Thoi Son Cuisine: Unique durian pancakes and jackfruit pancakes

Thoi Son Islet (now Thoi Son Ward, Dong Thap Province) has long been a familiar destination for tourists, a place known as “the garden in the heart of the river”. This land has long been in the hearts of tourists because of its traditional music, lush fruit gardens and traditional coconut candy kilns. But now, this place is “introducing” unique dishes, demonstrating the endless creativity of the local people, namely durian pancakes and jackfruit pancakes.

Ms. Thanh makes jackfruit pancakes.

This novel idea comes from creating a difference and bringing new flavors to tourists by Ms. Au Kim Phuong - owner of Long Son Restaurant and Hotel, Thoi Hoa Quarter, Thoi Son Ward). Ms. Phuong shared: "Tourists coming here all express their love for Western rustic cuisine with dishes such as: Grilled snakehead fish, sour soup with linh fish, however, I think, want to change, create dishes with new flavors for diners to experience".

And the inspiration is not far away, but from durian - a specialty right in the home garden. The surprising combination of the rustic pancake and the "king of fruits" has created a dish that is welcomed by many tourists.

To turn an idea into a perfect dish, we cannot fail to mention the skillful hands of chef Nguyen Thi Thanh (62 years old) with nearly 30 years of experience in making banh xeo. Ms. Thanh has put her family secret into this unique recipe.

Ms. Thanh shared: “The pancake batter is made from traditional rice flour and a little bit of crispy fried flour to create fluffiness. In particular, the “main character” is the golden durian rice that is carefully separated, mashed and mixed with the flour, adding spices and green onions. All are stirred well until the batter has a characteristic aroma. This sweetness comes entirely from fresh durian, no need to add sugar.”

Ms. Thanh uses pork fat to fry the cake, giving it the rich, fragrant flavor of freshly made fat. The hardest part is watching the firewood stove, because with the sweet taste of durian, the cake can easily burn if the fire is uneven. It requires skillful hands to make the cake golden, even, beautiful, crispy and spongy. The filling still retains the typical characteristics of the West with delicious pork belly cut into bite-sized pieces and cleaned river shrimp. All are marinated with spices and stir-fried until just cooked to retain the sweetness. The indispensable accompaniments are bean sprouts and shredded cassava.

Frying banh xeo requires the chef's skill.

When the durian pancake comes out of the oven, it exudes a strong aroma, the fatty and sweet taste of durian, combined with a crispy crust, giving diners a new and unique flavor. Not stopping there, Ms. Phuong also created a jackfruit pancake with head chef Nguyen Thi Thanh, transforming the pancake into a delicious dish.

This dish is not only delicious, but also has a meaningful story. The creation of Banh Khot Mit was to support people when jackfruit prices dropped and also contributed to raising the value of jackfruit of the island's farmers.

Durian pancake.

Unlike seafood pancakes in coastal areas or other places, the pancakes here have a typical garden flavor. The sweetness and aroma come from the soft ripe To Nu jackfruit, a type of jackfruit with a strong, distinctive aroma. Ms. Thanh said: “To make a delicious cake, the dough mixing step is very important. I do not use pre-mixed flour but only pure rice flour and pure coconut milk. The crispiness of the cake is a combination of rice flour and coconut milk. Adding beer helps the dough to be fluffy, soft and retain its crispiness, not hardening when cold.”

To keep the full flavor of banh xeo and banh khot, the dipping sauce is also skillfully mixed with fresh coconut water, so it has a natural sweetness, mixed with a little sourness, spiciness, saltiness, sweetness and the strong aroma of garlic and chili. With these two dishes of banh xeo durian and banh khot jackfruit, there is no lack of raw vegetables served with it, including lettuce, young cabbage, herbs, perilla... creating the typical flavor of banh xeo in the West.

The combination of Au Kim Phuong's creative thinking and Nguyen Thi Thanh's long-time experience has created a dish that is not only delicious and unique, but also demonstrates the spirit of constant innovation and creativity of the people of the island. This is the way Thoi Son people do tourism , with sincerity, creativity and love for local products.

THU HOAI - HONG PHUONG

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202511/am-thuc-thoi-son-doc-dao-banh-xeo-sau-rieng-banh-khot-mit-1051995/