Hue lotus seed rice is a deluxe dish of Nguyen royal culinary. It gathers all values of Hue cuisine generally and lotus cuisine particularly. Hue lotus seed rice now has become one of the specialties and must-try Hue local foods in bucket-list of travelers.
Hue lotus season is coming
From the old days, the lotus flower is close with Hue people and appears in the architecture, cuisine, and culture. May and June are the two high blossom of lotus season. Everywhere in Hue, especially, Citadel becomes poetic and picturesque with full of lotus in Ngự Hà and Tinh Tâm lake. Lotus form Tinh Tam lake is the best kind of lotus in Vietnam because it has big seeds and more fragrant than others. Hue lotus flowers bring elegant beauty and fragrant. That’s why Sen Hue (Hue lotus) is very famous. Hue people harvest and create many Hue local food from lotus and one of the best is lotus seed rice. Here comes the reason why it ranks upper-class dishes in Hue cuisine.
Lotus rice – a deluxe dish of Royal cuisine
Lotus seed rice gathers two important elements: Beauty and Deliciousness. People enjoy this Hue local food because it brings Simple and Luxury. Lotus is a modest flower, grows from the lake but it has elegant beauty and good scent. Under the hands of Hue royal master chef, lotus seed rice becomes a deluxe dish on the royal feasts. Lotus seed rice is also nutritious dish help balance the body as an orient medicine. For vegetarians, this is one of the favorite Hue local food.
How to cook this Hue local food?
In order to cook beautiful and delicious lotus seed rice, choosing ingredients is very important. There are two kinds of lotus seed: fresh and dry lotus seed. We should choose fresh lotus seed because it is more nutrients, more flavor, and soft. Rice is the new one and soft after cooking. Other ingredients: meat, shrimp, mushroom, eggs, carrot, bean, and so on. All need cutting in small cubes. Then put some seasoning in the mixtures and stir-fried all these ingredients first. Before we boil the lotus seeds, they need taking out the stamen for the bitter. We can use the lotus water to cook rice so that it makes the rice more fragrant. The taste of this Hue local food depends on the time and seasoning fried rice and mixture. Then, put some garlic oil and stir-fried the rice with these mixtures. For some other handicraftsmen, they do not fried rice and mixture together but steam it.
Decorating and savoring the lotus seed rice
An important ingredient of this dish is lotus leaf. Good leaf to make this Hue local food is big, green, with pedicle and without ragged. We clean the lotus leaf and slightly boil it. Widely open the leaf in a big bowl, fill the rice in the middle, top up some lotus seed on the surface and wrap the leaf. Finally, steam this lotus leaf rice for about five minutes to get the flavor from the lotus leaf. To decorate, we can put some lotus flower petals around and cut the surface of the rice package. Use a spoon to take out lotus seed rice to a small bowl and enjoy it.
Lotus seed rice shows the pure value of Hue cuisine and the meticulous handy of Hue women. It deserves to appear in all Hue family meals and become Hue culinary identity that Hue people always proud of. If you are a fan of this Hue local food, join our Royal legacy, rustic harmony in Thuy Bieu village or Mandarin and family life in Kim Long village. Our local Hue women will show you our unique Cơm Sen (Lotus seed rice).
Your may want to read the below
- How to make lotus rice
- How to eat lotus rice
Buy ingredient for your lotus rice at
