Missing the scent of young rice

This season, on the country lanes in hamlet 7, Hung Tan commune, Hung Nguyen district, the cold wind of early winter carries the gentle scent of green rice. This is a typical gift of the old autumn in the Northern and Central Deltas, fortunately here there are still people who faithfully preserve the craft...

OLD FLAVOR OF COM

The people of hamlet 7 no longer remember clearly when green rice appeared in Hung Tan commune, they only know that, since childhood, they grew up with the sound of pounding green rice and the gentle aroma of plump sticky rice grains. In Hung Tan commune, people often describe sticky rice with the rustic phrase: "Ranh nep". Hung Tan land is low-lying, full of water, fertile fields, so the sticky rice grains here are famous for being plump, fragrant, and white. Every year, in the autumn and summer, the people here specialize in growing sticky rice, so the products from sticky rice are gradually born from their hard-working hands.

Rice stalks heavy with grain on the field. Illustration photo

Among those products, Hung Tan commune is famous far and wide for its typical green rice flakes. It is also green rice flakes, but not the Lang Vong green rice flakes of the North with the formal way of enjoying them, mentioned in “Hanoi 36 streets”, but the Hung Tan green rice flakes are more rustic and familiar. Sipping a bowl of green tea, Mrs. Dinh Thi Bien (95 years old) told us about the village’s traditional way of making green rice flakes.

Every autumn, when the rice grains in the fields are plump and not too old, not too young, starting to turn golden yellow, farmers harvest them, thresh them, and select the plump grains to make green rice flakes. The rice is roasted in a large cast iron pan, simmering until cooked, not too crispy or the husks will come off, and when pounded, they will be crushed.

After roasting, the rice is placed in a bamboo basket lined with spikes to cook evenly. When the rice cools, it is put back in a mortar and pounded until the glutinous rice grains burst out, leaving the bran layer intact. After careful sifting and winnowing, only the pure white glutinous rice grains remain on the sieve surface, becoming sticky rice - the finished product. Thus, the most tiring steps of making green rice have passed. When ready to eat, the glutinous rice is roasted to become green rice.

Roasting green rice does not require much effort, but it is not easy for those who are not proficient. The secret to making a delicious batch of green rice is to roast it in a cast iron pan - the number 1 heat-retaining material, does not need too big a fire but still keeps the heat for a long time, the green rice grains are less likely to burn. Before roasting, people mix a little cooking oil into the sticky rice to coat the sticky rice grains, to create a fatty, fragrant flavor, and to make the sticky rice grains cook evenly from the inside out. Each time they roast green rice, Hung Tan people often call it a "roasted batch" because they only roast small clumps so that the green rice can cook evenly. When roasting, use a small straw broom to stir evenly so that the sticky rice is cooked until golden and spongy. Good green rice must be cooked evenly, spongy, sticky, and have a full range of fragrant, fatty, and nutty flavors.

With so many complicated steps, the finished sticky rice cannot be roasted and eaten all at once, but is saved and stored in earthenware jars or glass jars. Recalling her childhood with a humorous voice, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa (Hamlet 7, Hung Tan Commune) still cannot forget the scene of eating green rice in the difficult past: “Usually, after the green rice was prepared, the children would have their grandmothers and mothers roast a few batches to satisfy their cravings. Every time their grandmothers or mothers put the pan on the stove to roast green rice, the children would rush in, waving their hands over the stove to warm up, waiting to eat the green rice. When the green rice was cooked, each child had prepared an orange leaf to scoop up and eat, both exclaiming at the heat and inhaling the aroma and sweetness of the green rice, to satisfy their cravings.”

PRESERVING THE FLAVOR OF "ORIGINAL RICE"

Unlike some other green rice villages that mainly produce seasonally, in Hung Tan, green rice is produced all year round. However, the best quality green rice is still from July to October of the lunar calendar. At that time, green rice is made from new rice, the rice grains still retain the aroma of colostrum, and have the right amount of stickiness. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa said that in the main season, on average, each household harvests 4 tons of fresh rice, which will produce about 1.2 tons of finished green rice. There are green rice seasons when supply cannot meet demand, so Ms. Hoa and some other women in the village have to go to neighboring communes, go to each field to select each clump of green, plump rice.

Nowadays, the traditional steps of making green rice are still maintained, but machines are applied in the production process. Instead of having to use a mortar and pestle to pound, now the sticky rice is ground by machine, reducing the hardship for the green rice maker. The green rice making process is kept intact, so the old flavor is still intact. Thanks to the famous delicious sticky rice variety, Hung Tan green rice is both sticky and elegantly fragrant. When asked what makes the unique flavor of green rice, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa confided that for her family or many households here, the village green rice is pure green rice, without artificial colors. Because pure green rice is not only delicious and safe for health, but it is also the heart of the craftsman.

Com Hung Tan is now a product that has been elevated to a commodity, but if you enjoy com right in the hometown of com, you will still have the full and deep feeling of a rustic gift from the countryside, embracing the whole sky of childhood. Ms. Hoang Cam Thach - a child of Hung Tan commune shared: "Every time I go back to my hometown, I buy com to bring with me. Com is not only a delicious snack, but also holds the souls of children far from home, no matter where I go, just thinking about com makes all my taste buds ecstatic with the smell of rice." Without hesitation, Ms. Thach hummed a few verses, the heart of a child for the taste of com from his hometown: "Rice grains from my hometown have been through five suns and ten rains / Drops of sweat are rich in the flavor of salt / Months have not passed, the rainy season has come / Because of the heavy love, the rice plants have many flowers / Summer-autumn crop gives a fragrant sticky rice season / Sweet and crispy com grains in the rain and sun / Every family is happy in every quiet alley / The story of the craft village of com incense Hung Tan".

In hamlet 7, Hung Tan commune, there are still about 10 households still making green rice flakes. Mr. Phan Dang Minh, cultural officer of Hung Tan commune People's Committee, said: Currently, Hung Tan green rice flakes are present in all regions, and are a hometown gift that is very popular with people. However, the biggest concern of the locality as well as the people of Hung Tan is that the green rice flakes here have not yet built their own brand. Saying goodbye to the green rice homeland, the fragrant flavor of the hometown gift still lingers, and the longing of the green rice villagers for the day when the green rice flakes here are firmly positioned on the "culinary map" near and far...

A corner of Hung Tan commune. Photo: Dao Tuan