Warm smoke in the early cold season

Here, the streets have changed seasons. The streets suddenly become shaky and trembling, the tiled roofs seem to be “darker and more somber” even though it is only the end of October. However, thanks to the early cold wind of the season, the warm smoke perfuming the streets has become a delicacy.

Warm smoke scents the first chill of the season. Photo: Ky Lam

Waking up early on a cool autumn morning was truly beautiful. Under a banyan tree, a cloud was rising, sometimes dim, sometimes clear, around a crowd of people who were huddled together and gasping. It was not a cloud or fog, but smoke rising from a basket of sticky rice.

There is nothing warmer than the sticky rice smoke of a “cold morning in the heart of Hanoi ”. That smoke is fragrant with the scent of the golden sticky rice grains that used to grow in the fields of Me Tri and Phu Thuong, steamed until they are as plump as a bee’s butt, as if just a light bite would make them burst in your teeth.

But no, the plump sticky rice grain did not burst like one had imagined, but was soft and fragrant. As soon as you put it in your mouth, your mouth will feel warm and full of flavor, and then the simple yet seductive aroma will take over all your senses. The more you chew, the more soft and sweet it becomes.

Sticky rice with sesame salt, peanut salt, shredded pork floss, or more luxuriously with pork sausage or fatty sausage used to be a popular breakfast food in the winter. The sticky rice package in Hanoi is as attractive as other sticky rice packages in the cities of Northern Vietnam in the cold season. They all bring a lot of emotions.

For example, in Nam Dinh city, there is xoi ca, still fragrant sticky rice grains surrounding a skull of fatty pieces in mashed green beans, while eating suddenly there is a "pop" sound, then a puff of smoke comes out with the hot aroma of pepper and green beans. Oh my, there is no culinary feeling more joyful and satisfying than that.

But it has to be the morning sticky rice packages, not the savory sticky rice with all kinds of “toppings” like braised pork, braised sausage, braised eggs, hot pate drenched in sauce. Because savory sticky rice seems more modern and “luxurious”, not suitable for the old generation and especially they cannot emit fragrant smoke in the hands.

Cold season sticky rice packages are the saviors of students in difficult times. They are cheap, but every morning when going to school shivering, having a handful of sticky rice, walking with the warm steam, creating a delicious, hot piece to fight the early cold of the season, that is truly a heavenly reality.

It is even more wonderful when the hot sticky rice is wrapped in newly picked almond leaves, washed until shiny. The almond leaves are thick and soft, no matter how hot the sticky rice is, it will not become soft and mushy like other leaves. Sticky rice wrapped in almond leaves has a very unique flavor, bringing an interesting and clean feeling.

But the warm smoke of the cold season is not only in the baskets of sticky rice and the handfuls of sticky rice. The savior of the cold winter streets also lies in the 50 pots, which when opened, a warm cloud of the strong smell of beef bones stewed with ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon rushes in, making the whole street stunned.

Smoke from Hanoi pho. Photo: Trang Vu

The warm smoke from the pho pots makes everyone nostalgic for early autumn. Above all, the warm smoke from the pho broth and the bowl of pho makes the cold season seem very special. Almost every nation has a dish to fight the cold, hot, delicious, and unique. For the Vietnamese, it is pho.

Think of a broth that has been simmered over coal for 8-9 hours. The heat of the ingredients and the cooking time has been transformed into every drop of broth, which then transforms into every bite of pho, into every cell of the person eating pho.

Buddha once said, each drop of water contains thousands of worlds . So does a drop of pho broth also contain thousands of cold winds? Those cold seasons have risen into warm smoke, captivating the souls of thousands of people, becoming a longing on every cold morning along the long street.

What could be happier than eating a delicious bowl of pho on a cold day? Despite the fierce monsoon wind outside, inside is protected by the warm smoke rising from the pot of pho broth, by a hot bowl of pho that also gives off steam like the surface of Dam Dam Lake in winter. Then, enjoy the heat, the deliciousness of the dish that has been extracted from the intestines and liver from thousands of calories of heat.

However, the warm smoke can also sometimes be extremely romantic. Sit with your loved one in a small restaurant, eyes fixed on a steamer, next to a woman, fat or thin, ugly or beautiful, but with the power of a fairy.

With a wave of her hand, warm smoke rose up like a coiled dragon. The saleswoman suddenly waved a ladle of flour and rubbed it around the cloth, creating a round layer of flour. Then she waved her hand again to cover the lid, and the warm smoke suddenly disappeared, leaving only a few faint lines of doubt.

A few minutes later, the hand waved again, the lid popped open, and the magic trick was performed again, causing warm smoke to rise. But this time, the smoke was not just bland steam, but was filled with the aroma of cooked rice flour, chopped wood ear mushrooms, and minced meat.

Let the smoke drift like the eternal sorrow of Thang Long, the fingers use thinly shaved bamboo chopsticks, slip under the flour coat, transform the circle into a square, from spreading it into a roll, then lift it up and place it on the plate. Wherever the hands go, the smoke follows, until it is cut into bite-sized pieces, sprinkled with a little golden fried onion, then billows out in front of the diners.

That hot rice cake dipped in a bowl of slightly spicy sauce, sprinkled with fresh chili and northern pepper, eaten with cinnamon sausage and coriander is truly the true love of a cold night. The rice cake in the mouth, so refreshing, still giving off light puffs of smoke when opening the mouth to ask the beloved: "Is it delicious?".

In this land of Northern Vietnam, how many banh cuon shops are there? How many people have sat and watched the warm smoke of banh cuon on the slope of Hoe Nhai, in the mountain town of Cao Bang, in the old market of Dong Van? That is how many people have enjoyed the pleasure of eating the warm smoke, making the cold season become a memory.

Laodong.vn

Source: https://laodong.vn/du-lich/am-thuc/nhung-lan-khoi-am-mua-chom-lanh-1601128.html