Steady rain, fried potatoes, dried fish...

Sometimes, remembering my childhood, searching through old memories, I see the image of my mother, of myself, and the dishes of the cold winter days, which stir up endless nostalgia...

My mother often jokingly said that it was the “specialty” of winter in our hometown. And I can’t count how many childhood winters I went through, from strange to familiar with those smells in my mother’s meals. Until now, every time I think about it, it still leaves an unforgettable memory.

From simple, easy-to-find ingredients, fried sweet potatoes have become a rustic, familiar dish in people's lives.

I still remember very clearly, every year, around the 10th lunar month, it started to rain heavily, and it continued to rain all winter. It was also the rough sea season, so people rarely went fishing. There were only a few markets, but the price of food was extremely expensive. Because my mother understood this "law of development", she often prepared food reserves for winter very early.

Since summer, my mother has taken advantage of buying sweet potatoes when they are just brought back from the fields, choosing a sunny day to cut the potatoes and dry them in the sun for three or four days to make them crispy enough and to prevent termites before putting them in jars for storage.

On normal days, the pot of sweet potatoes sits quietly in a corner of the kitchen, rarely noticed. It is not until drizzling, windy days that the pot of sweet potatoes truly shows its value. In the time of “rice and cinnamon”, to fill the children’s growing stomachs, every time the rice is cooked, the mother often adds a handful of sweet potatoes to steam. Of course, the sweet potatoes are usually the parents’ portion, the white rice is left for the children. But more commonly, the mother makes skewered sweet potatoes for the children to eat for breakfast before school or as a snack when the two main meals are rarely enough.

From the way of using chopsticks to cross hands when preparing this dish, people often call it by the very popular name of "crossed potato".

When cooking sweet potatoes, my mother often added black beans or a little peanuts and cane sugar to make the pot of sweet potatoes more flavorful. When the sweet potatoes were cooked, she used chopsticks to beat them back and forth until the mixture was smooth and then she could take it out and eat it. Perhaps because of the way she used chopsticks to beat the dish cross-handedly when preparing it, people used to call it by the very common name of "crossed sweet potatoes".

Mackerel and herring were also bought by my mother in the right season from the beginning of summer so the price was quite cheap. Continue the cleaning steps, dry thoroughly but the storage process is more elaborate and careful to avoid cockroaches, rats and mold. Every time they are processed, the dried fish are usually soaked in rice water to soften and clean all the dirt. Add a little lard to the pan with a mixture of garlic, chili, and good fish sauce to braise the fish; on more "luxurious" meals, add diced pork belly to cook with.

Braised dried fish is a great dish to eat with rice, especially on cold rainy days. Photo: internet.

During the rainy season, the wild vegetables in our garden grow very quickly. I picked a handful of wild vegetables to boil and dip in the thick sauce of the braised fish pot. Needless to say, the hungry children were very hungry when the rice tray and the pot of braised dried fish were served. In the cold winter weather, I am sure there is no dish that is as delicious, convenient and economical as this.

Remembering the flood seasons, the whole family took shelter together, but my mother did not forget to bring along the "savings" from the rainy season as an essential necessity for the whole family to get through the difficult days.

I miss the winters of my childhood that have passed, my life was warm and loving. Nowadays, my daily meals have less worries, even more dishes. Sometimes, remembering my childhood, searching for old memories, I see the image of my mother, of myself, and the dishes of the cold winter days, which stirs up endless nostalgia...

Ngo The Lam

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/van-hoc/mua-dam-khoai-xeo-ca-kho/258486.htm