Eating a bowl of banh beo remembers the old days

*A bowl of wet rice cake with golden orange filling. Photo: Dieu Ngan*

Enjoying the soft warmth of the bowl of banh beo, I strangely remember the old days when I was a child. In those days, I don’t know how many times I, a playful and sleepy child, had to sulk and reluctantly help my mother pour the banh beo.

Because of that, I understand more than ever how hard it is to have a delicious bowl of banh beo. It is not by chance that every bowl of banh beo is thick, soft and especially has a beautiful swirl right in the middle of the cake.

According to my mother's experience, if you want the banh beo to be delicious, you have to choose old Xiec rice, soak it overnight, then grind it and dilute it until when you pour the flour down, there is only a thin layer of flour left on the scoop/ladle.

If you want the cake to have swirls, the bowl must first be heated before pouring the batter in. The amount of batter poured must be just right, not too much and not too little.

During the steaming process, you must always add more firewood to ensure the fire is always even so that the cake does not become flat but swirls beautifully. If you are careless and grind too much new rice flour or do not heat the bowl fast enough, the fire is not even enough, the cake will be flat or even hard.

The fillings are divided into two types: dry and wet, with contrasts not only in name but also in preparation.

The dried fish is made from boiled or steamed fish, the meat is removed from the bones, pounded and then fried in a pan until dry and fluffy, then removed from heat and cooled before being put into a container.

The wet filling is a mixture of many ingredients such as minced meat, shrimp, wood ear mushrooms, rice flour, and green onions, but the preparation is very quick and simple. Just stir-fry the meat, shrimp, and wood ear mushrooms until fragrant, add a little seasoning, add water mixed with rice flour and cook until the mixture thickens and turns orange-yellow, add green onions for a fragrant aroma.

Before being poured with the filling, each bowl of cake will be brushed with a layer of fragrant oil with fried onions. Depending on the place, the cake will be topped with fried onions or roasted peanuts to add a little more nutty flavor.

And the indispensable bowl of fish sauce, the important part that creates the harmony of flavors. In the past, my mother often cooked fish sauce with water and sugar to make the fish sauce mild, not too salty but not too sweet.

Scooping up spoonfuls of the cake soaked in the filling mixed with sweet fish sauce, the task of filling the empty stomach is completed with the increasingly high stack of bowls.

Maybe for you, banh beo is just a snack, but for me, banh beo also brings back memories of a time when my family was facing many difficulties.

It is the image of my parents drenched in sweat, not minding the heat of the stove, the steam, winter nights or summer days, just hoping to make delicious batches of cakes to keep regular customers, and to take care of my sisters and me as we grow up.

It is nostalgia and also love.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/an-chen-banh-beo-nho-lai-ngay-xua-3300155.html