( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Purple sticky rice! It sounds... dreamy but it's so real! So real that when you eat it, the sweet and fragrant smell of the sticky rice drifts along.
When I was young, all the kids in the countryside were greedy but also very... artistic. Here is the proof: It was also sticky rice, but when my mother bought regular sticky rice, without any fancy colors, she sat on the porch and ate it normally. But every time my mother bought purple sticky rice, she would hug the sticky rice package and run out to the alley, eating each small piece very "gently", just to make the neighborhood kids want to play with it, and also to make the adults passing by compliment: "Wow, beautiful sticky rice, purple sticky rice here, very delicious".
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| The purple color makes the sticky rice dish stand out more. Photo: Tran Cao Duyen |
Sticky rice with gac fruit, using the pulp of the gac fruit to cook sticky rice also gives a purple-pink color but it is not as beautiful and fragrant as the purple leaf. Purple leaf is easy to grow because it is a herbaceous plant. Mom asked for a few bare stems from somewhere, planted them near a water tank, and did not take care of them. Yet a month later, our house had a whole clump of lush purple leaves. There were so many that neighbors came over to ask and just picked them.
On the anniversary of death, of course there is sticky rice, usually purple sticky rice “extracted” from purple leaves. It is called “extracted” but in fact, purple leaves are chopped into small pieces, put in a pot, add about a liter of water, boil for a few minutes and you will have a pot of beautiful purple water.
A long time ago, I still remember my mother teaching my sister to cook purple sticky rice. Let the purple sticky rice water cool down and then pour in the sticky rice to soak. In my hometown (Sa Huynh, Duc Pho town), when cooking sticky rice or sweet soup, we always use royal sticky rice, a type of sticky rice with plump grains, famous for its fragrant aroma, which was said to be offered to the king in the past. If you lift the lid while cooking, the whole neighborhood will know. Everyone passing by will sniff.
The sticky rice is soaked in purple leaf water overnight, so each grain is purple like the color of Hue 's traditional dress. Take the sticky rice out to drain and cook the sticky rice. When the sticky rice is cooked, the purple color is also cooked, becoming more shimmering and shiny thanks to the essence of the sticky rice secreted, embracing each grain of sticky rice. If sticky rice is not cooked with purple leaf water, the sticky rice is still delicious in its nature. But when soaked in this purple leaf water, the sticky rice grains are not only covered with a new, shimmering purple coat, but also enjoy a sweet, fatty, and light aroma that spreads throughout the house, even out to the alley. Eating purple sticky rice with sesame salt is also very rich. Served on a plate, the light yellow layer of sesame salt makes the purple sticky rice even more beautiful.
On the offering tray or on the banquet table, the purple color of the sticky rice dish stands out, like a highlight, attracting the eyes of diners. The ancients were wonderful! They left a charming feature for the sticky rice dish, making it more fragrant and beautiful.
I remember when I was young, I often followed my mother to eat at relatives' death anniversaries. My eyes only fell on the purple sticky rice dish and I didn't dare ask for it. Adults often picked up this dish and that and put it in my bowl, but I coquettishly shook my head. My mother smiled and winked at my family: She only likes purple sticky rice. Immediately, I was led to the kitchen, holding a heavy banana leaf bag of purple sticky rice. I ran up to show my mother and then ran straight home to invite my sister to eat with me. My sister asked me if it was more delicious than what she cooked. I "flattered" to... anticipate her future pots of sticky rice: "It's not more delicious than yours. But people give me more than you."
TRAN CAO DUYEN
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