"You go, you remember...

(Baonghean) -When we were little, looking at the eggplant beds blooming, purple in a part of the garden, my sisters and I, not knowing, would compete to pick those purple flowers to string into necklaces to wear around our necks. My grandmother was both angry and sorry for my sisters and me. Angry because the eggplant flowers would only bear fruit in a few days. My grandmother felt sorry for my sisters and me because the eggplant flowers got on our young skin, making it itchy. After that time, my grandmother told us: You children, never pick the eggplant flowers again, so that the eggplants can bear fruit...

Back then, every time the eggplants bloomed, my grandmother would come to visit her morning and evening. Despite the eggplant leaves sticking to her arms, making them itchy and red, she still diligently caught worms day and night. At that time, my sisters and I simply understood that my grandmother was taking care of the eggplants because my family loved eating eggplants. When I grew up, I learned that those eggplant beds were salted and sold at the market, raising my sisters and me. The people of my hometown grew up from those jars of salted eggplants. Many people from my hometown, Quynh district, are now successful, but they still do not forget the dish of "eggplants with soy sauce" every time they visit their hometown.

To get delicious pickled eggplants that could be kept for months without spoiling, my grandmother had to walk to the market and buy a large earthenware jar. The eggplants she picked were still fresh with the stems and dew from the night, had their ears cut off, were washed with cool well water, and dried in the sun for a few days. My grandmother said that if you want the eggplants to be crispy and delicious, you have to dry them in the sun for a while so that they shrink. When cutting the eggplant stem, you have to do it very skillfully, cutting into the “flesh” will make the eggplants rot and not last long. At that time, my family was poor, but my grandmother’s jars of eggplants were always full of spices such as garlic, chili, ginger, pineapple, warm water, and a little salt to taste. On the surface of the eggplants, my grandmother placed a thin woven bamboo mat and a stone on top so that the eggplants would not turn black. After a week, the eggplants were ripe, the aroma of pineapple, ginger... when the bowl of eggplants was brought out, everyone would pick up an egg to eat. My grandmother often pickled two jars of eggplants, one light and one strong. The bland type is called quick-salted eggplant, which is only taken out after a few days and dipped in shrimp paste (steamed shrimp paste with lemon juice, a little sugar, and chili). To change the eggplant dish, my grandmother would take the pickled eggplants, cut them in half, remove the seeds, and stir-fry them with fat, add a little sugar, and chili. I grew up far from home, but wherever I went, whether poor or rich, eggplant soup was always present in every meal, especially in the summer.

Pickled eggplant has become the "brand" of Mrs. Lien's family.

A poem composed by Meritorious Artist Tien Dung (Nghe An) has the line: "Thanh Chuong pickled cabbage, Nam Dan soy sauce, Xa Doai oranges, Nghi Loc, I still joke that eggplants have stems, eggplants have tails..." Eggplants have long been considered a staple dish of the people of Nghe An. The most delicious and flavorful eggplants are those from Nghi Loc. People here often pickle eggplants in large jars, and only take them out to eat after months. Each fruit is round like a marble, ivory white, and crispy.

I am walking on the eggplant fields of Nghi Loc district. The sun is blazing hot, many areas of land are cracked waiting for water, but the eggplant beds of Nghi Van, Nghi Lam, Nghi Truong, Nghi Thai communes... are always full of water, the eggplant fields are green and full of fruit, purple flowers cover the sky. Mrs. Le Thi Lien in hamlet 7, Nghi Lam commune is 75 years old this year, she is the "hand" of salting eggplants and processing famous eggplant dishes in the whole village. Just go to the beginning of Nghi Lam commune, ask about Mrs. "Lien eggplant", everyone will know. People in the area now no longer call her Lien, but mainly call her "Mrs. Eggplant". Her pickled eggplants are light, sour, dipped with a little shrimp paste or vinegar with fish sauce, chili sauce, sugar, it goes very well with rice.

Ms. Lien confided that in the past, she used to pickle eggplants instead of food, mainly during the rainy months. Later, many people who ate her eggplants found them delicious and asked her to pickle them for them. She doesn't know when the eggplant pickling profession came to her. She vaguely remembers that the eggplant pickling profession has been with her for nearly 50 years. In recent years, she has been pickling eggplants according to orders from restaurants and some hotels in Vinh City and Quan Hanh Town. Ms. Lien said that if she wants the eggplants to be delicious, the first step must be a healthy plant with enough water every day. No matter how hot the summer is, there are many days when the power grid is weak and cannot handle the water pump, Ms. Lien and her children and grandchildren carry buckets of water to water the eggplant beds so that the eggplants will flower and bear fruit. Taking advantage of the late night, when people use less electricity, Ms. Lien's whole family waters the eggplant garden, so her family's eggplant garden is always beautiful, even and free of worms.

Nowadays, eggplants are prepared in many ways. I have enjoyed pickled eggplants at many cheap restaurants in Vinh, very attractive, if customers only order rice with a few eggplants, a bowl of dried shrimp, and vegetable soup, it only costs 10 thousand dong. Pickled eggplants are easy to make. Just wash the eggplants, cut off the stems, soak them in boiled water to cool, add a little salt, blanch the eggplants in boiling water for 15 minutes so that the eggplants wilt quickly, easily absorb the spices, mix well with seasoning powder, sugar, ginger, fish sauce, galangal, garlic, fresh chili without seeds, after a few dozen minutes you have a delicious crispy eggplant dish. Simpler is the raw eggplant dish, choose fresh eggplants, not too young, not too thick, split them in half, soak them in salt water, scoop them out and drain, shrimp paste (shrimp paste) is prepared with lemon, sugar, chili, stir until the bowl of dried shrimp foams, dip the eggplants in shrimp paste and the whole pot of rice will "kill" it. Eggplant can also be stir-fried with pork belly or frog, but my favorite dish is stir-fried eggplant with pork belly. Saute fragrant garlic, add eggplant and meat, stir-fry until the eggplant is just cooked, the pork is also firm, pour in the fish sauce mixed with sugar, MSG and continue to simmer, when ready to eat, add in the betel leaves, the aroma will spread, the eggplant juice is delicious when served with rice.

The most popular is still the bowl of pickled eggplants, round as marbles, everyone likes it. On hot summer afternoons, looking at the rice tray with a bowl of vegetable soup or a bowl of boiled water spinach, next to a bowl of fragrant and crispy pickled eggplants, no matter how tired you are, you still want to pick up chopsticks. Or on August and September, the Ngau rains, in the house there is a jar of pickled eggplants, take it out, remove the seeds, stir-fry with fat, hot chili, add a little sugar, ginger, garlic, everyone just wants to dive right into the rice tray, without needing other foods.

Many people who live far away from home miss their hometown eggplant dish. Many people live in Hanoi, Saigon, and even further away in Europe, but every time they return, they never forget to bring eggplant as a gift. Or, every time they entertain guests at a restaurant or hotel, they eat all the specialties from the forest and the sea, but when it comes time to pick up a bowl of rice, they still want to order eggplant.

Every time I think of eggplant, I crave that sour and crunchy taste, as if it lingers forever...

Article and photos: Thu Huong