Grew up from my mother's cake stall

On this business trip to the South, my friends and I were enjoying the dishes of the river region when we suddenly heard a distressed cry of "banh beo, who wants banh beo?". Looking out, it was a woman in her 60s, carrying a load of street vendors passing by. That image reminded me of my mother.

I grew up in a poor rural area of Phong Dien district, all my school expenses were paid for by my father’s farm work and my mother’s banh beo stall. Twenty years have passed, but I still remember my mother’s curved carrying pole; I remember her delicate cry “Who wants banh beo?” echoing throughout the village streets and alleys. My mother’s hands deftly arranged the banh beo around the plate, scooped scallion oil and spread it evenly on the surface of the banh beo, sprinkled a pinch of dried shrimp and a little pork rind, and poured fish sauce on top…

In my memory, rain or shine, every day my mother wore a worn-out Ao Ba Ba, a faded conical hat, and at the right time she would carry a basket of banh beo on her shoulder and wander all over the streets. On rainy, windy, slow-moving days, my mother would stay behind to sell until dark before returning home.

My mother often joked: "Sometimes I want to stop selling, the profit is not much, but if I stop, how will I eat, where will I get money to pay for my children's tuition. Well, I'm used to working hard and suffering, you guys should try to study hard, later on find a job to make yourself happy."

The best part is when summer comes, when we don’t have to take extra classes. My sisters and I often help our mother make cakes, so we can enjoy the cakes that are still hot and fresh from the oven. To make delicious banh beo, we have to choose fragrant, sticky rice, wash it, and soak it in water for many hours. Then grind it into a fine powder, mix it with water to make the powder thin, but still maintain a certain elasticity.

Mom poured the batter into each small bowl and steamed it. When the cake was cooked, she started making the filling. The filling included scallion oil, boiled shrimp, peeled and crushed, then put in a pan and stir-fried until the shrimp was smooth and golden brown. The pork fat was cut into small cubes and then fried until crispy.

Fish sauce is also one of the necessary spices when eating banh beo. A little sugar, a few slices of chili will make a sweet and spicy fish sauce. When the banh beo is cooked, add some dried shrimp, fried pork and a little fried onion, pour in the fish sauce and you have an attractive banh beo dish. The white color of rice flour, the yellow color of dried shrimp, fried pork, the green color of spring onions and the red color of ripe chili have created a rustic and rich banh beo dish. Thanks to that "banh beo" stall, my sisters and I were able to study properly and find a stable job.

My mother is old now, and her banh beo stall no longer roams the streets. Today, I happened to meet a banh beo seller in a faraway place, reminding me of the difficult times of my family and making me appreciate more what my mother has done for me.

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