Can I buy a house and car by selling sticky rice?

Like every other day, every morning, Ms. Kha's small sticky rice stall located right at the beginning of an alley on Lang Street is bustling with customers. In the middle of a cool autumn morning in Hanoi , when the gentle sunlight shines on the sticky rice grains, creating a shimmering color, the feeling of eating a delicious package of sticky rice in such beautiful weather, listening to a few stories of the people in the neighborhood who stopped by to buy sticky rice, just like that, feels happy.

Stop by the sticky rice stall tucked away in a small alley and feel the atmosphere of an autumn morning in Hanoi.

In the center of Hanoi, there are many sticky rice stalls selling in the morning. However, not all sticky rice stalls keep the style of wrapping sticky rice in paper on the outside, lining it with leaves on the inside, and not many places still sell sticky rice packages for only 5,000 VND. That is the morning sticky rice stall of Ms. Cong Thi Kha, 53 years old, at the beginning of alley 470 Lang road, Dong Da district, Hanoi.

The simple sticky rice counter with a few plastic tables and two baskets of sticky rice makes so many people miss it.

Ms. Kha, the person who directly cooks the sticky rice, is also the one who sits next to the sticky rice basket to directly wrap the sticky rice for the customers. Even though there are 1-2 people helping, Ms. Kha still has to do the work of getting the sticky rice and wrapping it.

"Miss, please give me one sticky rice with no scallion oil, one sticky rice with corn, both with scallion separately", "Miss Kha, please give me a package of sticky rice with peanuts and sesame salt but with lots of peanuts!", "Mrs Kha, do you still have sticky rice with gac fruit? Give me 5 thousand, buy it for my nephew at home, he only likes to eat sticky rice with gac fruit at Mrs Kha's house"... Each customer has their own preference for sticky rice. Ms. Kha remembers it after hearing it once. She quickly makes it for the customers, and hot sticky rice packages are delivered to everyone. Often, regular customers don't need to say anything, Ms. Kha knows right away how they like to eat it by looking at their faces.

10k sticky rice package full of sticky rice, beans, pork floss and especially lots of fried onions.

In the morning, some people leisurely walk from their house in the alley to buy a package of sticky rice for their grandchildren to eat for breakfast, while some students and office workers hurriedly stop by on their motorbikes to buy a package of sticky rice to take to work, while others work on the bus, taking advantage of the bus stop to quickly grab the pre-ordered sticky rice package and then get back on the bus... In the morning in Hanoi, some people are leisurely, some are busy, among the myriad of breakfast options, many people choose a delicious package of sticky rice to fill their stomachs.

Sticky rice with peanuts and sesame salt is for those who like to eat a lot of peanuts. Just looking at it, you can tell the peanuts are delicious, the peanuts are big and rich.

Sesame salt and dried shrimp are also made by Ms. Kha herself. Many people even buy sesame salt and dried shrimp here to eat with rice.

Every day, Ms. Kha regularly cooks 9 types of sticky rice, including sticky rice with mung bean, sticky rice with corn, sticky rice with mung bean, sticky rice with black bean, sticky rice with peanuts, sticky rice with gac fruit, sticky rice with coconut, sticky rice with vo, and white sticky rice. She also makes banh troi, banh chay, and for Tet, banh chung. Her sticky rice is not to be discussed, because it is the original Phu Thuong sticky rice. The sticky rice is cooked from golden sticky rice, so the sticky rice grains are fragrant and soft, and the mung beans, black beans, and peanuts must all be of good quality. The shredded pork, fried onions, and sesame salt are also homemade, and if customers find it delicious, they buy them separately to eat at home.

Ms. Kha makes green beans this way instead of rolling them into balls. Doing it this way makes it sell faster while still ensuring deliciousness.

I stood at the new sticky rice stall for about half an hour, the types of sticky rice in the basket such as green bean sticky rice, black bean sticky rice, coconut sticky rice were all sold out because some customers bought plates to take home for feasts. Because of that, there were many regretful faces because they were a little late and lost their favorite sticky rice. Ms. Kha opened the stall around 6am, by 8am she had sold out of several types of sticky rice, by 9am she started packing up to go home.

Ms. Kha is originally from Phu Thuong village, a place famous for its traditional sticky rice making. Ms. Kha said: "My family has been doing this for generations, from my ancestors, then my grandparents, my parents and now me. My children are now teaching, and on their days off they help their mother, but I don't know if they will continue the family business yet." As for Ms. Kha, she has been making sticky rice in her family since she was 17 years old, and has been doing this job for 36 years now.

When asked if Ms. Kha loves her job, she laughs heartily. Without saying anything, we know that everyone has to make a living, but looking at the way Ms. Kha smiles when customers compliment her sticky rice, not afraid to add more sticky rice, more onions for customers..., we know that even if she has to wake up early every day, even if she has to ride a motorbike carrying 2 large baskets of sticky rice, traveling more than ten kilometers, it is no problem for Ms. Kha.

Ms. Cong Thi Kha is from Phu Thuong craft village.

Every morning, the little girl was bustling, because the people living around here sometimes did not just come to buy sticky rice and go home, they lingered to ask each other a few questions. Because in Hanoi, there was often no hurry.

