Grilled rice paper with shrimp paste

I don't know when this snack first appeared in Nha Trang, but one day my son (who was in 9th grade at the time) whispered, "I like eating rice paper with egg, it's delicious!" Hearing him describe the rice paper being spread with shrimp paste, fried shallots, minced meat, sausage..., grilled over a fire with quail eggs or chicken eggs cracked and spread all over the rice paper with a spoon, along with chili sauce, mayonnaise... I immediately thought of the rice paper with shrimp paste from the old days.

It's hard to forget the years 1977-1981 when I was studying in Saigon. On those Nha Trang-Saigon buses, whenever we passed through Phan Ri and Phan Thiet, we often saw street vendors selling rice paper with shrimp paste. The grilled rice paper was thick and crispy, with sesame seeds. When a customer bought some, the vendor would scoop a lump of shrimp paste mixed with chili and minced garlic into the center. Break off a piece of rice paper, scoop up some of the paste, and after eating and drinking water, you felt refreshed and temporarily forgot about the long journey.

As time passed, the humble rice paper rolls with shrimp paste, once a simple snack, became less common and less popular. It wasn't until a visit to Phan Thiet that I discovered this street food had "upgraded," now possessing almost a whole "processing industry," and its name had even been extended: Grilled rice paper rolls with shrimp paste.

The two vendors worked quickly with their hands. On the low table, a large plastic container held sliced ​​pork sausage, fermented pork roll, and quail eggs; a jar of pickled radishes and carrots; a jar of processed shrimp paste with chili and garlic, offering a salty and sweet flavor; a plastic container of pork cracklings and minced meat; and a bowl of fried onions and oil… Taking a thin sesame rice paper wrapper and placing it on a plate, the vendor scooped a spoonful of shrimp paste and spread it evenly, then added fried onions and oil, pork sausage, fermented pork roll, quail eggs, pork cracklings, minced meat, pickled vegetables, sauce, and chili paste, before grilling it. When the wrapper was perfectly cooked, skillfully, the vendor used two chopsticks to roll it up. The hot, crispy wrapper, combined with the complex flavors of the filling inside—salty, sweet, sour, spicy, savory, and rich… Oh, it was delicious!

In Da Lat, I found this dish even more wonderfully modified: On top of the rice paper spread with shrimp paste, there's pâté, quail eggs, seafood, shumai, cheese, sausage... and mayonnaise, which looks quite appealing. On a cool day, eating this kind of grilled rice paper with a hot glass of soy milk is simply wonderful.

Traveling leisurely throughout Central Vietnam, from Phan Thiet to Quang Ngai, you can find grilled rice paper with shrimp paste everywhere. However, from Phu Yen northward, the grilled rice paper with shrimp paste is simpler, with fewer fillings, only containing fried onions, shrimp paste, and eggs... And from my observation, in places traditionally considered the "homeland" of rice paper, the grilled rice paper with shrimp paste is not as famous as in Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Da Lat, Saigon...

For those who have been away and return to Nha Trang on cold winter days, passing by the grilled rice paper with egg stall, the aroma spreads, warming a corner of the street. Then, sometimes, encountering that warm scent elsewhere, the first feeling is nostalgia for home, for the sea...

DAO THI THANH TUYEN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/sang-tac/202410/banh-trang-nuongmam-ruoc-15d2fb3/