Every August, Ms. Hoc travels from Me Tri to the neighborhood near the Great Church to sell green rice flakes, an elegant snack of Hanoians.
Every autumn, street vendors selling green rice appear on the streets around the Old Quarter, the Cathedral, and Hoan Kiem Lake. The vendors are simple but attract young people with packages of soft, fragrant green rice wrapped in lush green leaves.
Every year, from around mid-August, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoc (45 years old) carries a bamboo basket of green rice to sell on the street to earn extra income. The street green rice stall has no tables or chairs, customers often buy green rice to bring to the cafe to enjoy. Sitting opposite the Cathedral, next to a "hot" cafe for young people, Ms. Hoc's green rice stall attracts many teenage customers.
Green rice flakes are a typical gift of autumn in Hanoi.
Her stall is simple, with a bamboo basket and an aluminum tray on top of it, containing square packages of green rice. In the middle of the tray is sticky rice cooked with coconut fibers and fragrant coconut milk.
Every morning at 6am, she carries a bamboo basket and walks along the surrounding streets. At 7am, she sits down at the beginning of Nha Chung Street to sell. From around 8am, customers start to crowd in, some buy to take to work, some buy to take pictures or to enjoy with coffee. Each package of green rice flakes weighs about 200g and costs 50,000 VND.
Ms. Hoc said that on a normal day she sells about 3-4 kg of green rice. On slow days, she only stops at 6pm. On weekends, there are more customers, so after the first batch, she gets more, so she can sell 7-10 kg in a day. Around the Cathedral area, there are many green rice vendors and some shops also sell green rice during this season.
Although Ms. Hoc's street stall is small and the quantity sold is not as much as the store, her green rice is "homemade". Ms. Hoc said that her family has a profession in making green rice, and is a member of the traditional green rice craft village of Me Tri, Nam Tu Liem (Hanoi).
Me Tri Com Village is one of the five traditional craft villages in Hanoi that is over 100 years old. Me Tri Com was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019. The Com production facility of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung's family, Ms. Hoc's younger sister, in Me Tri Com Village has been passed down through two generations. Ms. Nhung has been making Com for over 30 years.
According to Ms. Nhung, green rice can be made from many types of sticky rice such as fragrant sticky rice, flower sticky rice, and luong phuong sticky rice, but yellow flower sticky rice is the type of rice that produces the most sticky, fragrant, and sweet green rice grains.
The process of making green rice is also quite elaborate and meticulous. After being harvested and transported from the suburban districts, young rice is put into a threshing machine to get the grains, sieved, and winnowed many times. Young sticky rice is roasted on a wood stove for more than two hours, then put into a mortar and pounded many times to create stickiness and toughness. In the past, all the steps were done manually, but now many households use machines, helping to save time, reduce labor but still ensure quality. The standard green color of green rice is mixed with a little yellow of young rice leaves.
There are many types of green rice such as early, mid or late season green rice, young green rice, old green rice, rustic green rice, and fermented green rice. Each type has its own flavor. "Early season green rice is still young so it has a distinct milky rice aroma, late season green rice has plump, thick grains and a stronger sweet and nutty flavor because it is somewhat ripe. But the best are still the green rice grains from around September," said Ms. Nhung.
Green rice wrapped in lotus leaves is the traditional way to infuse the green rice with a light, gentle fragrance, bringing the feeling of the countryside. Nowadays, lotus leaves are harder to find, some places have switched to wrapping green rice in taro or dong leaves, although the green rice still has an eye-catching color, the green rice will not be as fragrant.
Enjoying green rice must be done slowly, slowly, rolling each grain into a small ball and eating directly, without pouring it into a bowl or plate. Hanoians often eat green rice with bananas to feel the sticky, fragrant taste of green rice mixed with the sweet taste of bananas. Many people also like to eat green rice with yogurt or process it with other ingredients to make green rice sausage, green rice eggs, green rice stir-fried with sugar, Ms. Hoc suggested.
Ngoc Anh (22 years old, Hanoi) and her friends stopped by Ms. Hoc to buy green rice flakes and enjoy them in a corner of the coffee shop. She said that every autumn she takes a few days to go to the Cathedral area to buy green rice flakes.
"Fresh green rice is chewy, soft, and not too sweet, but it's very appealing. Sticky rice with green rice has a coconut aroma and a sweeter, richer flavor. Personally, I like fresh green rice better because it's a traditional food I've eaten since I was little," Ngoc Anh said after buying a package of fresh green rice and a package of sticky rice with green rice from Ms. Hoc's shop.
Ngoc Anh (right photo) and her friends enjoy sticky rice at a corner of a coffee shop.
Nguyen Tham (27 years old, Hai Phong) spent a day to enjoy Com. "I saw many posts on social media posting photos of enjoying Com in a coffee shop with a view of the Cathedral, so I came to try it out," Tham said. She bought 5 packages of Com from Ms. Hoc, one to enjoy, the rest to bring home as gifts.
Although she has been to Hanoi many times, Tham rarely eats this dish because people usually only think of green rice in the fall. "Green rice has a very unique sticky, sweet, and nutty taste. Although it is also made from sticky rice, it is not like sticky rice. If you smell it carefully, you can still smell the light scent of rice," Tham said. She plans to wrap it in lotus leaves when she gets home to add fragrance.
Not only an elegant snack, green rice is also chosen as a gift, as a way to share the typical flavor of Hanoi autumn. Enjoy a package of soft, fragrant, sweet green rice in the cool weather of Hanoi autumn as a gift from nature after hot summer days.
Article and photos: Quynh Mai
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