During this business trip to the South, my friend and I were enjoying the local riverside cuisine when we suddenly heard a woman's mournful cry: "Banh beo, anyone want banh beo?" Looking up, we saw a woman in her sixties carrying a basket of goods. That image reminded me of my mother.
I grew up in a poor rural area of Phong Dien district. All my educational expenses depended on my father's farming work and my mother's selling of rice cakes. Twenty-something years have passed, but I still remember my mother's curved carrying pole; I remember her slender voice calling out, "Anyone want rice cakes?" echoing through the village streets and alleys. My mother's hands nimbly arranged the cakes in a circle on a plate, spread the scallion oil evenly over them, sprinkle with dried shrimp and some pork cracklings, and pour in the fish sauce...
In my memory, rain or shine, every day my mother would wear her worn-out traditional Vietnamese blouse, a faded conical hat, and, at the appointed time, would hoist her basket of rice cakes onto her shoulder and wander along every road. On rainy or slow days, my mother would stay and sell until dusk before returning home.
My mother often joked, "Sometimes I want to stop selling, the profit isn't much, but if I stop, what will we eat, where will we get the money to pay for my children's school fees? Well, I'm used to the hardships and struggles of life. You children should focus on studying hard so you can find a good job later and make a living."
What I love most is when summer comes, because I don't have extra classes. My sisters and I often help Mom make rice cakes, so we can enjoy them fresh out of the oven, still hot. To make delicious rice cakes, you have to choose fragrant, sticky rice, wash it thoroughly, and soak it in water for many hours. Then, you grind it into a fine flour, mix it with water to make a thin batter, but still maintain a certain stickiness.
My mother would pour the flour into small bowls and steam them. Once the cakes were cooked, she would start making the filling. The filling consisted of fried shallots, boiled and peeled shrimp, mashed and then stir-fried in a pan until the shrimp was smooth and golden brown; and pork fat, diced into small cubes and then fried until crispy.
Fish sauce is also one of the essential condiments when eating banh beo (steamed rice cakes). A little sugar and a few slices of chili make a sweet and spicy fish sauce. Once the banh beo is cooked, add some dried shrimp, fried pork, and a little fried onion, then pour in the fish sauce to create an attractive dish. The white of the rice flour, the yellow of the dried shrimp and fried pork, the green of the scallions, and the red of the ripe chili peppers create a rustic yet flavorful banh beo. Thanks to that banh beo stall, my sisters and I were able to get a proper education and find stable jobs.
My mother is old now, and she no longer carries her basket of rice cakes along the streets. Today, I happened to meet a rice cake vendor in a faraway place, which reminded me of the hardships my family went through and made me appreciate even more everything my mother did for me.
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