Ut Dinh Shrimp Cracker

Ms. Cai Thi Dinh next to her shrimp cracker product. Photo: DANG LINH

Even though her family owns hundreds of acres of rice paddies and spends the whole year tending to the fields, for Mrs. Dinh, the greatest joy doesn't lie in the bountiful rice harvest, but in... each batch of perfectly square, fragrant, and crispy shrimp crackers. She recounts that her mother was very skilled in the past, making all kinds of cakes: pork skin cakes, sponge cakes, sandwich cakes... When she was young, her mother urged her to learn the trade, but she would just laugh it off: "It's too hard, I won't learn!" Little did she know that later she would become more passionate about making cakes than anyone else. Perhaps the calling of the craft permeated every batch of dough, every piece of cake drying in the sun, until one day, it blossomed into a true passion.

Initially, Ms. Dinh tried making shrimp crackers using the method she remembered from helping her mother, but the first batch didn't puff up or become crispy; they were chewy. She laughed, but inwardly felt deeply saddened. She tried again, batch after batch, sometimes feeling discouraged and wanting to give up. But thinking, "If I give up every time I fail, what else can I accomplish?", she started again. She took notes, compared recipes, and devised her own way of mixing the batter, adjusting the ratio of shrimp, tapioca starch, egg whites, and spices. The shrimp, raised organically in rice paddies and freshly caught from the ponds, were washed, finely ground using a machine, mixed thoroughly with the batter until pliable, thinly spread, and then sun-dried.

After many failed attempts, the batch of puffed rice cakes finally became crispier and golden brown in the oil, bringing tears to Mrs. Dinh's eyes. The aroma of shrimp blended with the richness of the flour and the scent of sunshine, all creating a crispy cake that, with a satisfying crunch, released the taste of home into her mouth. She said the best way to make puffed rice cakes is to fry them over medium heat or in an air fryer. Friends who tried them all praised them, saying, "Ut Dinh's cakes are better than anywhere else; the shrimp aroma is fragrant without being fishy," and they started ordering more. From then on, word spread, and some even took the cakes to South Korea and the United States as gifts.

Seeing that Ms. Dinh's business was doing well, the local government supported and guided her in registering her trademark and completing the application for the OCOP program. Meanwhile, despite her constant work in the fields, she still managed to attend a "High-Tech Agriculture " course organized by the Provincial Cooperative Union. "I learned how to make packaging, preserve products, take beautiful photos of them, and post them on Facebook and Zalo so customers can easily see them. If you don't learn and adapt, it's difficult to sell sustainably in the long run," Ms. Dinh observed.

Ut Dinh brand shrimp crackers have achieved OCOP 3-star certification. Photo: DANG LINH

Ut Dinh's shrimp crackers were recognized as a 3-star OCOP standard product at the end of 2024. Now, her dedication is known to many, supplying both the local market and taking online orders. As the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and Director of the Bao Mon Agricultural Cooperative, Ms. Dinh hopes to develop the Ut Dinh shrimp cracker brand not only to enrich her family but also to create jobs for cooperative members and enhance the value of farmed shrimp in the region.

Looking at the neatly stacked piles of shrimp crackers, with packaging featuring a bright red shrimp image and a QR code for product traceability, Mrs. Dinh shared with a radiant smile: "I hope that in the future, Ut Dinh's shrimp crackers will become more widely known, so that the shrimp raised in our hometown will have more outlets, and our people will have more jobs and improve their lives."

DANG LINH

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/banh-phong-tom-ut-dinh-a464597.html