The persistent rain, mashed sweet potatoes, dried fish...

Sometimes, when I miss my childhood and search through my memories, I come across images of my mother, of myself, and the simple meals we ate during the cold winter months, stirring up boundless nostalgia...

My mother used to jokingly say, "That's the 'specialty' of our hometown in winter, my child." And I can't count how many winters of my childhood I've experienced, from strange to familiar, with those smells in my mother's meals. Even now, whenever I think about it, it remains etched in my memory.

Made from simple, readily available ingredients, mashed sweet potatoes have become a familiar and popular dish in people's lives.

I remember very clearly that every year, around the tenth lunar month, it would start raining heavily, and the rain would continue throughout the winter. It was also the season when the sea was rough, so people rarely went out fishing. Markets were rare, and even then, food prices were incredibly high. Because she understood this "pattern," my mother always prepared her winter food supplies well in advance.

From summer onwards, my mother would buy sweet potatoes as soon as they were harvested from the fields, choosing sunny days to cut them and dry them in the sun for three or four days to ensure they were crispy enough and to prevent insect infestation before putting them in jars for storage.

On ordinary days, the jar of sweet potatoes sat quietly in a corner of the kitchen, rarely noticed. It was only on days of drizzling rain and biting winds that the jar of sweet potatoes truly came into its own. In those times of scarcity, to supplement the growing appetites of the children, whenever the rice was cooked, Mother would often add a handful of steamed sweet potatoes. Of course, the sweet potatoes were usually for the parents, and the white rice for the children. But more commonly, Mother would make mashed sweet potatoes for the children to eat for breakfast before school or as a snack when the two main meals were rarely enough to fill them up.

Because of the way people use chopsticks to stir the ingredients in a crisscross pattern while preparing this dish, it's commonly known by the very colloquial name "khoai xéo" (sliced ​​potatoes).

When cooking sweet potatoes, my mother would often add black beans or a few peanuts and cane sugar to make the dish more flavorful. When the sweet potatoes were soft, she would use chopsticks to stir them back and forth until the mixture was smooth and well combined, then it was ready to eat. Perhaps it was from this way of stirring with chopsticks that people commonly called it "stir-fried sweet potatoes."

The mackerel and herring were also bought by my mother during the peak fishing season at the beginning of summer, so the price was quite cheap. The cleaning and drying process continued, but the storage was more elaborate and careful to prevent cockroaches, rats, and mold. Whenever they were ready to cook, the dried fish were usually soaked in rice water to soften them and remove any dirt. A little pork fat was added to a pan along with a mixture of garlic, chili, and good quality fish sauce to braise the fish; on more "fancy" meals, diced pork belly was added to cook with it.

Dried fish stew is incredibly delicious with rice, especially on cold, rainy days. Photo: internet.

During the rainy season, the wild vegetables in our garden grow very quickly. We picked a handful of wild greens, boiled them, and dipped them in the thick sauce from the braised fish. Needless to say, the hungry children were incredibly eager when the meal and the pot of sweet and savory braised dried fish were served. In the cold winter weather, I'm sure there's no dish that's as appetizing, convenient, and economical as this.

I remember the flood seasons, when the whole family would huddle together to seek shelter, and my mother never forgot to bring along our "reserves" from the rainy season as essential necessities to help us get through those difficult days.

How I cherish those warm and loving winters of my childhood. Nowadays, daily meals are less burdensome, even overflowing with a variety of dishes. Sometimes, when I miss my childhood so much, searching through my memories, I encounter images of my mother, of myself, and the simple meals of those hard winter days, stirring up boundless nostalgia...

Ngo The Lam

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/van-hoc/mua-dam-khoai-xeo-ca-kho/258486.htm