Story: Cam Ly
Photos: Ngon Studio
As well as being beautiful and fragrant, flowers are sometimes enjoyed as food. Join Heritage in exploring some Vietnamese delicacies made with flowers.
Stir fried cowslip creepers with garlic (Hoa thiên lý xào tỏi)
Cowslip creepers have a gentle scent and are rich in vitamins and minerals. They act as a sedative to enhance our quality of sleep and reduce arthritis pain. Fresh cowslip creepers are washed and stir fried with garlic until the flowers are well cooked. Cowslip creepers can be stir fried with beef, scrambled eggs or mixed into salads with shrimps.
Artichoke soup with pork ribs (Canh atiso nấu sườn heo)
Artichokes are famous for a variety of healthy benefits. This plant helps the body to detox, moderates liver functioning and is good for the skin. As well as being made into a drink, artichokes are eaten in a range of dishes, including artichoke soup with pork ribs. The soup tastes quite mild, cool and sweet. The cook chops the pork ribs into moderate bites and briefly boils it, pouring off the broth. The ribs are soaked in cold water. After being cut in half, the artichokes are steamed with the pork ribs over low heat until soft.
Squash flowers stuffed with pork (Hoa bí nhồi thịt)
Squash is very popular in Vietnamese meals. Aside from its leaves, bulbs and trunks, its flowers are a special ingredient. Squash has a mild taste, and squash flowers are said to detoxify the body, help stop bleeding and prevent several cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.
Squash flowers stuffed with pork is a tasty and easy-to-cook dish. Pork, jelly ear mushrooms (mộc nhĩ) and mushrooms are minced, flavored with fish sauce, salt and pepper and then stuffed into squash flowers. These flowers can either be steamed or deep fried until they turn yellow and are evenly cooked.
