Quang Noodles and Memories

A plate of mixed noodles packed with the flavors of home. Photo: Tuan Vu

Quang noodles can be eaten with many types of fillings. The easiest to make and eat are noodles with shrimp, braised pork or chicken. A little more elaborate are frog noodles and snakehead fish noodles. They are delicious no matter how you eat them. Because each type has its own unique flavor, even though it is still a bowl of noodles with the same preparation method. Also, each eating attitude brings its own deliciousness.

After working in the fields for half a day, holding a bowl of hot chicken noodles suddenly makes me feel refreshed. In the afternoon, I go to the alley entrance to eat a bowl of noodles with pork, drink tea, chat about nonsense, and listen to life leisurely. That's about it. I dare say that I can write an encyclopedia about Quang noodles and how to enjoy this famous dish.

But deep down, I still remember most the simple noodle dishes my mother made in the past. Those are bowls of noodles from my homeland, from my childhood, from the love hidden in my mother’s hardships. Bowls of noodles that I ate once but will remember for the rest of my life.

In those days in my hometown, every hamlet had a noodle factory. Walking around the country markets, you could see stalls selling leaf noodles and kilo noodles everywhere. Two or three times, when my mother came back from the market early, she would buy some leaves of noodles. Each person would roll one leaf and dip it in soy sauce. A quick breakfast to get to school on time. The sticky, rich taste of rice flour mixed with the fatty aroma of a little peanut oil fried with shallots, the deliciousness of leaf noodles is the deliciousness of rice grains grown from the soil of our hometown.

Another Quang noodle dish that is very simple to prepare but always makes adults remember is stir-fried noodles. I still remember when I was little, there were days when my mother bought noodles but didn’t have time to cook them because she had to rush to work. There were days when there was a party at home and there were still noodles left. By evening, the noodles were a bit hard. My mother heated peanut oil and scallions to bring out the aroma, then stir-fried the noodles, seasoned them with a little salt, fish sauce, and sprinkled some herbs and chili slices. It wasn’t fussy, but my mother’s stir-fried noodles were surprisingly delicious.

On free afternoons, when the farm work was temporarily stopped, Mom often made mixed noodles for the whole family to have as a snack. It was still the familiar Quang noodles but the way of preparation was different, giving it a different flavor.

On cool afternoons when the river breeze blew in, my mother told my brothers and I to go roast peanuts and wash herbs. She fried the oil until fragrant, made sweet and sour chili and garlic fish sauce, peeled and boiled shrimp, and prepared some banana leaves. The noodles were cut shorter and put into the pan, added the prepared ingredients, poured in the pressed fried oil, poured in the sweet and sour fish sauce, and mixed well. The mixed noodles had a unique taste, and one or two bowls were not enough, and could be eaten as a snack or as a substitute for rice.

Far from home, other regions still sell Quang noodles. I can still go to a restaurant to eat a bowl of chicken noodles or, if I am more diligent, go to the market to buy noodles to mix. But that is just a way to eat to ease the nostalgia. I just like to go back to my hometown, sit under the porch with the cool river breeze blowing, enjoy bowls of noodles with the rich flavor of my hometown, Quang, filled with the love of my mother from years ago...

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/my-quang-va-nhung-phien-khuc-nho-3152246.html