Scent of Autumn
The sidewalks of Hanoi on an early autumn morning are like a piano. On the dark green stone floor, the yellow leaves roll and roll as if the wind is pressing the ivory keys to play the autumn wind music. The romantic atmosphere of the Northern Autumn is dominating the space, as if to compensate for the stormy days that have just passed.
Following the yellow leaf keys are the light but agile footsteps of the green rice sellers. It seems like it is still the autumn of thousands of years ago, regardless of the time that has passed to the time when AI creates emotions for people, because those footsteps still carry fragrant burdens to cherish the autumn scent.
Calling out “Sister” as light as rice silk, I saw happy feet chirping and leaning in, lowering the load, then a brown hand gently flipped the sail, stained with time, into a crescent shape, to discreetly show off the fresh green rice flakes and waft a gentle, sweet fragrance.
Here are the green tamarind green rice grains, slender but a glance through the leaves. The light green color of the rice grains seems to be able to stir the autumn lake water, like a parasol leaf that only needs to fall slightly, enough to let the whole world know that autumn has come.
After a while, the green rice grains turn slightly yellow as if dyed by the autumn sun. Taking a small handful and dropping it into the palm of your hand, you feel as if you are indifferently welcoming some new tamarind leaves that have just fallen in the cool breeze. But each tamarind leaf has a very familiar scent: the scent of old lotus leaves.
There is nothing as simple and alluring as the scent of old lotus leaves. Here is the smell of mud, the smell of autumn pond water still lingering. Here is the smell of the hot summer sun, of the heavy summer rain covering the leaves. Here is the scent of a moonlit night when cold water rises into mist, seeping into every vein on the back of the leaf.
Therefore, the scent spectrum of lotus leaves is very thick and wide because it has gone through all the heat, cold, wind and dew of the season. That scent, that fragrance is transferred to each grain of tamarind leaf rice, secretly helping the rice to have an extra unintentional but affectionate scent. Each layer of light but lingering scent floats up, lingering, even though it is so fragile.
Chew very gently, let the aroma of the green rice blend with the roots of the teeth and the tip of the tongue, the more you chew, the more chewy, sweet, and fragrant it becomes, making the whole mouth smell fragrant as if it were perfumed. The green rice is so fragrant because it is made from newly ripened rice, to create a unit of time called green rice.
Therefore, in that unit of time, "com" means initial, newly formed, like with "com" lemon which is a young lemon that has just started to sour, with "com" lemon used for young girls who have just started puberty, or with "com" gold which refers to alluvial gold, still young...
The rice grains are carefully threshed, sorted, and the last grains that are plump but contain a lot of milk are selected. The stove is lit until the fire is red hot, then a large, heavy cast iron pan that has been used to make many green rice crops is placed on the stove. When the pan is hot, the sticky rice is put in and roasted evenly for about half an hour, then poured onto a tray to cool.
When the rice grains have completely cooled, they will move on to the stage of pounding the green rice. Unlike pounding rice, green rice must be pounded many times to separate the husk from the green rice grains, then classified into poured green rice - the best green rice made from the youngest rice grains, when pounded they stick together into small blocks, then young green rice and old green rice.
Then, it must be pounded a few more times depending on the quality of the rice grains and the desired softness of the rice maker. At this point, the rice grains are soft, fragrant, and turn green to mark the end of the transformation from glutinous rice grains to rice grains. And then, the rice grains hide behind a cloak made of taro leaves and old lotus leaves to reach the hands of the consumer.
Hanoi delicacies
From green rice with tamarind leaves, Hanoians make many delicious dishes. Simple and authentic is green rice eaten with bananas with egg cuoc, ripe egg persimmons or sweet bamboo skin persimmons. Elaborate and sophisticated is to stuff green rice with bird, stew it, mix it with meat to make green rice sausage for luxurious meals.
For those who love to eat green rice, there are green rice stir-fried with coconut water, green rice cakes, and green rice sweet soup. But in the morning, on the sidewalk filled with the autumn sun and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, there is nothing more suitable and delicious than a package of green rice sticky rice with green beans and soft lotus seeds, to create a light and carefree breakfast.
Sticky rice with green rice seems to be only available in Hanoi and has become a highlight of Hanoi's autumn. Therefore, in the sticky rice carts traveling around Hanoi, in addition to sticky rice with tamarind leaves, there must be sticky rice with green rice, but very rarely is there stir-fried green rice or sweet rice dessert - dishes that are only sold in shops or served with parties.
Although sticky rice with green rice still has to be steamed, the way to eat sticky rice with green rice is as simple as eating green rice. Pick up a piece with your fingertips, chew gently and slowly to enjoy the fragrant taste of green rice but it is soft and sticky like sticky rice, it can be a breakfast snack but can also be a snack when having coffee or eggplant on the sidewalk.
To make sticky rice with young rice, you should not use high-quality young rice such as young rice poured in, young rice with tamarind leaves, because it is a waste of heaven's gift. Because young rice that is eaten alone and directly is delicious, it should not be processed. Just choose old young rice with hard grains but also made from sticky rice that is still full of milk.
Choose green pepper beans (small beans like peppercorns), peel them, soak them in water to clean them, let them swell, then steam them in a steamer for about 30 minutes and then mash them. Boil fresh or dried lotus seeds for about 20 minutes until soft. Shred fresh coconut and stir-fry with cooking oil and sugar until soft. Next, boil pandan leaves with coconut milk to get green and fragrant water.
At this point, put the green rice into the basket, dip it in warm water, and then take it out immediately. The secret to making delicious, sticky, fragrant green rice is in this step. If the green rice is dipped in warm water at the right temperature for the right amount of time - depending on the age of the green rice - it will become delicious sticky rice. Water that is too hot or soaked for too long will cause the green rice to be crushed and tasteless.
Then mix the green rice, mung beans, and coconut milk thoroughly, then put them in a steamer and steam for about five minutes so that the sticky rice is cooked evenly. Then, open the steamer lid, add lotus seeds and grated coconut and mix thoroughly. If you want to eat it hot, scoop the sticky rice into old lotus leaves, wrap it up and leave it for a few minutes to let the sticky rice absorb the lotus leaf aroma, then eat.
If you carry it to sell, the sticky rice will be left to cool down before wrapping it in lotus leaves to avoid steaming. However, eating hot sticky rice has its own delicious taste, while eating cold sticky rice brings its own interesting taste. But no matter what, sticky rice must be soft, sticky, fragrant with the taste of sticky rice, lotus leaves, sweet with coconut milk, fragrant with grated coconut and lotus seeds.
Previously, sticky rice with green rice was often eaten for breakfast or on the feasting tray. However, in the past ten years, sticky rice with green rice has become a street snack for those who enjoy the autumn. With a cup of creamy salted coffee or a cup of hot egg coffee, sticky rice with green rice suddenly becomes very harmonious and charming.
No need for coffee or eggplant, sitting at a hot tea shop on the sidewalk porch eating sticky rice with young rice is also wonderful. Because in fact, we need an open space, sitting in the middle of Autumn to enjoy sticky rice with young rice to fully enjoy the deliciousness of the season, not to mention hot coffee or tea.
Beauty is often fragile and short-lived. The beauty of Hanoi's autumn is even shorter than a sigh. It is the sigh of someone who misses the aroma of sticky rice on an autumn morning!
