A simple childhood snack but it is a memory of many people, besides it is also a unique experience that foreign tourists can try when coming to Vietnam.
If to make a list of snacks with childhood memories, everyone would probably list rice nuggets, also known as popcorn. I don’t know where this dish came from, but it’s definitely a childhood snack that everyone dreams of. Now, when it comes to this dish, many people have to scream because they miss it because they crave it.
Photo: @Diadiemanuong
It’s so familiar, but not sure you know how elaborate and interesting the process of making these popsicles is. Not like the long rice cakes on the usual chariot, but the rice nuggets here are created after a literal explosion “as loud as firecrackers”.
Recently, a clip was shared on social networks with the content that foreign tourists enjoyed the experience of exploding rice nuggets in the West, immediately receiving more than 3 million views and thousands of likes. Many visitors are interested and compare this to the Vietnamese version of firecrackers, some people are surprised because if they do not live in the Western region, few people will witness this strange explosion of nuggets.
Foreign tourists enjoy watching and trying the experience of exploding rice nuggets.(Photo: @ConSon)
It’s called “com” but it’s not the kind of sticky rice made of young sticky rice like the one in the Northern Delta. Com here is from plain rice, glutinous rice or corn cob, which is roasted and then pressed into cakes. Every time a boat explodes with nuggets to the village, every child is sure to get excited, gather around, and invite each other to see nuggets.
With just a few simple tools and ingredients such as rice, a stove, an explosive and a bag to store nuggets. The rice will be put into the iron pipe and rotated on the stove until it is hot enough to burst into nuggets. At first glance, it seems simple, but if you do not rotate your hand, it is easy to make the rice in the iron tube not crispy.
After reaching a certain temperature, the worker will take the explosive out of the fire, place a part of the explosive in the curtain bag, and hold and hit the trigger on the cap of the detonator. Immediately a “dump” sound sounded, the explosion of nuggets rumbling throughout the neighborhood was fun, as loud as the sound of firecrackers. After that explosion, the shape of rice grains immediately changed, and instead were hot, pure white rice grains splashed into the curtain bag.
Photo: @ConSon
Usually, people will gather together and bring the blasted nuggets to sweeten the sugar, because it will be very pale if eaten or not, so the exploding rice will be put in sugar and pressed into a sphere or rectangular block to create a familiar childhood dish. , full of flavor of the countryside.
Photo: @ConSon, @Diadiemanuong
Today, blasted rice nuggets are still a favorite snack of many people. Walking around the street vendors, grocery stores, it is not difficult to find this explosive rice nugget. And of course, the nuggets are pre-made, packaged and preserved, so how can they compare to eating the nuggets on the spot, just out of the oven?
Photo: @Kontumquetoi
Currently, this traditional profession of making green rice has gradually disappeared. There are probably only a few places that still maintain pottery in the form of production facilities. Not only is it a memory region, but exploding nuggets are gradually becoming a cultural feature in production labor, the experience of making explosive nuggets is also one of the favorite activities of many people in river tours.
Just a simple, rustic cake, but I don’t know that it contains many childhood memories of many people and also because of its simplicity, “com boom” is the joy of childhood full of domestic incense.