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| Burn |
Thanh Nga |
As autumn arrives in Chuong My ( Hanoi ), sudden showers come and go. People feel relaxed in this cool weather, and suddenly recall cherished memories…
I also remember the "specialties" of my childhood. Puffed rice - one of the treats that encompassed my childhood, blending the sweetness of rice and sugar.
For those born in the former Ha Tay province, now Hanoi, puffed rice is more than just a snack ; it's deeply connected to childhood memories. The image of little boys and girls being scooped a bowl of rice and a bag of sugar by their grandmothers and mothers, rushing to the house of the person with the "puffed rice" machine in the middle of the village, is etched in my memory.
On chilly, rainy days, the children would line up to get their popcorn. A bowl of pure white rice mixed with sugar; wealthier families might add some instant noodles or roasted soybeans.
The popcorn machine hums, and the person making the popcorn skillfully pours the mixed rice from the bowl into the tray at one end of the machine. The machine makes a crisp, rhythmic sound, and after a process of grinding, mixing, kneading, and crushing the ingredients, long, cylindrical, hot, steaming popcorn sticks emerge from the other end of the machine.
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| The legendary popcorn snack of childhood |
Thanh Nga |
The owner of the vending machine was like a magician in the sparkling eyes of children like me. With gloved hands to avoid burns, he held scissors in his other hand, stretching the popcorn bar and cutting it into even, quick slices.
Sometimes, when the popcorn was still hot and soft, he would make us popcorn bars in different shapes, so appealing that some of us would keep them and not dare to eat them.
The freshly popped popcorn, still hot, was immediately stuffed into clean sacks that my mother had prepared. These sacks had to be wrapped in two or three layers so they could be tied tightly to keep the popcorn crispy for longer. We carried two small bags when we left, but when we returned, each of us children was carrying a large, tightly sealed sack of warm, puffed rice. The aroma of rice, sugar, corn, and beans still wafted from the layers of sacks in our hands.
With rice and sugar as the main ingredients, people can add many other flavors. Just adding a little dried corn, instant noodles, peanuts, dried coconut, etc., makes puffed rice taste different from puffed rice elsewhere. There was a time when the puffing machine and the image of puffed rice sticks seemed to have disappeared. For about two years now, as Hanoians reminisce about these childhood "specialties," from suburban streets to intersections and along the sides of major city streets, you can find puffed rice stalls with their familiar aroma, making you want to return to your childhood once again.
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