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| Tilapia in flood season. Photo: GC |
The flood season in my hometown usually starts after the Mid-Autumn Festival with heavy rains and lasts until the end of the 10th lunar month, when morning glory flowers bloom white on the Dinh River wharf. That is the word-of-mouth experience of our grandparents in the past, but now with climate change, everything is erratic, some years there is flood, some years there is no flood, even though it still rains nine times a day. The river wharf has almost been built with embankments, and there are not many bamboo bushes left for morning glory flowers to cling to.
When we were young, every time there was a flood, the children in the countryside loved it because they got a day off from school and didn’t have to do anything. No matter how much we were forbidden, we would sneak out of the house to wade in the water. I don’t know what was so fascinating about floodwaters, it felt so good to be immersed in them. Sometimes the water rose quickly, reaching our waists, then our chests without us even realizing it, so we were scared and screamed for help. We would call out to each other, run onto the railway tracks, and watch the ferocious water from upstream rush towards us, pulling away anything that blocked it. Seeing large tree trunks drifting with the current, the men in the neighborhood, regardless of the danger, jumped out and swam hard to pull them to shore. This pile was split into pillars to build houses or firewood, sometimes it took a whole month to finish.
And the delicious dishes of the flood season always remain in the memory of the migrants. The simplest is probably duck eggs soaked in fish sauce. Every house in the rainy season stores a basket of duck eggs. Just cook a pot of hot rice on a tray, take a dozen eggs, boil them until they are soft pink, peel them, and dip them in a bowl of fish sauce with a few green chili peppers. Each person in the family has a bowl of rice, scoop the eggs soaked in fish sauce onto the bowl, wade through the water and eat the rice. The fragrant hot rice mixed with the chewy, salty, and spicy duck eggs is so delicious.
The rain had stopped a bit, my father took the boat to the field to catch perch. In the morning, when he returned, the boat was full of fish. No need to scale or gut, just skewer the fish on bamboo chopsticks and grill over charcoal until the outer skin was charred, then remove the bones, remove the skin, put the meat in a mortar and mix with young tamarind, green banana, sour star fruit, herbs, white basil, chili, spices, then pound it. In the midst of the flood, I scooped up a bowl of hot rice, scooped a spoonful of perch and shook it, the fragrant smell of rice combined with the sour taste of tamarind, star fruit, astringent taste of green banana, strong taste of white basil, sweet taste of fish, spicy taste of pepper and chili all intertwined. That was the most special and unique dish made from freshwater fish I knew from my father. It contained all the essence of the fields, rivers, and gardens of my hometown in that mixture.
Mom bought the hairtail fish, cut it into pieces, braised it with taro, or fried it, and ate it with fish sauce, chili, and garlic, and hot rice. If not, soak it in salt water, hang it on the fence to dry, and then store it away. On rainy days, she grilled the hairtail fish on a charcoal grill until it was cooked and fragrant. Ladle a bowl of cold rice with a piece of fish, and feel the saltiness of the fish, the shore, and the vast ocean mixed with the rice soak deep into the tongue.
One day, my sister took the mackerel fish sauce stored in the kitchen, chopped it up, put it in a bowl, cracked 7 duck eggs, chopped onions, a few slices of chili, added spices, stirred gently and steamed it, then took the beaten egg yolk and poured it on top to make it look more attractive. The fish sauce was cooked, fragrant and delicious.
The most loved and missed is the salted squid with rice. The simplest way is to grill it on charcoal, the salty smell, the aroma of squid and salt wafts throughout the house. Two squids are enough to eat a whole bowl of rice, but it has to be cold rice to be delicious. Grilled salted squid is salty on the outside but sweet on the inside, as if the salt cannot penetrate inside. Salted squid braised with pepper eaten with hot rice is needless to say. Before braising, soak the squid in salt water to reduce the saltiness, wash it with cold water, cut into finger-sized pieces, season with spices, onions, coconut water and braise. After a while, the squid will shrink, the water will thicken, but that alone is enough to fill a whole pot of rice and a basket of vegetables for a family of ten people. The squid is delicious, the braised water is even more delicious, pour it over the rice, mix well. Whoever eats it for the first time, is guaranteed to have ten more times.
Living abroad, every time the weather turns cold, I miss the simple dishes from home during the flood, and suddenly I crave and miss my homeland so much!
NGUYEN HUU TAI
Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/sang-tac/202511/mua-lut-que-minh-4671cd7/
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