Confessions of the people of Phu Thuong village, are they really rich from selling sticky rice?

A package of sticky rice here costs an average of 10,000 VND, and that price is for the sticky rice with pork floss. Those who eat more can buy a 15,000 VND package with ham or sausage. However, Ms. Kha still sells it to those who eat 5,000 or 7,000 VND. Sometimes, because Ms. Kha sells a 10,000 VND package of sticky rice with too much quantity, each time I eat it, I will be full until noon, so I still buy a 7,000 VND package and tell her to give me less sticky rice. But she still gives me a full portion, including pork floss and a lot of fried onions. So I have a filling breakfast and stay full until noon.

15 thousand dong sticky rice package with extra sausage and pork floss, even a big eater will feel full.

Ms. Kha said: "Other places don't sell for 5k or so, but here I'm close to some of my sisters, so I sell for that price. Selling a 5k package of sticky rice is not profitable. These dong leaves alone are now three times more expensive, the paper is also twice as expensive, everything has gone up in price. I sell to the kids, and my sisters consider it as an invitation to buy sticky rice, nothing special. But a package of chips is now 5-7k, with sticky rice, beans, onions... it still has to be complete.

I only make a profit by working. It's just that every time I measure rice, I buy a lot, otherwise if I buy a little bit, I won't make a profit. These past few days, I've been selling less sticky rice packages, asking everyone to understand that because rice was scarcer during the recent flood, the price of a truckload of rice was tens of millions higher, the price might even go up next time, and I don't want to increase the price of sticky rice sold to customers."

Xoi xeo is one of the most popular types of sticky rice, especially thanks to the fragrant, crispy fried onions. Therefore, many customers who eat xoi xeo often ask for more onions.

Ms. Kha got the pork roll and fatty sausage from an acquaintance who sells them at Hang Be market. Besides sticky rice, Ms. Kha also sells delicious sticky rice with sweet soup, banh troi, and banh chay.

Regarding sticky rice packages wrapped in dong leaves, Ms. Kha confided that wrapping them in leaves like this is both more expensive than styrofoam boxes and more labor-intensive: "Just making these leaves takes 2 hours, you have to wash, wipe and cut off the ends, so other places use styrofoam boxes which is easier and cheaper, but if I use leaves like this, it will cost twice as much. But wrapping the leaves like this is the right way, and the sticky rice is also more delicious. In the past, people used to wrap them with banana leaves and Indian almond leaves."

Gac sticky rice is fragrant and has a moderate sweetness.

Talking about the rumors that Phu Thuong village is very rich, people sell sticky rice to buy houses and cars, Ms. Kha said: "Oh, being rich is just the compensation money from people selling their land and peach gardens. For each sao of rice field, people pay 700 million, so a family with several sao of rice fields will earn billions. Then people use that money to buy houses and cars. But this sticky rice business doesn't have conditions like that. Many people think so, but in reality, you know. If you want to get rich selling sticky rice, out of a hundred families, maybe 4-5 will be lucky, because they make a lot of orders, and go with the feast. For example, a feast like in the countryside, there are many relatives, there are up to 5-7 hundred trays, with just a few feasts like that, people make hundreds of dishes a day. But doing that is tiring and hard, working all day and night. She sometimes makes orders for feasts, hotels, etc., but she can't do it herself."

Every day, Ms. Kha wakes up at around 2am to work, and brings it here to sell at around 5:30am. But there are days when customers order more, so she has to work for them, and sometimes she doesn't even have time to sleep. "Making this kind of thing depends on the day, like yesterday, it was late, around 6-7 pm, the restaurant called and asked for black bean sticky rice. But black bean sticky rice is not like yellow sticky rice, white sticky rice is quick to make. Making black bean sticky rice is very laborious, you have to clean the black beans, then put them in a pot on the stove to simmer, simmer for half an hour, then pour them out and wait for the black bean water to cool, then shake the rice again, let the rice dry, then soak the black beans again. After that, take the beans and simmer them until soft, then scoop out the rice to dry, pour the beans out and mix them together. So yesterday I didn't get much sleep, maybe more than an hour." - Ms. Kha confided.

It is hard work, but Ms. Kha is still happy because customers love her sticky rice packages. The small sticky rice stall has no signboard, and never advertises, but customers still come to buy and return simply because the sticky rice is delicious, affordable, and a warm breakfast.

Ms. Kha happily said: "Many people from other places also come here to buy and say: 'I took the bus and wondered why there were so many people buying sticky rice, so I asked my husband to take me by motorbike here to buy sticky rice, my house is very far away'. An old man said: 'I have to get up early and ride my bike, it takes fifteen minutes to get here to buy sticky rice, it's sold all around my house but it's very hard to eat'. So I'm happy."

Selling sticky rice is hard work, but for Ms. Kha, seeing customers enjoy the food makes her happiest!

Autumn breakfast in Hanoi, if you don't know what to eat, let's eat sticky rice!

Source: https://toquoc.vn/sang-mua-thu-ha-noi-ghe-sap-xoi-giua-pho-xa-nhip-nghe-tam-su-co-ban-hang-nguoi-lang-phu-thuong-ban-xoi-mua-nha-lau-xe-hoi-duoc-khong-20241010225535191.htm