Remember the rice noodles

When I was young, after every heavy rain, my sisters and I went to the fields with my father to catch fish and crabs. When the water receded, the fish swam up along the banks of the fields and ditches. I quickly caught them, and in a moment I had a pile of “spoils of war”. The next day, my mother would cook delicious rice noodles to treat the whole family.

Hand-cut rice noodles. Photo: THUY TIEN

The dish is called so because the dough is kneaded, rolled out, and cut into strands by hand, without molds or machines. It sounds simple, but making a good batch of dough is a painstaking process.

My family still keeps the old stone mortar. Every time she wanted to make rice noodles, my mother soaked the rice until soft and then put it in the mortar. The rice was chosen to be not too sticky, and when ground, it had a milky white color and a very unique flavor. When finished grinding, my mother used a piece of gauze to line it with cotton and pressed it down with a cutting board to squeeze out the water. To keep the delicious flavor and avoid sourness, my mother often mixed a little salt and a few spoons of coconut milk into the flour to increase the fattiness and make the dough more flexible.

Next is the kneading step, kneading evenly until the dough is smooth and elastic. When finished, mother divides it into small pieces. Each piece is molded around a glass bottle, rolled back and forth until the dough is evenly spread and thin enough. Like that, mother prepares each "dough bottle" ready for the cutting step.

As for the fish and crabs we caught, my sisters and I helped our mother clean them. We removed the shells, set aside the crab roe, and crushed the crab meat. We boiled the fish, removed the bones, and took the meat. Our mother carefully filtered the crab meat, and used the juice to make the broth sweet.

The pot of broth was placed on the wood stove, the fire was burning slowly. Meanwhile, Mom sat cutting the noodles. With one hand, Mom held the rolled dough, and with the other, she held a knife and cut each strand straight into the pot of boiling water. Every few strands, Mom dipped the knife to wet it so the dough wouldn’t stick to it, and also to prevent the noodles from breaking. It was fascinating to see Mom’s nimble hands.

The noodles will turn the pot of soup into a milky white color, slightly thick. At this point, mom puts a small pan on the stove, sauteed the onion and garlic until fragrant, then pours in the crab fat and stir-fry briefly, then pours it into the pot of noodles. Add a little fish sauce, season to taste, and finally sprinkle with a handful of green onions and ground pepper. And that's it, the pot of noodles with a strong smell of the countryside is done!

A bowl of rice noodles cooked with shrimp, crab, and coconut milk. Photo: THUY TIEN

The whole family gathered around, holding a bowl of hot noodle soup, eating and exclaiming. The broth was rich with the flavor of crab fat and coconut milk, the noodles were chewy, with pieces of fish and crab added, making the stomach warm. The weather was a bit chilly, sitting around the dinner table made us feel really warm.

Banh canh bot xat can be cooked sweet or savory. For the sweet version, palm sugar or cane sugar is often used, cooked with ginger and pandan leaves, and thick coconut milk is added to create a rich flavor and attractive aroma. As for the savory version, each region has its own way of preparing it, some places cook it with freshwater fish, crab, shrimp; others use duck and chicken as the main ingredients. Although the cooking methods are different, the common point is still each handmade, chewy, rustic noodle strand, mixed with a rich, hometown-flavored broth.

Nowadays, the dish of banh canh bot xat is not as popular as before, but whenever it rains lightly or the wind blows in the afternoon, I crave to smell the fragrant broth from my mother's wood stove. I not only miss that dish, but also the sound of the stone mortar turning, my mother's hands quickly rolling the dough and cutting the cake, the aroma of fried crab fat with onions, the cheerful laughter around the pot of boiling water, and the feeling of sitting and waiting with a rumbling stomach...

Banh canh bot xat is not just a dish, it is also a part of childhood memories, the love in each strand of cake that mother kneads by hand, the unforgettable rich flavor of hometown.

Narcissus

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/nho-banh-canh-bot-xat-a461353.html