Thu has been living in Tu Hiep commune, Thanh Tri district, Hanoi for nearly 7 years, but said "until now I still don't know what a standard Thanh Tri rice roll is".
Hoang Thi Thu, originally from Phu Tho, got married and became a resident of Phap Van - Tu Hiep area since 2018. She said she liked banh cuon since she was little, when she was still in her hometown. "Banh cuon in Tam Nong, Phu Tho, my hometown, is usually the type of cake with meat and wood ear filling, dipped in fish sauce mixed with vinegar, sugar, garlic and chili," said the 33-year-old woman. In the area where Thu's family lives now, there are many banh cuon shops. "Each shop makes it differently, with or without filling, the thickness, the thinness, and the taste of the dipping sauce are also very different. One shop does not sell anything else because the cake already has meat and wood ear filling, while another shop sells vegetarian banh cuon with ham or sausage," said Thu. "I really ate banh cuon in Thanh Tri, but I don't know what Thanh Tri banh cuon is or what is praised in books and newspapers."
Thanh Tri has delicious rice rolls,
There is Ngu Nhac hill and Red river.
Thanh Tri has beautiful scenery and many people.
There is a bamboo flute beside the green rice field.
According to historical books, Thanh Tri district in the southeast of Hanoi, was formerly called Long Dam, and during the Le Dynasty it was changed to Thanh Dam. In the 16th century, to avoid the name of King Le The Tong, Duy Dam, it was changed to Thanh Tri. Some books say that the above verses describe Thanh Tri village in Thanh Tri district, bordering the Red River, where people do business and are famous for making delicious rice rolls. But the area with "delicious rice rolls", "Ngu Nhac hill", "Red river" must be Thanh Tri commune, in the old Thanh Tri district, now Thanh Tri ward, Hoang Mai district. Here there is Ngu Nhac street, Thanh Dam street, and a whole Thanh Tri rice roll village.
In January 2024, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a decision to recognize the title "Hanoi Craft Village" and "Hanoi Traditional Craft Village" for 14 craft villages, including "Thanh Tri Rice Roll" craft village. In March 2024, the Hoang Mai District People's Committee held a ceremony to recognize the title "Hanoi Traditional Craft Village" for Thanh Tri Rice Roll village, Thanh Tri ward.
If we talk about culinary history, except for a few dishes, for example La Vong fish cake which is said to have been created by the Doan family in the old quarter, it is very difficult to determine the “age”, who created the dish, when it appeared. Where Pho originated, whether it was “created” by Nam Dinh or Hanoi people, no one can answer. That dish is like a “folk work”, “orally passed down” from generation to generation, from region to region and in each place it goes, it absorbs or adapts certain values, certain ways of preparation, so that in the end we have a rich cuisine, recognized by the world.
Banh cuon in general, and Thanh Tri banh cuon, is no exception. Let's see what our ancestors said and wrote about Thanh Tri banh cuon. In the essay Hanoi 36 streets by writer Thach Lam and Hanoi's delicious food by writer - journalist Vu Bang, there are sections describing this typical Hanoi dish.
It is also necessary to add that the writer Thach Lam only lived for less than 32 years (1910-1942), Hanoi 36 streets was published in 1943, after the writer passed away. That means his notes are about Thanh Tri rice rolls of the 20s and 30s of the last century. Vu Bang wrote Delicious Hanoi in the 1950s in both Hanoi and Saigon, and those are the memories of a son of the North living in the South remembering the past, the dishes of Hanoi in the first half of the 20th century.
Let's see Thach Lam describe Thanh Tri rice rolls in Hanoi in the 1920s and 1930s: "This is the authentic dish: rice rolls, eaten with fatty pork sausage, or with hot fried tofu. But Thanh Tri rice rolls are as thin as paper and as clear as silk. The flavor of the cake is fragrant with fine flour and soft. The vegetarian cake is light, the salty cake is rich with a bit of scallion oil. Thanh Tri rice rolls sellers carry trays and baskets on their heads, in groups of five or seven people from Lo Lon into the street, graceful and agile."
In a previous article, the writer mentioned Thanh Tri rice rolls without filling, “although they are also called rice rolls, they are not rolled at all”. Thach Lam wrote: “Hanoi has another type of rice rolls, several times thin rice rolls with many flavors as fillings, which have recently been especially welcomed by the street people”.
That means that initially, Thanh Tri rice rolls had no filling, but later people created more types with "many flavors as fillings".
