Food for thought

Le Nguyen

Local fare: Visitors sample banh cuon, one of the Vietnamese specialties presented at the Hanoian Food Festival at West Lake Water Park. — VNS Photo Le Nguyen

HA NOI — We eat to live, not live to eat, said French playwright Moliere, but given cultural and historical value associated with food, it could be argued we also eat to learn.

In the case of Ha Noi, which this week celebrates its 1,000th birthday, the city's rich history is reflected in its culinary traditions and wealth of dishes and delicacies.

For those who are hungry to learn more about Ha Noi, the city is holding a food fair at West Lake Park to mark its millennium.

There are more than 130 stalls featuring mainly Hanoian fare that will be open for the hungry until next Monday.

But foodies will face the perennial problem of how to sample as much as they want with the limited capacity of their inner chambers.

Walking from stall to stall just to have a look, I found a wide range from familiar bun (rice vermicelli) to strange dishes like fried crickets.

I had to be very selective so I would not regret the choices I made.

I first sampled banh duc (plain rice flan). For me, the white pasty pastry served with fried pork mixed with peziza, pepper and nuoc mam (fish sauce) looked a bit different and strange so I thought it was worth a try.

And I was right. The hot pastry, which was scooped into a small bowl, was so soft and fine it easily melted in my mouth.

"Making the pastry is a painstaking process," said chef Tran Van Khanh from the Holiday Ha Noi Hotel.

"It takes two hours of constantly stirring the rice flour at a steady pace in a thick pot on top of a small fire to ensure the pastry doesn't burn and curdle," he added.

Difficult as it is to make, the pastry is no more than a small snack that satiates hunger for only a short while.

"In the past, Hanoians made banh duc for their main meals to save rice in times of hunger," said the chef, "It became very common during the great starvation in 1945."

"It is best when served hot in the mornings during cold seasons," he added.

However, it's not easy for visitors to find the pastry in Ha Noi because it is only available in certain locations, said Nguyen Manh Cuong, 29, who lives on Dong Ngac Street.

The easy-to-eat snack afforded enough energy for me to continue my tour of the stalls.

For the main course, I stopped at a bun cha stall because the smell of the cha, (minced pork grilled) was so enticing.

"You can smell the aroma of the grilled pork from a great distance," said Doan Thi Thu, an octogenarian native of Ha Noi who lives on Bach Mai Street.

"Cooks have to fan the charcoal continuously to create a lot of smoke that consumes the pork," she said, "When it is served, the pork looks tender with melted fat marbled through the meat."

Although a big fan of bun chaû and having eaten it many times, Thu did not want to miss the chance to relive her childhood with bun cha served on a flat winnowing basket covered with la dong (phrynium leaves).

Bun (rice vermicelli), rau song (fresh vegetables), pork and fish sauce which make up bun cha are all staple ingredients of Vietnamese food.

"The fish sauce, after being mixed with vinegar, sugar, garlic and pepper, becomes a perfect sweet and sour accompaniment for bun cha," Thu said.

A cup of tao phoù, a popular Hanoian streetside drink which is made of tofu served with syrup and ice, is perfect for refreshment. It is cool and sweet.

"I hope Ha Noi will continue to serve lots of yummy food," said Australian John Kis, who has lived in Ha Noi for more than a year, noting that Hanoian food is pleasantly spicy and involves many fresh ingredients. — VNS

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A wine to tempt Bacchus

Vietnamese, whether rich or poor, like to serve their meals with cups of glutinous-rice wine. It comes in various kinds, depending on location and people’s social status, often mixed with medicinal herbs, roots, or fruits.

But of all rice wines, those scented with flowers are the most treasured because they are the most difficult to make.

Reverently called “poet’s wine,” those scented with chrysanthemums gathered at the end of autumn or lotuses at summer’s end exude fragrances that are immortalized in proverbs and poetry.

Like Asians elsewhere, Vietnamese set great store by lotus flowers which blossom bright and clean in mud. The lotus’ scent, considered nature’s quintessence, is reserved for the most cherished teas and wines.

In Hanoi, residents of Thuy Chuong Ward in West Lake District have long been admired for their superbly fragrant lotus wine which they made to offer to kings, though this once-glorious profession seems to be dying out.

Only connoisseurs know what lotus rice wine really is. Many still mistake it for rice wine made from lotus seeds. Both kinds help prevent aging, tranquilize the mind, and boost memory and health but the latter is easier to make and much less fragrant.

Making West Lake lotus rice wine is a complicated process. The ingredients - glutinous rice and lotus flowers - must be first rate. The lotus flowers must be the large type with layers of big petals hugging hundreds of smaller ones.

But they are rare and can only be seen in West Lake now. Wine makers gather the flowers before dawn, remove the petals, and gently pluck off the white anthers at the top of the pistil. One hundred flowers normally yield just one tael (38 grams) of anthers.

The anthers are dried under the sun and soaked along with lotus seeds in white-rice wine. After three to four months, the scents of the wine and lotus intertwine to create an exquisite drink that Vietnamese only share with their closest friends.

Temptation of rice wine

After a few months of fermentation, the wine acquires the light yellow color of morning sunshine. The lotus anthers and seeds are at the bottom, leaving room for the wine that rises up clear and beautiful.

The fine, mild scent of lotus has blended with the strong odor of rice wine.

Served in tiny cups on a breezy moonlit night with intimate friends around, lotus rice wine is an unequalled treat.

Hanoians make many dishes from lotus flowers, like sweet porridge with green beans and lotus seeds and lotus-scented tea, but lotus rice wine remains their most treasured. Yet, few have the chance to taste it now.

If you desire a sip or two, your only chance is perhaps to drop by West Lake, buy some lotus flowers, and ask the sellers if they happen to make lotus wine and are willing to share it with you.

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