Sweet taste in mouth

Khau - sli, a rustic gift, is loved by many people when enjoying tea.

To learn more about khau - sli, I met Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ha, in Bai Lenh village, Dinh Hoa commune. For more than ten years, she has been the person responsible for making khau - sli for offerings during the Long Tong festival, showing the trust the whole community has in her.

Mrs. Ha told the story of her profession with a voice that was both passionate and instructive: To make delicious khau sli, you must start with the rice. Sticky rice or yellow sticky rice is the most precious. Soak for two hours, take it out, then mix in a little cornstarch or rice flour so that the sticky rice does not stick together when steamed. The fire must be carefully watched, when it is almost done, you must take it off, if you overdo it, the rice will be mushy and ruined.

Cooked sticky rice is left to cool, rolled out, then left overnight before pounding until the rice grains are flat. The roasting process is not as easy as many people think. Mrs. Ha's secret is to only roast about half a bowl of rice at a time, so that the popcorn grains expand evenly and become crispy. Finally, everything is mixed with molasses and cooked until thick and sticky like candy. Using molasses is still the best, the sweetness is pure and penetrating - Mrs. Ha revealed more.

In recent years, when making cakes, people can add sesame, peanuts or green rice, but for her, the soul of the cake is still the warm, spicy smell of ginger and the faint scent of molasses.

In Mrs. Ha’s childhood memories, Tet is the nights when the whole family gathers around the fire to make khau-sli. Smoke covers the kitchen walls, the sweet smell of molasses spreads. The children eagerly wait for the cake to cool so they can break off a piece. Because there is no way to preserve the cake, it only stays crispy during the day, so every Tet, her family makes it continuously, a new batch every day.

Khau-sli used to be a precious gift of the Tay people, placed solemnly on the altar during holidays, as a reward for children, and as a gift exchanged between villages. Before the advent of industrial confectionery, in the villages of the Tay people in Dinh Hoa, this was almost the only sweetness of Tet.

Nowadays, when life is more abundant, candies are displayed everywhere in supermarkets, khau - sli is still present on the trays of the Tay people every spring, in every family reunion. Not because it is sophisticated or luxurious, but because it carries memories. People eat khau - sli to remember the bustling sound of the mortar, to remember the warm smoky kitchen, to remember the sharing of the community in the old war zone.

The name of the cake probably says it all: "Khâu" means rice, "Sli" means sticky. The separate rice grains are combined into a mass thanks to molasses. Like humans, only when we know how to unite and share can we create strength. That message through a simple cake is passed down from generation to generation, from one Tet season to the next.

Among the countless modern gifts, khau - sli still holds its own position, not simply appearing on the tray but its "weight" is also in the community's consciousness as a cultural mark that is not easily faded. On the family altar every Tet, a piece of khau - sli is placed neatly as a wish for peace and solidarity sent to descendants.

I wonder, what has made the longevity of khau-sli? Perhaps, it is the simplicity like the sincerity of the Tay people in each piece of cake. Just a small slice is enough to evoke many warm memories of the old days, of the reunion seasons. And then, every time we are away from home, everyone will remember the village, remember the bustling sound of pounding the pestle by the fire, so that in our hearts there resounds a passionate call: "Let's go home!".

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/tin-moi/202509/vi-ngot-trong-khau-sli-2243b8f/