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Trang Bang noodle soup - the early morning flavor of the border region
Mentioning Tay Ninh is mentioning a bowl of steaming banh canh.
The noodles are handmade from rice flour and tapioca starch, kneaded until soft, rolled thinly and cut evenly. When boiled, the noodles are clear, chewy and soft enough to retain the flavor of the broth without falling apart.
The broth, according to many elders, must be made from well water, simmered pork bones, purple onions, white radishes, simmered for many hours to make the broth clear and sweet. When ladled into a bowl, the seller adds pig's feet, boiled pork, sausage, green onions, and ground pepper, simple but complete.
Trang Bang noodle soup must be eaten with a plate of colorful raw vegetables: banana blossom, basil, chives, bean sprouts, stewed vegetables,... and a bowl of sweet and sour garlic chili fish sauce. The sweetness of the broth blends with the salty and spicy taste of the fish sauce, the cool taste of the vegetables, creating a bowl of noodle soup that is both rich and light, both clear and deep.
“Clear water, chewy noodles, sweet taste, like the hearts of Trang Bang people”
Rice paper exposed to dew - a gift of the night and the delicacy of hands
If banh canh is a hot dish for the early morning, then sun-dried rice paper is a cool gift for a sunny and windy afternoon. Rice paper is spread thinly from pure rice flour, dried in the sun, grilled, and then dried in the night dew.
It is this thin layer of dew that makes the cake chewy but not sticky, soft and smooth as silk, with a light aroma of new rice. Trang Bang people often use dew-exposed rice paper to wrap boiled pork, water spinach from the Vam Co River, and dip it in fish sauce.
The wild vegetables here are surprisingly rich: cinnamon, wild perilla, star fruit leaves, young mango shoots, ginseng leaves, young Lagerstroemia leaves, etc. all create a symphony of astringent, sour, spicy, and aromatic flavors.
A small rice paper roll exposed to dew, but it contains the taste of the sun during the day, the taste of the dew at night and the breath of Tay Ninh's land and sky.
Two dishes - one earthly soul
Both banh canh and banh trang phoi suong are products of patience and love for the homeland. The “clarity” of the broth as well as the “clarity” of the rice paper do not come naturally, but thanks to time, a small fire and diligent hands. A dish to eat to fill you up, a dish to take away to remember, are both associated with the way of life of Trang Bang people: slow, honest and delicate.
“Trang Bang people cook the way they live, not in a hurry, not ostentatious, just persistent and complete.”
From a hometown restaurant to a national brand
Nowadays, both of these dishes have gone far beyond the borders of Tay Ninh. Trang Bang rice noodles are available in Saigon, Da Nang, Hanoi , etc. Trang Bang sun-dried rice paper has become a specialty with protected geographical indications, and is brought to all five continents.
Wherever they are, people still remember the steaming pot of broth and the rice paper trays wet with night dew, symbols of the sun, wind, and the simple heart of the people of the red soil of the East.
Taste of home
A bowl of noodle soup, a rice paper roll, is enough to feel the hearts of Trang Bang people warm like a pot of stew and cool like a drop of night dew.
Two dishes, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, blend into the culinary melody of Tay Ninh: simple, rustic but full of love.
Anyone who has ever stopped here will surely carry the sweetness of the stewed bones, the chewy taste of the rice paper, and the kindness of the people of this land forever in their hearts./.
Mr. Hoan
Source: https://baolongan.vn/banh-canh-banh-trang-phoi-suong-trang-bang-hai-vien-ngoc-am-thuc-cua-dat-tay-ninh-a205638.html
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