Meal after the storm

After the storm, peace came from the jokes of my parents when they cleaned the garden. It was the laughter of the children playing innocently with stagnant water in the yard. It was a steaming meal with the leftover "home-grown" food. Although the chaos was still in my heart, I knew that tomorrow had come with the sunlight drying out all the old hardships...

Rustic banana flower salad. Photo: Document

After the storm, everything was in disarray. The banana trees fell down, scattering leaves that were torn into long strands by the wind. Someone’s tin roof flew across the well, occasionally creaking. Nothing was straight after the storm, except for Dad’s back. That back was thin and tired, trying to clean up the mess of mud and slime.

The wind had been blowing fiercely for days. There had not been a proper meal cooked in the kitchen at the back of the house. We huddled in the strongest room, subsisting on a packet of crushed instant noodles and a bottle of water from the house.

Today the wind stopped and the water receded. We went to the garden to clean up what was left. Dad cleaned the water tank. The sisters swept away the mud and rubbish that had been swept up by the flood. Mom held the banana tree horizontally and cut a young banana that was still intact. Mom called out, so today we had banana flower salad. The sound of cooking echoed from the kitchen and the smell of hot rice wafted up to the tiled roof, stinging our noses. Everyone smiled happily, the first smile after the storm.

Banana flower salad is not a complicated dish, but it suddenly becomes delicious in the meal after the storm. Mom thinly sliced ​​the banana flower, and as she sliced, she put it in a bowl of water with lemon juice to prevent it from turning black. Mom soaked the banana flower for about 10 minutes, occasionally mixing it with her hands, then washed it and took it out to drain.

While waiting, Mom searched for peanuts in the earthenware pot on the stove beam, put them in the pan. The peanuts were roasted until golden, cooled, and then peeled off the shells. The sisters finished cleaning the garden, busily helping Mom sift and smash the peanuts into halves or thirds. The bowl of fish sauce for the salad was mixed with chili, garlic, sugar... to taste. Mom put the drained banana blossoms into a large bowl, mixed with the fish sauce, if you want it sour, squeeze in some lemon juice, then sprinkle peanuts on top.

The hot rice was brought into the room that was not swept away by the flood, along with a bowl of banana flower salad. The meal after the storm mixed with sweat and smiles, warming the light rain outside the porch. Holding the bowl of rice with a few strands of banana flower salad, I suddenly felt moved to cherish what I had, telling myself to quickly pull myself together to start from the rubble in the yard.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/bua-com-sau-bao-3308311.html