone who eats it once will have to remember it forever.

Ground beef (chả bò)

At the banquet table for guests in the early spring days of the Central people, there is usually a red and pink beef patty. With enough salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, spicy flavors mixed with the characteristic strong aroma of black pepper, this dish is indispensable for Tet holidays.

Cured meat in fish sauce (Thịt ngâm nước mắm)

Every Tet to Spring, the dish of marinated meat with fish sauce is the most popular way of salting meat in many central provinces. The raw materials can be pork or beef, and after preliminary processing, they are soaked in mixed sugar fish sauce according to a certain ratio. This meat dish has a salty and sweet taste and is often served with pickles, sweet and sour zucchini, and raw vegetables and herbs.

Southern Vietnamese food for lunar new year

Dried shrimp – Pickled small leeks (Củ kiệu tôm khô)

If the traditional Tet rice tray of the Northern people always has pickles and onions, the Southern people cannot lack the jar of palanquin or the plate of dried shrimp mixed with sweet and sour sweet and sour papaya. The special thing in the South that is completely different from the Central region is that the papaya is not eaten with Banh tet, but is often served with dried shrimp as a separate dish.

Braised meat with coconut water (Thịt kho nước dừa)

Among the countless delicious dishes in Saigon, the most famous traditional food for Vietnamese lunar new year is probably braised meat with coconut water. Also known as braised meat, braised duck meat. On the days before Tet, besides cooking Tet cakes, people often prepare a pot of coconut water. Braised duck meat looks very attractive, easy to eat, and very delicious. If you want to enjoy this dish without feeling sick, you can eat this dish often with pickles.

Fresh spring roll (Gỏi cuốn)

Goi cuon is an attractive, mouth-catching dish with a variety of different ingredients, but in today’s list, Dien May XANH will introduce you to a familiar, rustic, and irresistible dish that cannot be denied.

Fresh and sweet shrimp meat is wrapped in soft and chewy rice paper, added to some fresh green vegetables, and dipped in a cup of sweet and sour sauce. This dish helps you relieve fatigue after eating greasy dishes, and also contains many nutrients.

Chinese sausage (Lạp xưởng)

One of the most popular dishes in the South that everyone knows is sausage. Every time Tet comes in Spring, the need to find and buy sausages is indispensable in the rice tray of Southern people. With many types of sausages from fresh, dried, lean, shrimp, fish… 

Sausage is a dish that originated in China and is loved by many Vietnamese people. They are made from pureed lean meat and lard mixed with alcohol and sugar, then stuffed into dried pig intestines to be cooked by natural fermentation. That’s why sausages have a slightly sweet taste.

Vietnamese stuffed bitter melon soup (Canh khổ qua)

For every Southern family, bitter melon soup stuffed with meat is a familiar everyday dish. Stuffed bitter melon soup is a dish that is not only refreshing, cooling, and very beneficial for health, but also means repelling difficulties and waiting for joy and luck to come. Therefore, this dish is a great choice for many Southern families during each Lunar New Year.

Mixed fried vermicelli (Miến xào thập cẩm)

In addition to greasy dishes such as meat, pork rolls, and spring rolls… on New Year’s Day, vegetarian dishes such as fried vermicelli are essential choices to help your family feel less bored and more appetizing. Vegetarian fried vermicelli is a very delicious dish and is loved by many people. Not only that, but this dish is also extremely easy to make with extremely simple recipes and easy-to-find ingredients.

 With many different ingredients, mixed fried vermicelli brings a very special flavor, attracting people to enjoy it. Mixed fried vermicelli is often loved by families during Tet. Delicious flavor, rich fried vermicelli ingredients, and rich mixed fried vermicelli will surely make your family enjoy Tet very deliciously.

Above is the traditional Vietnamese new year food on Tet holiday in Vietnam, each dish has its own color, flavor, and meaning. When Tet comes to spring, each Vietnamese person gathers with their loved ones together with delicious traditional Vietnamese new year food with the taste of Tet, the taste of reunion. Traditional dishes are always indispensable values ​​with joy and hope for a prosperous and peaceful new year. Let’s go to the kitchen to prepare delicious and attractive dishes to contribute to the joyful flavor of the spring atmosphere.