Whenever it comes to the quintessential products of the period in the autumn, ‘com village of Vong’ is one of the first things in the minds of many people.
In “Hanoi delicacies”, writer Vu Bang has favored nuggets with the most quintessential words: “Every time we see autumn clouds covering the sky, people meet at the market often only say one sentence: Now In Hanoi is the season of nuggets! Then look at each other and say nothing, but everyone can see that everyone’s heart is filled with so much sadness…”.
For Vu Bang, Com Vong is the most special gift because “every time when I see the golden wind coming back, I think of it. More especially, “all over the country, only Hanoi has it. stop”!
Com brings us into a beautiful world like a fairy (Photo: mia.vn)
1. Sidewalk milk nuggets, fragrant step by step
Vong villagers have their own secret to making green rice. The time to make nuggets is mainly from July to October of the lunar calendar, right in the autumn. Com is made from glutinous rice with yellow flowers, the seeds are round and shiny. When the rice is just ripe, it will be brought back to pluck the seeds, sieve to remove impurities, and then use a cast iron pan with a thick base to roast the nuggets.
Vong villagers roast nuggets with firewood because they want to take care of the fire so that it’s full and even. At the beginning of roasting, keep the heat on high, but when the rice turns pale white, the cook needs to reduce the fire immediately. The roasted nuggets must be continuously stirred, ensuring that the rice grains are cooked evenly, all the husks are peeled off, but they are not brittle or broken.
Com is made from sticky rice with yellow flowers (Photo: ngohanoi)
After the batch of roasted nuggets is still hot, it will be pounded immediately. The grinding stage is extremely important. Vong villagers pound the nuggets with a stone mortar buried under the floor to ensure compaction and avoid noise. Must pound evenly, rhythmically so that the nuggets reach a certain softness, smoothness, and flexibility.
Each mortar can hold about 5kg of nuggets, both pounding and stirring, from top to bottom and then from bottom to top. In the past, when pounding nuggets, it took 2 people, one to kick the pestle, one to sit and roll, but today there are machines to replace it, so only one person needs to sit and stir the nuggets evenly.
The time to make green rice is from July to October of the lunar calendar (Photo: mia.vn)
After being pounded for about 10 minutes, when the rice husk is found, it is sieved to remove the shell, and then poured into the mortar to continue pounding. Just like that until the 5th time, the nuggets start to sort. Each type must be pounded separately 2 more times to finish.
2. Com – An elegant gift of Hanoi’s autumn
Com is an elegant dish, with its own unique flavor, so enjoying it must be delicate. Vong village com is wrapped with 2 layers of leaves: the leaves inside keep the nuggets from drying out and from fading, the outside is wrapped with fragrant lotus leaves, tied with a yellow straw that still smells of sticky rice. Wrapped in a lotus leaf, the scent of young rice mixed with the gentle, manly scent of lotus brings a feeling of peace and lightness.
Capture even in that taste, the fragrant aroma of new rice, of coastal wildflowers: in the green color of the nuggets, the freshness of the young leaves, and in the sweetness of the nuggets, the frugal tenderness of the species. Herb.
Writer Thach Lam
Com – A delicate gift of Hanoi’s autumn (Photo: mia.vn)
From the idyllic dishes of the rustic street vendors, that ethereal gift has become a specialty of the capital every autumn. To feel the whole flavor of the nuggets, the Ha Thanh people choose to be gentle, slowly pinch their fingers, pick up a few grains of nuggets, drop them in their mouths, and gently sip each grain to make the rice grain sweet and fragrant. gradually dissolve, penetrate deep into the tip of the tongue.
Red nuggets are good… (Photo: Hanoi Tourism)
In the work “Ha Noi hashed six streets”, writer Thach Lam wrote: “And never have two colors been more harmonious: the bright green of nuggets like jewels, the crimson reds of roses like pomegranates. One is frugal, one is sweet, two flavors support each other for lasting happiness.” Then persimmon – nuggets like that formed a perfect beginning for the beautiful predestined relationship of Ha Thanh families in the past.
However, many people still like to eat bananas with eggs (well-ripe, peppered bananas) dipped in nuggets because of the sweetness of bananas mixed with the supple taste of nuggets, bringing the feeling that the whole autumn is melting. gradually.
In addition, nuggets can be combined with many other ingredients or spices to create many unique, attractive and delicious dishes such as rice cake, fried rice, sticky rice, green rice, fried rice, etc.
Cereal
Bringing in the rustic, rustic features with the gentle fragrance of young nuggets, the shell of the sticky rice cake is mixed with the sweet green bean coconut filling, carefully wrapped with cellophane, in blue square boxes. Beautiful leaf leaf, like wrapping the sincere heart of the people of the capital sent to tourists near and far.
Com cake is the wedding cake, exchanged again and again in the autumn… (Photo: halotravel)
Sticky rice rice
It is still a feature of the autumn season of nuggets, but when transformed into a soft sticky rice dish, each grain of rice becomes very different. The harmonious combination between the fragrant aroma of green beans, sometimes adding fresh lotus seeds and milky white coconut fibers that are stirred through sugar and fat, the fragrant rice aroma in each grain of nuggets is not only appealing to the taste but also stimulate the viewer’s vision.
Sticky rice with lotus seeds (Photo: Ha Rosie)
If you want to enjoy the delicious taste of Ha Thanh sticky rice on a cold autumn day, you can visit a traditional sticky rice shop on Gia Ngu street or a sticky rice shop at Hom market.
Com
Che com, a rustic dish, is very easy to cook, good for health, has a light sweet taste, fragrant with green beans, vanilla and fat of coconut milk with the scent of young nuggets. Wandering on the streets of Hanoi, enjoying a cup of green tea at the corner of a roadside shop will be one of the interesting experiences when you have the opportunity to visit this ancient land.
Green rice tea has a slightly sweet taste (Photo: comnhaquaque)
To feel the autumn atmosphere filled with Ha Thanh-style green rice, visitors can visit tea shops on Dinh Liet Street, Thanh Cong Market or restaurants on Ngo Thi Nham Street.
Fried rice with rice
The aroma of green rice mixed with ground meat has become one of the typical features of Ha Thanh cuisine. The green nuggets are mixed with ground meat, fat and spices and then molded into palm-sized pieces, with a little flour, baking powder or tapioca added. The raw pieces of cha com are placed on a lotus leaf to be steamed, then dropped into a pan of boiling oil until the patties are golden brown.
Fried rice can be considered as a snack (Photo: Kitchenart)
Bite into the greasy fried rice nuggets, feel the rich sweetness of the meat, the fragrant plasticity of the nuggets inside and the crunchy crunch of the outer shell. Cha com can be considered as a snack, eating and drinking, especially suitable when eaten with shrimp paste noodles, bread or hot rice.
Stir-fried green rice
Fried rice is also an attractive dish from the people of the Capital. With a few ounces of nuggets, a few spoons of sugar and a little filtered water, the nuggets are stir-fried with coconut water until it becomes sticky, then sprinkle grated coconut on top. The famous fried rice is fragrant and fragrant with the fleshy and greasy taste of coconut.
The famous fried rice dish (Photo: Com Nang Tam)
In Hanoi, there are many places selling fried rice, each with its own characteristics and flavors, but the most delicious are the shops on Ngo Thi Nham, Dinh Liem, Tran Hung Dao streets…