Taro stem soup is a rustic dish that few young people today know about - Photo: Provided by the author.
The main ingredient is taro stems. For a delicious soup, cook it with pork or beef bones. If those aren't available, you can cook it with freshwater fish, freshwater crabs, snails, etc.
Generally speaking, this is a simple, rustic, and pleasant country-style soup, made with whatever ingredients are available. It might also include some broken rice, some water spinach, or betel leaves.
In the countryside, around every house's well there's usually a clump of taro plants; because there's plenty of water, the taro grows very well and produces many shoots.
Take a basket, pick a bunch of water spinach, scrape off the outer layer to clean it, tear it into short pieces, wash it thoroughly, and let it drain.
Pork or beef bones are blanched in boiling water to remove the strong smell, then simmered over low heat. When the bones release their flavor, add a little broken rice and taro stems. If you don't have broken rice, you can use regular rice, pounded until slightly soft. Cook for a little longer until the broken rice swells and the taro stems soften.
If cooking with freshwater fish, crab, or snails, add the ingredients at this point; there's no need to simmer them beforehand.
When the soup has thickened, the bamboo shoots are tender, and the rice grains have expanded, season to taste. Finally, add chopped betel leaves or water spinach and turn off the heat. This dish must be made with betel leaves or water spinach, not onions, as onions don't complement the flavor and spoil the taste.
Taro stems before cooking - Photo: Provided by the interviewee
A steaming pot of soup, the broth sweet from the bones or freshwater fish, crab, and snails. The thick consistency comes from the blend of broken rice and taro stems.
And it's very fragrant, with the scent of betel leaves or water spinach, or the overall harmonious fragrance of the gentle, refined countryside.
No chemicals, subtly fragrant, naturally sweet. A simple, natural charm, deeply rooted in rustic, countryside charm.
Taro stem soup is best eaten hot, you have to blow on it before eating. It's special because it's not quite soup, nor is it quite porridge, but a blend of both.
It's delicious and refreshing, light on the stomach, and can be enjoyed in any season, whether rainy or sunny. Eating taro stem soup requires very little rice; sometimes you don't even need rice because the soup already contains broken rice.
For example, nowadays, if you're looking to lose weight and eat less rice, there are probably few dishes that are more suitable.
I remember those days of incessant rain and wind, eating whatever we could find in the countryside, with no need for markets. My mother would send me to the well to pick taro stems and bring them inside to sit and peel them.
My mother caught some freshwater fish in a clay pot outside the house. She picked a handful of betel leaves and chopped them up... She cooked a large pot of soup on that rainy day. It was piping hot and fragrant, and she called the whole family to come and eat...
The whole family gathered around the wood-fired rice pot, everyone loved the crispy rice crust. A pot of taro stem soup steamed, emitting a fragrant aroma. A warm, cozy gathering on a rainy day.
Nowadays, in my hometown, few houses still grow taro around the well, and few people sell taro shoots in the market. On scorching hot days or rainy afternoons, my mother's taro shoot soup from days gone by suddenly comes back to me. It's a "delicacy" for me, a true country bumpkin from Thanh, Dien Khanh, Khanh Hoa .
"My mother is a farmer, and I was born in the countryside..." A child born in the countryside sometimes misses and craves taro stem soup, a traditional soup, a soup from their memories...
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/canh-ngo-mon-mon-canh-trong-mien-ky-uc-2025102818271092.htm
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