Cassava used for steaming is usually three-month or six-month old.
When mentioning Tay Ninh cuisine , people often think of rice paper, shrimp salt or Trang Bang noodle soup. However, in my memory, Tay Ninh also appears through the simple yet profound flavor of steamed cassava in coconut water - a rustic dish but fully containing the rustic soul of the southern border region.
Tay Ninh is the province with the second largest cassava growing area in the country. This tuber is not only a food source that helped people overcome the days of poverty, but also became an indispensable part of the local culinary culture, infiltrating the childhood memories of many people.
Steamed cassava in coconut water – the name sounds simple, but to make a delicious dish of cassava requires the delicacy and care of the cook. The cassava used for steaming is usually three or six months old, old enough to be chewy and fragrant without being too fibrous.
After being peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces, the cassava is soaked in cold water for several hours to remove some of the toxins. Unlike the usual boiling method, the cassava is steamed - preserving its natural sweetness without losing its characteristic chewy aroma.
The part that makes the dish rich is none other than coconut milk. The milk must be squeezed from fresh coconut, cooked until thick, fragrant and fatty.
When the cassava is just cooked and still hot, people pour a layer of coconut milk on top, then skillfully sprinkle crushed roasted peanuts, golden roasted sesame seeds and a few thin strands of shredded coconut. And so there is a simple dish but full of flavor: sweet, fatty, fragrant, full of the love of the countryside in every bite.
My childhood was spent in the fields, with cassava fields stretching endlessly across a green expanse. According to my mother, in the late 1970s, there was a lot of wasteland in the border area. The government encouraged people to move to live and work in the new economic zone. So my father chose to stop in the border area of Tay Ninh. The reclaimed land still smelled of rotting leaves, muddy and muddy, entangled with the breath of the ancient forest.
Steamed cassava with coconut water has a rustic taste.
The cassava fields were planted by my father through many days of soaking in the scorching sun and wind, in the gecko's sound still beating in the restless night and in the belief that one day the land will be green.
I still remember vividly the afternoons after school, running home to the smell of coconut milk wafting from the small kitchen behind the house. My grandmother, with white hair like clouds, sat by the firewood stove, gently stirring the pot of coconut milk, occasionally looking at the pot of steaming cassava and softly reminding: "This cassava will not be delicious if it is overcooked."
We - the children in the neighborhood - often gathered around the porch, holding hot cassava in our hands, our mouths puffed out in fear of being burned, but still exclaiming: "Grandma's cooking is so delicious!"
Suddenly I longed to return to the small house of the past, to hear the crackling sound of firewood, to hold a plate of hot cassava in my hand, to miss the simple kitchen with my grandmother's thin, gentle hands. Now thinking back, I realize how simple the joy of those days was - no phone, no TV, not many restaurants, just a pot of cassava steamed in coconut water, and my entire childhood was complete.
Nowadays, cassava is grown widely in many places, so the ingredients are always available. This dish is easy to make, cheap and suitable for many classes, so from street vendors, small markets to restaurants, it can be served - each place has its own flavor, but still retains the rustic, simple soul of the countryside specialty.
Like many other rustic dishes, steamed cassava with coconut milk is not only a delicious gift, but also associated with the childhood of many people. In the modern life, sometimes we just need to stop and eat a piece of steamed cassava with fragrant and fatty coconut milk to feel the simple happiness.
Mai Thao
Source: https://baotayninh.vn/cu-mi-hap-nuoc-dua-vi-que-moc-mac-a191543.html
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