Eggplant candy - delicious food for Tet

(Baonghean.vn) - On the occasion of Lunar New Year, people in Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan... and many other rural areas often make rustic, familiar eggplant candy to treat guests on Spring days.

Eggplant candy is the name that people give to a type of rustic candy made from molasses, green rice flour, roasted peanuts, fresh ginger… it looks like eggplants. Although the appearance of the candy is not as eye-catching as the candy of the craft villages, the quality is delicious, sweet and “first class”.

A family in Thanh Chuong makes eggplant candy on New Year's Eve.

The ingredients are prepared a month in advance, but only when the peach blossoms have bloomed and the pot of Tet cakes has a faint scent, will the pot of eggplant candy begin to be stirred with molasses. Making eggplant candy is not difficult, it is cheap and delicious, so every time Tet comes, people in my hometown are excited to make eggplant candy to celebrate Tet.

On New Year’s Eve, by the flickering fire, the pot of eggplant candy is placed on the stove, while boiling, waiting for the molasses to “ripen” to make delicious candy. It seems that the cold of New Year’s Eve makes waiting for the moment of changing the watch next to the pot of home-grown candy more interesting.

Although each region has its own secrets, the technique of making candy has remained the same since ancient times. Boil the molasses until it boils, and when you drop the molasses into a bowl of water and see it settle at the bottom, add the sticky rice flour, roasted peanuts, and fresh ginger and stir. This mixture is so sticky that you have to use “kitchen” chopsticks as big as your thumb and a strong person to stir the “old” pot of candy.

Ingredients for making eggplant candy on the stove

When pouring the candy onto a tray, everyone in the family will sit around the hot candy tray, together cutting and rolling them into candies as regular as eggplants. Nowadays, our people also make honey candy, although the form is different, the quality is the same as eggplant candy. The candy mixture is poured onto a table or hard plastic sheet, spread thinly into a rectangle or square. Place a wooden stick on top, use a knife to cut the candy into strips as long as a ruler, then cut them into small pieces like sweet potatoes dried in the summer sun.

To make a batch of delicious, crispy, fluffy, and bright candy, the maker must master the technique, mix the mixture in the right proportions, and at the right time. If the molasses is cooked for too long, the candy will be hard and dark in color, and if it is not cooked for enough time, the candy will be soft and runny. After finishing, the candy is rolled in a layer of dry, moisture-proof flour, cooled, and stored in a pot, waiting to be served to guests.

A batch of candy is ready to be rolled into balls.

Eating eggplant candy and drinking green tea on Tet holiday is a beautiful feature in the mind of Nghe people when thinking about Spring - Tet of their hometown. In the faint scent of incense, everyone sits and sips each eggplant candy, honey candy, feeling the sweetness of honey, the richness of peanuts, the strong aroma of sticky rice, fresh ginger, listening to the "hometown flavor" spreading in the air of the coming Spring.

On the first day of the year, when going to wish a happy new year, on every guest table there are eggplant candy and honey candy. Among many kinds of spring candy and cakes, everyone chooses eggplant candy to eat and taste, because it is a delicious, clean, safe product, showing the uniqueness and creativity in the feelings and thoughts of the simple country people.

Candied eggplants, along with green Chung cakes and red parallel sentences, have contributed to making the traditional Tet holiday of each family more cozy, complete and imbued with the identity of the homeland.

In the market, although ready-made confectionery is extremely rich and eye-catching, eggplant candy still has its own place in the hearts of the countryside people, the village where it was born. Modern life, with many fast and convenient foods and drinks, but also many disasters, so the culinary dishes "born from the village" are increasingly popular, including eggplant candy.

In the warm and harmonious atmosphere of the reunion day, the fragrant pot of eggplant candy has created a more Tet atmosphere for each family. Eggplant candy, together with green Chung cake and red parallel sentences, has contributed to making the traditional Tet holiday more cozy, full and imbued with the identity of the homeland.

Huy Thu