Top 10 foods in Kon Tum: Grilled young veal (Bê non nướng), Roasted Mang Den Pig (Heo Măng Đen quay), Porcupine meat (Thịt nhím), Yellow ant salad fish (Cá gỏi kiến vàng), Sour fish (Cá Chua), Fresh bamboo shoots, Fried crickets (Dế chiên), Field mouse meat (Thịt chuột đồng), Bitter melons (Cà đắng),…
Nature, in addition to favorably bestowing the land of Kon Tum with a unique and majestic beauty, also has strange and delicious products that you should not miss if you have the opportunity to visit.
Anyone who has been to Kon Tum once, certainly cannot forget the typical delicacies such as bitter eggplant, sour fish or fish salad… with the bold flavor of the Central Highlands mountains and forests. Thanks to the skillful hands of local people, very common and everyday foods have become exceptionally delicious. Here we would like to introduce to you the famous delicious dishes in Kon Tum, to help you have a complete and deeper view of the cuisine here.
One of the most famous delicious food in Kon Tum
Table of Contents
Top 10 foods in Kon Tum
1. Kon Tum leaf salad (Gỏi lá Kon Tum)
As the name suggests, this dish has only one dish but is covered with a tray of leaves. From familiar vegetables such as cabbage leaves, perilla leaves, fig leaves, apricot leaves, basil leaves, to strange-tasting leaves such as mango leaves, guava leaves, sour leaves, five paprika… along with many kinds of especial leaves in the highlands of the Central Highlands. The side dishes with the leaves are boiled pork belly, a few slices of carp, boiled shrimp, and pork skin. For the most intense flavor, it is impossible to forget the plate of salt mixed with fresh chili and fragrant black pepper. Those who like to eat can choose what they want, roll themselves to eat, carefree and extremely comfortable.
The side dishes with the leaves are boiled pork belly, a few slices of carp, boiled shrimp, and pork skin.
2. Grilled young veal (Bê non nướng)
This is one of the most famous delicious dishes in Kon Tum. The veal is soft and sweet, fresh pieces of meat are grilled over charcoal, served with salt and chili, it’s delicious. The natural sweetness of the meat mixed with chili salt, the attractive aroma of basil, and the acrid taste of young bananas make the dish even more attractive.
Fresh pieces of meat are grilled over charcoal.
3. Roasted Mang Den Pig (Heo Măng Đen quay)
This pig breed is a native breed, the largest one is less than 20kg, raised on the hill, eating natural food, so the meat is firm and delicious, nutritious. Roast pork is left whole, grilled on embers until the skin is golden, crispy, fragrant, then brought down to eat.
Roast pork is left whole, grilled on embers until the skin is golden, crispy, fragrant.
4. Porcupine meat (Thịt nhím)
The B’Rau ethnic group in Kon Tum has many delicious dishes made from wild vegetables and animal meat. The most special is probably the porcupine meat dish, which is both delicious and nutritious and has many ways to prepare. The people here most often make porcupine grilled with charcoal, porcupine bone soup cooked with cornstarch, porcupine wrapped in dong leaves… Every dish is unique and delicious because the porcupine meat is firm, fragrant, and almost no fat.
The porcupine meat – Top 10 foods in Kon Tum is firm, fragrant, and almost no fat.
5. Yellow ant and fish salad (Cá gỏi kiến vàng)
Coming to Sa Thay District, Kon Tum, you can enjoy the unique and strange yellow ant salad fish. The fish caught from the stream are of moderate size, about three fingers, finely chopped and squeezed to drain the water to reduce the fishy smell. Yellow ants are selected from the nest of young ants. Finally, mix the fish and ants with salt, green chili, wild pepper, and a little crushed roasted rice. When eating, roll with fig leaves to feel the wonderful and unique flavor of the dish.
The unique and strange yellow ant and fish salad – Top 10 foods in Kon Tum.
6. Sour fish (Cá Chua)
You should not miss the opportunity to enjoy specialty sour fish when visiting Kon Tum. How to make sour fish is not picky but requires precision. The type of fish used to prepare this dish is the Onychostoma gerlachi, which only lives in the mountains and rivers of the Central Highlands. The longer the sour fish is left, the more the spice penetrates into the fish meat, when eating, you will feel the spicy taste of chili, the sweetness of the forest leaves, the aroma of crushed roasted corn and the sour taste of fermented fish.
The longer the sour fish is left, the more the spice penetrates into the fish meat.
7. Bamboo shoots
This sticky rice dish is made from delicious glutinous rice, eaten with bamboo shoots, a familiar breakfast dish of the people here. Fresh bamboo shoots, after being dug in the forest, are peeled, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces, then stir-fried with spices for richness. Glutinous rice is soaked in dilute salt water mixed with turmeric powder, left for about 8 hours, then steamed. Sticky rice with bamboo shoots attracts people with its familiar and simple aroma, becoming a unique dish of the Central Highlands mountain town.
Sticky rice with bamboo shoots – Top 10 foods in Kon Tum attracts people with its familiar and simple aroma.
8. Fried crickets (Dế chiên)
This dish is very familiar to people in Kon Tum, made from small rice crickets. To have a plate of fried golden crickets, after catching and washing the crickets, drain the water and put them in a pan of boiling oil to fry, then add spices, add a little fresh chili, lemon leaves, and lemongrass. Chop into small pieces and roast together, stir quickly until the spices are evenly absorbed, then you can take it out to enjoy.
Fried crickets – Top 10 foods in Kon Tum are made from small rice crickets.
9. Field mouse meat (Thịt chuột đồng)
When the rice season is ripe, it is also the time when the field mice are round and the meat is the most delicious. People use straw to smoke and burn rats, in this way the meat is fragrant and still retains its inherent sweetness. After being cleaned, the field mice are rubbed with a thin layer of salt on the skin, people use bamboo sticks to skewer them and then grill them on hot coals. The field mice meat is served with green mango, salt and pepper.
People use straw to smoke and burn rats, in this way the meat is fragrant and still retains its inherent sweetness.
10. Bitter melons (Cà đắng)
Bitter melons often grow on hillsides, stream banks, small, dark green fruits, with white stripes along the fruit. Bitter melons eaten raw or cooked are delicious and have a distinctive flavor. Salted bitter melons are very spicy, creating a strange taste. The grilled bitter melons have a special aroma, the melons are cut into thin slices, skewered through a bamboo stick to cook, spreading the aroma, and still retaining a special slightly bitter water.
Bitter melons – Top 10 foods in Kon Tum is usually eaten raw or cooked are delicious and have a distinctive flavor.
Above we have just introduced to you the famous delicious dishes in Kon Tum. If you have the opportunity to visit this beautiful land, you should not miss the opportunity to enjoy them. The rustic dishes have a processing method that is not fussy, but has an extremely attractive taste, once visitors have eaten it, it will be difficult to forget, even more love the wild mountain land, and the honest people here.
