Ke rice paper, a gift from Kinh Bac region

Every time I go far away, I suddenly hear the song "Back to the Homeland" by the late musician Pho Duc Phuong with the lyrics: "Oh my homeland, rice paper, rice cake. The place where the grass is fragrant, the green fields are green, the fruits are sweet...", the children of Kinh Bac feel homesick, missing the rice paper that their mother used to buy as a gift every market day.

I remember back then, as soon as I saw my mother coming home, my sisters and I would rush out, clutching our bags, searching for some still-warm gifts from the countryside. Back then, the rice paper from Dinh Ke village, now Dinh Ke ward, Bac Giang city, Bac Giang province, was a simple, affordable gift from the countryside, so mothers and grandmothers often bought it when they went to the market.

The Ke rice cake just out of the oven smelled of sesame, peanuts and rice flour cooked on charcoal fire. Joyfully holding the cake as big as a cone in their hands, the children fought to break it off and eat it to feel the crunchiness as the cake gradually crumbled in their mouths.

When we were a little older, in middle school and high school, when preparing the Mid-Autumn Festival feast at school, we chose the biggest rice paper to hang on a bamboo branch to make the moon. The whole class was delighted when the teachers who judged the feast praised us for our creative way of making Ke rice paper from our hometown.

No one knows when the people of Dinh Ke village started making rice paper. The milestones of 10 generations, 15 generations or a few hundred years… that the people who make rice paper in Ke village told me are probably just relative. All I know is that in Vietnam there are many rice paper villages in Lang Son, Nam Dinh, Binh Thuan… but Ke rice paper is a unique specialty, carrying the soul of Kinh Bac countryside that cannot be mistaken for anything else.

Ke rice paper must be skillfully grilled over charcoal to produce crispy, fragrant cakes.

To create big, crispy, fragrant Ke rice paper, Ke villagers always keep their own secret which they say is a "family secret". Ke rice paper is made entirely by hand through many processes such as: grinding rice flour, spreading the rice paper, sprinkling sesame, sprinkling peanuts, drying the rice paper on a rack in the sun, then baking the rice paper with charcoal. In particular, the way of baking the rice paper is the secret, a "certificate" of the skillful hands of the girls of Ke land.

Nowadays, on every trip back and forth through Bac Giang, people from far away often buy Ke rice paper as gifts for friends and relatives.

For adults, Ke rice paper has long been a great appetizer at every party. It is wonderful to sit with friends and sip a cold beer, eating a piece of crispy Ke rice paper with chili sauce. Not only in Bac Giang, but now in many beer houses and drinking places in many provinces and cities in the North, we always see Ke rice paper on the menu.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/diem-den-hap-dan/banh-da-ke-qua-que-vung-kinh-bac-20201022222747499.htm