Tran Phu is a rare street in Ho Chi Minh City that has two funeral homes. The households here mainly trade in votive paper and funeral services. However, there is a long-standing sticky rice cart that has existed on this very street, attracting a lot of customers, especially at night. The owner and staff work tirelessly, some scooping the steaming sticky rice, others spreading the sticky rice evenly on banana leaves, quickly sprinkling spices and wrapping it up.
The owner of this sticky rice cart is Mr. Luu Bao Minh (49 years old, Ho Chi Minh City). Mr. Minh followed his mother's career, keeping the family tradition of selling sticky rice for more than 40 years.
“Customers saw that my shop was located on a street with many funeral homes, so they just called it “mortuary sticky rice”. I got used to it, but I don’t know what to do. But it must have been fate, because many people found it strange, were curious, came to try it, and then became regular customers,” Minh shared.
According to Mr. Minh, the restaurant's original name was "Salty Sticky Rice 409", but over the years, customers have given it all unique, creepy names like "Ghost Sticky Rice", "Funeral Sticky Rice" or most commonly "Morgue Sticky Rice".
Minh's sticky rice cart only sells one type of sticky rice: savory sticky rice. "My mother sold sticky rice in the 1970s and 1980s, and later she passed it on to me. I came to live and do business on this street. I never expected that later on, this street would only be used for funeral services, and there would be few people selling food, especially at night," Minh shared.
The savory sticky rice dish is served with ingredients such as: crushed peanuts, scallion oil, fried onions, pork floss, Chinese sausage and especially the “divine soy sauce”. The sticky rice cart opens from 3pm to late at night, but according to Mr. Minh, the busiest time is from around 7-8pm onwards.
“Because I have been selling for many years, I don’t calculate how many kilos of rice I sell each day, I only know about 3-4 pots. When the sticky rice in the pot is running low, I add more to sell. By the time I sell it late at night, it’s all gone. On days when it’s too stormy, I proactively cook less sticky rice because it sells slowly,” said Minh.
Mr. Minh said that in the past, due to lack of resources, his mother had to cook sticky rice with charcoal and use banana leaves to wrap the sticky rice to sell to customers. He found that banana leaves are both rustic and do not produce harmful substances when wrapped with hot sticky rice, so he has used them until now.
He bought the banana leaves from an acquaintance in the West. The banana leaves were wiped clean and cut into small pieces. According to Minh, wilted banana leaves would not look nice, but if they were too fresh, they would easily tear when wrapping hot sticky rice.
“Every day, my 2-3 nephews and I have to wake up early to prepare the ingredients, wipe and divide the banana leaves. The sticky rice is imported from a long-time friend. The sticky rice is clean and the grains are even, so when cooked, it is very sticky and fragrant. As for the dishes such as scallion oil, fried onions, roasted peanuts or pork floss, they are all handmade. We make them every day and they sell out that day.
After choosing large, high-quality peanuts, I will roast them and pound them until smooth. The green onions and fried onions are mixed together, and I will add the scallion oil as I sell it. I absolutely do not mix it in advance to avoid losing its delicious and unique flavor,” Minh shared his secret.
"Morgue sticky rice" dish is popular with many diners (Photo: Cathy Chan)
Mr. Minh imported the sausage from a long-time acquaintance in Soc Trang. According to Mr. Minh, the sausage here has a long tradition, so it is delicious and suitable for most diners. The sausages will be cut into thin, round slices. The pork floss is quite soft, has a moderate salty taste and is not as sweet as some industrial floss, and is often sold at low prices in street vendors.
After sprinkling the spices on the sticky rice, the owner pours in just enough soy sauce so that it gradually soaks into the ingredients, rich but not too salty.
"Many people think that the soy sauce tastes good and think that I have my own recipe. But in fact, I don't have any recipe. With many years of experience, I have chosen a quality soy sauce that suits my taste, so I have been selling it for decades," Minh honestly said.
The sticky rice shop is crowded with customers, the owner and staff serve quickly (Video: Nhu Khanh)
At 10pm, the pot of sticky rice was still simmering, smoke was rising, and customers were lining up in front of the shop. Nearly half of the customers were Chinese people living in District 5, they came to buy sticky rice and the shop owner also communicated with them in Chinese.
"At first, I came to try it because I was curious about the name "morgue sticky rice". At that time, waiting to get the sticky rice was a bit creepy because the shop opposite was a funeral home, and the sound of drums and trumpets was very cold. But after buying it for a long time, I got used to it and was no longer afraid," said Ms. Hoa, a Chinese person who came to buy sticky rice.
According to customers, Mr. Minh's savory sticky rice is popular because of the way the sticky rice is wrapped in banana leaves, which is both rustic and safe. The owner wraps the sticky rice into long rolls like banh tet. Customers tear the banana leaves as they eat, without using plastic spoons. Explaining this way of eating, the owner said that he is afraid that plastic spoons when in contact with hot sticky rice will not be good for health.
The ingredients served with the sticky rice are carefully prepared by the owner, just right for the taste. The sticky rice pot is placed on a gas stove in the car, always steaming. The sticky rice is quite sticky, fragrant and fatty but not as delicious as many other sticky rice shops in Saigon.
“After work at night, I often stop by here to buy sticky rice. Sometimes the sticky rice is a bit dry and has little soy sauce, so it is bland, but overall it is to my taste, the side dishes are delicious, the price is affordable, around 20,000-30,000 VND,” a young person shared his feelings about the “morgue sticky rice” dish.
Vo Nhu Khanh
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