First, let me explain a little about the name malt. According to a person in the traditional malt craft village, this recipe was passed down by a Chinese person. At first, I was half-doubting, half-believing. But looking up the dictionary, I found that the word malt is a metonym for the ingredients of this dish, which are wheat germ and rice (nowadays, sticky rice is used). This is also the origin of the name of this specialty dish.
I don’t know the details of the malt brewing process, but I know that the basic process is to ferment the rice husks to about 5 centimeters, then dry them, then pound them into powder. The sticky rice is cooked and mixed with the rice husk powder, then mixed with water and fermented again. Finally, the juice is squeezed, then the mixture is cooked until it thickens.
Malt is best eaten with rice paper.
When listening to writer Nguyen Nhat Anh recall the joys of his childhood, I suddenly heard my memories have the sweet taste of malt candy.
When I was a child, I lived in the countryside. At that time, confectionery products were not as abundant as they are now, and imported goods were even rarer. My grandmother often bought "Thien But" malt (a famous malt brand in Quang Ngai) for me to eat. At that time, malt was packaged in cow's milk cans, with tin lids pressed from bird's nest cans.
I was so happy when I took the chopsticks out of the can of maltose. I was so engrossed in eating the maltose with chopsticks, just like eating a lollipop that I had always dreamed of. Eating maltose cost my family quite a lot of chopsticks. Because when I was eating maltose, I often stuck it deep into the can and held it so tightly that I often broke the chopsticks. Every time I had an accident, I had to ask my grandmother for help. She helped me get the broken chopsticks out, then made me a "childhood specialty". That was maltose rice paper.
I mentioned it, and writer Nguyen Nhat Anh also nodded. Malt must be eaten with rice paper to be proper, to show that you are a connoisseur of malt. My grandmother said malt very elegantly, very neatly. In a flash, the shiny malt strands were spread thinly on the crispy golden rice paper, like newly woven silk threads lying on the loom.
I waited eagerly. When she broke the rice paper in half, folded it, and gave it to me, my joy was overwhelming. I sat still and quickly enjoyed the taste of this simple gift, but my stomach was jumping. The crispy aroma of the rice paper combined with the sweet taste of the malt candy made me forget my cravings when I was standing at the grocery store. If you add some peanuts on top, the malt cake would be no less delicious than sesame candy or cu-do candy.
Because of the memory that woke me up, one day when I returned to Quang Ngai, I ran to the town to find and buy a jar of malt. Thanks to that, I learned that now Quang Ngai malt has many brands and designs. There is the "Thien But" brand, there is the malt that has registered the OCOP brand (One Commune One Product program), there is the type that comes in plastic boxes, there is the type that comes in glass boxes... As for me, I had to find the type of malt that comes in a milk can. Maybe to fit my memory.
Back home, my grandmother and I opened the can of malt. She complimented: "The oven put in less malt, so the malt is so clear and sweet." Then she smiled warmly, her eyes staring at the can of malt. Perhaps like me, she was recalling memories of a time long gone...
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