Chao Se

Chao Se is a specialty with a history of hundreds of years in Hoai Duc Commune, Hanoi City. It is called “chao se” because when making the porridge, the artisan must roll the dough into long strands before cooking it into porridge.

According to the accounts of elderly people in Cao Ha village, there are two hypotheses about the origin of Chao Se in Hoai Duc.

First hypothesis: Since ancient times, Cao Xa communal house has been the common communal house of the three villages of Cao Xa Thuong, Cao Xa Trung, and Cao Xa Ha. The communal house worships the renowned general Nguyen An from the era of the Trung Sisters. Folk tradition says that the custom of cooking Chao Se dates back to that time. If many other places have the custom of rewarding troops with split porridge, in the Cao Xa area there is the custom of rewarding troops with Chao Se. The custom of cooking Chao Se originated in the Trung Sisters' era and has continued to this day.

Second hypothesis: The custom of cooking Chao Se came into being when Cao Ha village had a vermicelli-making craft about more than 200 years ago. Cao Xa communal house traditionally had the custom of “troi moi” and chicken contests. On the occasion of troi moi, each household had to prepare a square tray of offerings (called a mam o), with a fat capon with yellow skin and a very large crop placed in the center. This chicken was raised and prepared very elaborately by the villagers to be carried to the communal house for the contest. After boiling the chicken to make the contest offering, each family in the village had a very tasty pot of broth, and also had leftover dough from the traditional vermicelli-making craft, so they came up with the idea of putting the dough into the broth pot to cook Chao Se.

Although there are no clear written records, the second hypothesis is considered more certain by the villagers. Only after Cao Ha village had the vermicelli-making craft did the village have dough-grinding mills and dough-pounding mortars, and from then on the villagers popularized cooking Chao Se.

According to the customs of Cao Ha village, Chao Se is usually cooked on occasions of longevity celebrations and new rice. Villagers aged 50 and over hold longevity ceremonies to treat the whole village; at these longevity feasts, there is no rice or vermicelli, only Chao Se. For major longevity ceremonies, Cao Ha villagers often have to cook 7 or 8 pots of Chao Se for the feast. This is a traditional custom unique to Cao Ha village.

Today, every family in Cao Ha village knows how to make Chao Se to cook for longevity celebrations, weddings, festivals, and new rice occasions. About 10 households in the village currently cook Chao Se regularly for business, and their customers are mainly local people and people in the Hanoi area.