Western Tet rice paper

The Southwest is a land famous for having hundreds of unique, rich and diverse traditional cakes. Whether the cakes are associated with Tet, death anniversaries or daily snacks, each cake has its own meaning. Among those cakes, it seems that banh gio is the cake that has both the fragrant, refined nuances reserved for New Year's Eve offerings, the 3rd day of the new year; but also the familiar, rustic, used to wrap sticky rice or make candy skin.

In the West, there are two types of rice paper. One is salty, made from tapioca starch, wheat flour and shrimp. The other is sweet, made from sticky rice (or cassava), sugar, coconut milk and some other products depending on the locality. There is no confirmation about when rice paper originated, but many elders believe that sweet rice paper probably came first and salty rice paper is a later variation.

Drying rice paper at Phu My rice paper craft village (Phu Tan district, An Giang province) Photo: PHUONG HUYNH

Like the custom of making banh chung and banh giay on Tet holiday of the Northern people, the Southern people also have their own Tet cakes. In the process of settling new lands, making a living on new lands is a difficult and challenging process. That is why food and cereals are considered extremely precious and sacred. There is a folk song saying: "Whoever holds a full bowl of rice/The fragrant sticky rice of one grain is a thousand times more bitter and spicy". With that meaning, after each crop, our ancestors used the food harvested in their fields to process into rustic dishes to express their gratitude to their ancestors. Besides banh tet and banh u, banh gio also comes from this consciousness of river agriculture .

Cu Lao Phu Tan (An Giang) has a long tradition of growing sticky rice, that land produces rice crackers. Bay Nui region is favorable for growing wild cassava, so it has rice crackers. Son Doc region ( Ben Tre ) is rich in coconut growing, so it produces coconut crackers containing both wheat flour, sticky rice flour and especially very rich coconut flavor... Depending on the natural factors and fruits of each region, the crackers will have different variations, both suitable for the source of raw materials and diverse in form and taste of the residents of each place.

Besides, to make rice paper cake requires the cooperation of many households. Families with delicious sticky rice or newly harvested cassava from the fields, families with palm sugar that has just been cooked, families with some dried coconut, families with newly dried sesame… meet together to make rice paper into a pot of rice paper cake. At that time, the villagers gather around a stone mortar, young men take turns kneading the dough, women take turns rolling the cake. The atmosphere on the cake making days is very lively, the village and neighborly relationship from those occasions of working together to make the cake becomes closer.

After being rolled into a round, flat shape, the cakes will be dried, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth. Near Tet, people will bake the cakes on a fire of straw or coconut leaves. This type of fire burns clear, smokeless and rich, like the fire of the time of land reclamation and land opening. The person baking the cakes must be skilled, able to withstand the blazing heat of the fire; knowing how to watch the fire and how to make the cakes rise evenly. Because if the fire is too small and the cakes are not turned evenly, the cakes will be burnt; if the fire is too big and the cakes are not turned in time, the cakes will be burnt. In the blazing fire that lights up the whole yard, the person baking the cakes with nimble hands is no different from a dancer in a space that contains the light of the fire, the sound of the cakes rising and the smell of cooked starch... Those things blend together to become a vivid memory in the hearts of many people as a highlight during Tet, whenever the wind blows, the heart is eager to remember the rice paper...

People in the West are straightforward, honest and straightforward, saying what they see and think. The cake with a thick shape is called "banh u", the cake that has to be cut into slices with a string is called "banh tet". And the cake when baked will puff up and become big, so it is called "banh gio". It is this mindset that makes the offerings on the 3 days of Tet also simple in their way of thinking and wishing. People display a tray of five fruits including custard apple, fig, coconut, papaya, mango with the idea of ​​"pray for enough to spend". And offer "banh gio" with the thought of a prosperous new year, full of good things "puffing up" a lot... However, many elders believe that like the character of the people in the West, it is easygoing, simple but profound. Banh gio, besides its name "phồng" with the wish for the new year, is a cake containing cereals, absorbing the sun and dew of the earth and sky, created by a whole community imbued with the love of neighbors and baked on a fire full of vitality. These things are considered a whole achievement full of human philosophy to offer to ancestors.

I remember the years when my family was still poor, when Tet came and we couldn't afford to buy good jam to offer on New Year's Eve or chicken to offer on the 3rd day, my grandfather told us to just use rice paper to offer. This kind of cake not only unites the community but also makes the rich and poor of the village no longer have a gap with each other. Although he had no money, my grandfather contributed to making the cake, so the villagers also shared a few dozen rice paper cakes. In the village, regardless of rich or poor, if you weren't lazy, there would still be rice paper cakes to offer to your ancestors on Tet. With the spirit of praying for "puffiness" and the teachings of our ancestors, "no matter how poor you are, if you work hard, you will still have rice paper cakes to eat on Tet", my whole family tried hard to plow and work. A year later, in addition to contributing to making the cake, my family was able to contribute more sticky rice, sweet potatoes... And besides the rice paper cakes, there were also cakes and candies for a prosperous and warm Tet.

Like the character of the Western residents, rice paper carries its own very special meanings, closely associated with agricultural life, but whether it is an offering or a snack for children, a cake skin for candy or sticky rice, rice paper still exudes a fragrant and unmistakable aura.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/banh-phong-tet-mien-tay-196240205235401884.htm