Strong scent of young rice

(Baonghean) - My hometown is Dong Thuan village (Nghi Trung, Nghi Loc). It is not an exaggeration to say that people from my hometown were born with green rice, grew up with green rice. The warm aroma of green rice in winter and its refreshing taste have permeated the childhood of many people in Dong Thuan village. So, even though they live far away, have many conditions to enjoy many delicious and strange dishes, they still miss that simple hometown gift. The villagers call it "rice cake", I heard that the craft of making green rice cake has been present in the village for decades, since the time when a girl from the village married a man from the North, when she returned to visit her hometown, she cooked and invited the village to this special green rice cake. Finding it delicious and flavorful, many people began to learn more about green rice, developing green rice cake with the Dong Thuan village brand with different techniques, creating a unique product, delicious and different from green rice in other regions.

A worker is packaging rice flakes products.

The young green rice flakes of Hanoi are fragrant with the scent of lotus, carried on the shoulder pole of the rice flakes seller every morning, while the rice flakes of my hometown are molded into honey-colored molds, the ingredients to make rice flakes are also more sophisticated. Still intact in my memory is the aroma of the new rice crop, the plump, milky white grains that my grandmother and mother carried back, and then selected the grains several times to make the first batch of rice flakes of the season. Rice flakes are a snack that can be eaten all year round without getting bored, but the beginning of the rice flakes season is usually set at the beginning of winter. At that time, the village's rice grains are at their plumpest and milkiest, and the weather is also cool, suitable for stirring the molasses and making the cakes. My grandmother and mother were busy sifting the rice, while my sisters and I squatted nearby, eagerly watching each batch of rice sifted through the blower to puff up. My mother quickly poured the blown rice into the pot of molasses mixed with ginger, sugar, molasses and the sweet, clear village well water and mixed well. The spicy ginger flavor is an interesting creation of Dong Thuan village's green rice cake. My mother said that the ginger must be small, firm, and the older the better. The ginger flavor harmonizes with the new sticky rice flavor, enhancing the pure flavor of the fields and shores and helping to warm the stomach of the person enjoying it in the cold season.

The spices added to the green rice cake are quite diverse. Some people are more meticulous and add a little cooking oil and roasted peanuts to make the cake shiny and fragrant. After the seasoning step, use a pair of black bamboo chopsticks to stir well until everything is shiny with a characteristic light yellow color, then the green rice cake meets the requirements. I remember when I was young, my grandmother and mother often poured the mixture into an aluminum tray, waiting for it to come back, we children used spoons or used our hands to roll each piece enthusiastically. Nowadays, Dong Thuan village green rice cake has developed much more, the green rice making facility is more professional and modern. Usually at this stage, the green rice stirrer will transfer the mixture to the cutter who has all the tools ready nearby: trays, knives, rulers... to divide the large green rice sheet into small, even pieces of cake.

If several decades ago, Dong Thuan village's green rice cake was a local gift that satisfied children during times of famine, now, my village's green rice cake has become a specialty of the land of Lao wind and white sand, sought after by visitors from far away as gifts. No longer being made by hand as before, more than 50 households in my village have quickly applied and improved many new techniques, meeting the needs and tastes of the market. Dong Thuan green rice cake village has been recognized as a traditional craft village for several years now, and the green rice making profession has become a profession that brings in a good income for the villagers during each off-season crop. For many families, green rice making is not just a side job, but it is books, pens, and the whole future of the children of the green rice village, cherished in each fragrant glutinous rice grain, in each batch of green rice with the scent of sugarcane. Now that I'm grown up and have the opportunity to travel all over the country, I occasionally come across a street vendor selling green rice flakes. The special scent wafting in the cool breeze makes me miss my hometown...

Hoang Vu

(57 Phung Phuc Kieu - Vinh City)