Kon Tum leaf salad is a blend of many different flavors such as: sour, spicy, sweet, rich, rich … If you have ever enjoyed the specialties of the leaf salad once, you will be stuck leaving the region. this land.
Kon Tum leaf salad is one of the famous specialties of the Central Highlands mountains and is highly appreciated by many tourists. And if you travel to Kon Tum without enjoying this dish, your trip is definitely not complete.
Kon Tum leaf salad – Tay Nguyen specialties
Basic features of Kon Tum leaf salad
Origin of Kon Tum leaf salad
According to everyone’s whispering, leaf salad in Kon Tum has existed for a long time, about 25 years ago; when the people here follow in the footsteps to tell the ethnic minorities to go to the fields. At that time, they discovered many types of forest leaves that can be processed for daily food. And when they returned, they also incorporated more leaves and spices. Undergoing the process of adding, reducing …. until now, you can only enjoy a special specialty of the mountains with the close name ” Kon Tum leaf salad “.
Origin of leaf salad
Why is it called ‘leaf salad’?
The people of the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands have named this specialty dish as leaf salad because when looking at it, only leaves are visible. And according to estimates, each plate of standard Highlands leaf salad will have from 30-60 types of leaves combined together. And there are some types of leaves that are only available in the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands that are: red leaves, rape leaves, broccoli leaves, from great compassion … or those that are easier to find such as: five packages, leaves figs, mango leaves, bunches of intestines, guava leaves, polyscias fruticosa leaves, perilla leaves, crab claws, mustard leaves …
Why does the leaf salad in Kon Tum cause love to many people?
This leaf salad dish carries the essence of the mountains while the salad contains more than 60 types of leaves growing on basalt red soil. When you eat, you will have the same feeling that is the fatness of the shrimp, the crispy from the bacon, add a little pungency of pepper, add a little sour, acrid and a little bitterness of many kinds of forest leaves. ..Well, putting it in your mouth and chewing is enough to get you drunk on this food.
More than 60 types of forest leaves
The main ingredient of Kon Tum leaf salad dish is the forest leaves. Therefore, leaves must be picked in the forest from early morning to ensure freshness. In the leaf salad is full of familiar leaf species that often appear in meals such as perilla leaves, cloves, mustard leaves, basil leaves, apricot leaves, onions, figs … to less common leaves. more such as: mango leaves, guava leaves, sour leaves, intestinal cluster leaves, five packaging leaves … And of course there will be extremely rare leaves that the most gourmet guests are often confused such as: leaves , silk, tram, ruby, bear bile …
More than 60 types of forest leaves
Pork, shrimp
In general, leaf salads in Kon Tum are often eaten with boiled bacon sliced evenly. Combine with the head cut off earth shrimp to dry yellow with soft fat, creamy. Next, the pork skin will be processed in a sophisticated manner, when the pilot is sliced into soft fibers mixed with spices and finely crushed by galangal. Of course, it is indispensable to have a plate of whole-grain pepper, salt-seed and chili, the green pepper with a very characteristic aroma of basalt red soil.
Pork, shrimp
Dipping sauce
But to decide the deliciousness of Kon Tum leaf salad specialties definitely cannot lack the divine dipping sauce. This is the soul of this dish. Leaf salad sauce is not made from fish sauce or ordinary soy sauce, but it will be processed from the deodorized wort with cooking oil and mixed with duck eggs to create an eye-catching, rich sauce. There is a golden color of turmeric that looks very nice.
Dipping sauce
To recognize this delicious sauce, people often enjoy it with “smell”, not taste it directly from the mouth. Therefore, in order to process this quintessential dipping sauce, the processor must also be someone with a lot of experience to create a delicious standard, its true taste.
How to enjoy Kon Tum leaf salad in the right way?
Someone once said that to enjoy Kon Tum leaf salad , the person who knows how to enjoy must be leisurely, not in a hurry or in a hurry. Indeed it is true. First, choose a leaf that is as big as a hairy plum leaf, or a mustard leaf, to cover; then choose the young leaves to be placed inside; take a spring roll, then swirl it to form a funnel.
Choose leaves to roll
Then followed by 1 piece of pork, piece of shrimp, some pork skin. And a little more salt, pepper. If anyone can eat spicy, you can add chili just to increase the spicy level of the dish. After that, pour a spoonful of sauce and sprinkle it evenly and roll the salad over your mouth and slowly enjoy in the warmth and freshness of the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands.
Roll like a funnel
Kon Tum leaf salad is one of the dishes that has been registered twice and is recognized by the Vietnamese record organization as one of the TOP 10 specialties in Vietnam with culinary value in Asia.
The local people said: coming to Kon Tum but not enjoying the leaf salad should not come. Because the leaf salad is considered as the quintessence of the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands when combining more than 60 species of forest leaves growing in the red basalt land. All these flavors have been mixed together to give visitors an unforgettable experience.
And you, if you want to explore and learn about Kon Tum’s cuisine, don’t forget to enjoy the leaf salad here.