Hanoi 36 streets not only describes the “form and content” of the old Thanh Tri rice rolls, but also lets future readers know the vivid, sometimes bitter slices of urban life: … “Surely many people still remember the taste of the “twenty-four-room” rice rolls. At that time, the twenty-four-room was also a prosperous neighborhood of geisha, whose joyful activities lasted until late at night. In front of those theaters, on this side of the tram tracks, there was a small thatched house, hidden under the shade of a lush green xoan tree. In that poor house, from midnight until morning, an old woman and two little grandchildren bent over a small pot, secretly making hot and delicious rice rolls. When night-time visitors peeked in through the shutters, they could smell the fragrant aroma of fried onions and see white smoke rising from the pot. Unfortunately, the old woman’s rice rolls, in terms of their own value, were not very delicious. But people find it delicious because they have to search for it and wait for each one. Because late at night, after the debauchery that leaves bitterness on the tip of the tongue, people crave the spicy and sour taste of the dipping sauce, whipping like a whip into the boredom of debauchery.
That's how old Thanh Tri rice rolls were in Thach Lam's writing. And in Vu Bang's Delicious Hanoi Dishes: "I went to many country markets and tried all the sides of rice rolls, but either the rice paper was too thick, or the flour was too strong, or the onion and fat were too strong, so every roll was the same, only making me miss Thanh Tri rice rolls more.
Thanh Tri rice rolls are most special in that they are thinly coated with scallion oil, which is smooth on the surface and tastes light and refreshing. In the basket, the rice rolls are arranged in layers like steps, on green banana leaves the color of jade, the white color of the rice rolls stands out but stands out in a gentle way….
…The cake has a gentle, smooth aroma. Holding one, dipping it in the dipping sauce and bringing it to your mouth, you will feel the rhythmic rhythm of the gentle aroma of the cake mixed with the mild dipping sauce, not too salty, not too sour, and not too spicy.
Being able to mix such a delicious dipping sauce is quite a feat. There are so many families that use household fish sauce for fish sauce and real Western vinegar for vinegar, but it is impossible to mix a dipping sauce like that of a cake seller.
Therefore, many people who eat banh chung focus on the dipping sauce first, then look at whether the banh chung is thin and smooth. Even though it is delicious, if it is almost gone, lacking a little fish sauce, having to mix it at home, it can be considered a ruined meal.
The house brewed it, but it was impossible, even though it had mixed a little boiling water and sugar into the fish sauce; that fish sauce would always have something in it, either too salty, too sour, too hard, or sometimes too bland.
To enhance the flavor of the dipping sauce, the baker often adds one or two chopped water bugs to the vinegar bottle, which gives us a more intense flavor than the water bugs sold in small pieces at the cooking shops on Hang Duong Street.
… But when eating Thanh Tri rice rolls, there is nothing more wonderful than adding some really hot, fried tofu pieces that look shiny like gold.
Looking back, we see the common features of the old Thanh Tri rice rolls in the descriptions of the two writers: The rice paper is very thin, soft, smooth, the traditional type has no filling, just a little bit of scallion oil, served with sausage or fried tofu, with a sweet, sour, salty, spicy dipping sauce with the flavor of water bugs.
“That’s the traditional Thanh Tri rice rolls,” said Nguyen Tat Vuong, a native of Thanh Tri village. Vuong, 46, who runs three rice rolls restaurants, one in Vincom Ocean Park in Hanoi and the other two in District 3 and District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City, said that almost every province has rice rolls or similar types of rolls but called by other names, such as banh muot or banh uot. However, only Thanh Tri rice rolls use a dipping sauce flavored with water bugs.
Mr. Vuong said that at first, Thanh Tri rice rolls were made from simple and rustic ingredients such as rice, water, fried onions, wood ear mushrooms, and later, minced meat was added. From street vendors, Thanh Tri rice rolls have gradually appeared in large and small restaurants throughout Hanoi. This dish is not only a familiar breakfast for locals but also attracts many domestic and foreign tourists.
“I remember my parents telling me that in the past, the previous generations often carried cakes on their heads and walked to Kham Thien area to sell to the brothel,” said Mr. Vuong.
According to Mr. Vuong, the way to make Thanh Tri rice rolls is “very special and elaborate”. Simply put, the process is like this: Rice is soaked overnight, ground into powder with a natural stone mortar and then mixed with water to the right level. The powder is then spread on a stretch cloth, placed over a pot of boiling water, creating thin, transparent layers of rice rolls. The minced meat and wood ear mushrooms are stir-fried, then put into the rolls and rolled up. Rice rolls are eaten with a dipping sauce made from fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and chili, with a little bit of water beetle and herbs to create a unique and unforgettable flavor.
But the secret is what kind of rice to use, how to mix it with water to get it “just right”, how long to soak it, what technique to make the cake thin without tearing, etc., each family in Thanh Tri village will definitely keep it to themselves.
Recently, Hoang Thi Thu learned about Thanh Tri cake making village, and learned what a standard Thanh Tri rice roll is. “Compared to the rice rolls in the countryside or the ones sold near my house, it is really different,” Thu said.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/banh-cuon-thanh-tri-mot-hanh-trinh-my-vi-10301330.html
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