Canh bon - a rustic dish of the Thai people

Canh bon is a traditional dish of the Thai ethnic group in Western Nghe An . This soup is named after the main ingredient, the “co bon” plant, which in Kinh language means taro (elephant ear) and buffalo skin. Photo: TP

Buffalo skin hung over a fire for a long time is grilled over hot coals, burning the outer layer of the skin black and making the skin more fragrant and softer when cooked. Photo: HT

After baking, scrape off the black outer skin, wash, pound with a pestle until soft and cut into pieces. Photo: TP

The second indispensable ingredient of bon soup is the sweet nettle plant. The nettle is used with both branches and leaves, and is left intact without being cut when cooking. Photo: HT

The ingredients of buffalo hide and elephant ear are seasoned with spices including mac khen, salt, doi seeds and phia (small intestine of buffalo and cow) hung in the kitchen to create a bitter taste. If there is no phia hung in the kitchen, it can be replaced with the bark of a cow's gallbladder hung in the kitchen, or bitter leaf plant (in Thai, called cha lang plant). All the ingredients are put into fresh tube, stoppered with banana leaves and grilled over charcoal for many hours so that the ingredients are soft and the buds blend together. In addition to being grilled in the tube, the ingredients can also be put into a pot and boiled for many hours, stirring constantly to make the soup smooth and soft. Photo: HT

“In the cold weather, the soft meat soup, when cooled, is both sweet and bitter, eaten with hot rice always makes us crave it so much. All Thai people know how to cook this dish, but nowadays, people rarely cook it in a tube, but often cook it in modern aluminum or iron pots,” a Thai friend confided. Photo: TP

Process of making bon soup. Clip: Thu - Phuc

Source: https://baonghean.vn/canh-bon-mon-ngon-dan-da-cua-dong-bao-thai-post284711.html