"I still wonder to myself, 'Is that the scent of young rice flakes?' / I don't know whose hands made the lotus leaves?" (Is there anything strange about Paris, my dear?). It seems that anyone who knows about Hanoi's young rice flake season, to some extent, remembers Nguyen Sa?
Vong Village green rice flakes, Hanoi green rice flakes. A dish whose name alone evokes the season. People returning from Hanoi in the autumn to Quang Nam province must carefully pack the fragrant, green rice flakes, the color of young rice sprouts, in their gift packages.
Green rice flakes are delicately wrapped in lotus leaves and tied with two dried straws. Northerners say this preserves the flavor and aroma of the green rice flakes and the pure scent of the lotus. These two elegant elements combine to bring a sense of nobility to the recipient.
Surprisingly, the food is as refined as the people of Hanoi. It seems that for the people of Hanoi, each dish and drink is a masterpiece of carefully crafted aroma and flavor.
With autumnal treats like green rice flakes (cốm), the subtlety is even more evident. That's why Vũ Bằng had a special affection for Vòng green rice flakes – a treat as gentle and refined as the autumn weather in Hanoi.
He bestowed the most exquisite words upon green rice flakes: "Whenever autumn clouds cover the sky, people meeting at the market often only say one thing: 'Now is the season for green rice flakes in Hanoi!' Then they look at each other without saying anything more, but everyone feels a deep sadness in their hearts…"
For Vu Bang, Vong sticky rice flakes were the most special treat because "every time I see the gentle golden wind returning, I remember sticky rice flakes. Even more special, 'throughout all the roads of the country, only Hanoi has sticky rice flakes!'"
The image of vendors carrying baskets of sticky rice flakes along the alleyways has become deeply ingrained in his subconscious, prompting him to pick up a pen and write to express his feelings. The aroma of this specialty spreads throughout Hanoi, permeating even the soul of a son far from home.
Hanoians say that the fragrant aroma of young rice brings autumn to the city. The culinary spirit of Northern Vietnam, which "cherishes aromas," has given rise to delicious, fragrant dishes that have become specialties.
The same goes for Com (Vietnamese green rice flakes). From fragrant young glutinous rice, each woman in Vong village carefully selects the best-tasting com to ensure it has the authentic flavor. According to the women of Northern Vietnam, the chewy com has a refreshing, milky taste and a rich aroma, and requires many meticulous processing steps to create a batch of perfectly flavored com.
After roasting, glutinous rice is pounded, sifted to remove all the husks, and then coated with a paste made from the leaves of the "cốm" plant. Cốm is used in many dishes, from cốm cakes, cốm patties, sticky rice with cốm, sticky rice dessert, stir-fried cốm, bananas dipped in cốm, flattened cốm mixed with coconut, etc.
But the treat most favored by Hanoians and frequently "shown off" on Facebook is a handful of young rice flakes nestled among spreading lotus leaves. They say, only then can one truly know it's autumn in Hanoi. The image, emanating the scent of autumn, evokes fond memories for those who dream of Hanoi with its imagery of "the season of green rice flakes, fragrant in small hands / The fragrant rice flakes on the sidewalk, perfuming every passing step"...
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/van-hoi-long-minh-la-huong-com-3140740.html
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