Mai Chau tourist area is located "neatly" in a narrow valley. For tourists, that place reminds a tourist of Thai people or a "pocket address" of a famous rice species for many years. Legend has it that the rice variety that has only one season a year, eats the Northwest soil, drinks the water from the Western source, becomes pregnant for nearly 200 days before it can be harvested. "Mai Chau season you smell sticky rice" is the verse we remember how delicious sticky rice is. A close and familiar dish that Mai Chau people often pack and quickly hand over when guests come to visit when leaving.

Mai Chau's sticky rice

Upland sticky rice is grown on hills or on terraced fields, planted from March to October to be harvested. Thai people will use the strength of their hands to put the sticky rice into a large mortar to peel off the skin. Each firm grain of sticky rice will be soaked for many hours continuously so that the sticky rice absorbs water and expands. After soaking enough water, the glutinous rice grains are placed in wooden trays to create a characteristic scent of Mai Chau upland sticky rice. Each grain of sticky rice blooms, glossy and colorful eye-catching will surely surprise you when enjoying. This sticky rice dish will be more delicious when served with grilled hill chicken or wild boar on skewers or grilled stream fish. Or maybe there is no need to have a delicious taste, a handful of sticky rice with a little sesame salt is enough to make people admire.

In Mai Chau, the people also use this fragrant, sticky rice to make Lam rice dish, which is also the reason why Lam rice dish easily enters the top of must-try specialties when coming to Mai Chau. Lam rice is simple, but the processing and selection of ingredients are also very sophisticated. First, upland glutinous rice is soaked overnight to bloom, mixed with shredded coconut, then tightly packed into the bamboo tube so that when cooked, the rice remains in the shape of a grain of rice. Lam rice tube must also be carefully selected by the processor, then cut each part of the tube long, keeping the delicious taste of upland sticky rice, Next, the rice is put into the tube, add a little coconut water and finally, put it on the charcoal grill, which is still burning, for about two hours. So, we had rice lam, a specialty of Mai Chau cuisine. You can add a little sesame salt and feel the perfect taste, juicy, fragrant from the rice grain.