Sandwich shop goodies 3 – Bánh ú tro (Vietnamese-adapted jianshui zong)
It’s been two weeks, but better late than never. After I read Jessica’s zong zi post on Food Mayhem, images of amber tedrahedra just wouldn’t leave me alone. I talked to my mom about them, and I could hear her voice crackle with sweet memories over the phone. We haven’t had these sweet little things for years. We used to eat them by the dozens every lunar May. Like most Saigonese, we didn’t do anything huge to celebrate Tet Doan Ngo, but bánh ú tro was too scrumptious a tradition to pass.
Each pyramid is just a little over an inch tall, whichever way you roll it. It’s unclear whether the traditional zongzi grew smaller when Chinese immigrants share the recipe with their Vietnamese neighbors, or only the dessert zongzi (jianshui zong) is favored by the locals over savory types. Most Vietnamese have also long dissociated this sticky rice snack with the Chinese reason behind Duanwu festival, if not to assign the Fifth of Lunar May to commemorate the death anniversary of Vietnam’s legendary Mother Âu Cơ, kill off bad bugs, make ceremonial offerings to family ancestors, or simply bathe in the summer solstice’s endless sunlight. Whatever meaning someone chooses to celebrate (or not celebrate) Duanwu (Đoan Ngọ in the Vietnamese language), he can enjoy bánh ú tro all the same. And if he lives in Hội An, there’s a big chance he actually participates in making them too.
The people of Hoi An don’t make a living with bánh ú tro year round, but they keep the tradition with earnest. Within four days, 1st-4th of lunar May, everybody makes bánh ú tro. The fifth day, everybody eats bánh ú tro. The sixth day, things get back to normal. In Saigon’s markets, bánh ú tro start showing up a week or two before the Fifth, and disappear right after, my mom recalled. So when I told her that I was going to search for them after I read Jessica’s post, she said “fat chance”.
Why such rarity? After all, bánh bía, also adapted from the Chinese and also originally made just for one specific festival, shines its face all year long in every bakery and sandwich shop these days. Well, the recipe for bánh ú tro turns out to be real hard, and it’s not just the wrapping stage. The best bánh ú tro, according to Hoi An banh makers, must be wrapped with “kè” leaves from the mountains of Huế. The cleanly washed sticky rice is soaked in sesame ash water overnight (sesame plant burnt into ashes, mixed with water and sifted through sand). The ash water turns sticky rice grains into semi-powder form, giving bánh ú tro a clear amber look and a strangely light texture, unlike any other sticky rice concoctions. No wonder “ash” (tro) is part of the banh’s definitive name. (If you look at jianshui zong recipes, you’ll find lye water or alkaline water listed. More correct terms perhaps, but the horrid image on Wikipedia’s page on lye takes away my appetite. “Ash” even has a romantic ring to it, and this banh is made for a poet after all.) A bit of alum is put in the ash water to somehow keep each banh from falling apart.
Now of course sesame plants aren’t growing in everyone’s backyard to burn, so just any coal ash would do, as long as you sift the ash water carefully to avoid big pieces of charcoal in your sticky rice. Some different source suggests ash from mangrove firewood, dissolved in water for a month, but it seems to be just another grandmother’s special recipe varying by the regions. After soaking the rice for 1-3 nights, take it out and wash with cold water again.
The wrapping leaves, too, vary from place to place. Kè leaf is obviously not the most popular, as bamboo leaf and reed leaf, in their slender shape and earthy fragrance, do the job just as well. Banana leaves can be cut into wide strips to imitate bamboo leaves. Skilled banh makers can also control the colors: older leaves give darker hues, substituting ash with white lime paste(*) lets bánh ú tro have the natural green shades from the leaves, while red lime paste causes a reddish amber shine.
Nonetheless, there exists a common wisdom regardless of ingredients: burn an incense stick when you drop the banh into water for boiling, when the incense burns out, the banh is done. Usually that takes four hours.
Let cool, bánh ú tro is more firm than chewy. There you can still see silhouettes of individual grains on the outside, but each banh is a solid tedrahedron of defined edges and uniform texture. It unwraps easily, parallel thread marks of bamboo leaf veins imprint on the smooth and fulfilling surfaces. It’s hardly sticky, unlike bánh ít and bánh dầy (also made from sticky rice). And it’s light. The banh’s are tied together in bundles of ten, and I can eat all ten in one sitting. (I can hardly finish one bánh ít in one sitting.) Funny, “ít” means “small in quantity”, and “ú” means “chubby”.
The traditional bánh ú tro of the North and Central Vietnam is just that, a plain chunk, good by itself to some and must be accompanied by honey or sugar to others. Then with time it got a sweetened red bean paste filling. Then a sweetened mung bean paste filling. Then a sweetened grated coconut filling. I grew up eating the red bean kind every year and thought it was the only kind. So I jumped at the first bunch I saw at Kim’s Sandwiches last Sunday, twelve days after the Fifth of Lunar May. The bunch was tied together by green nylon strings. I hurried home, unwrapped, took a bite. My mom called.
– Mom, I found them!
– Really?!?! How are they?
– Good, but why’s there no bean paste?!
Should’ve gotten the red string bunch instead.
———————————————————————-
Bánh ú tro ($3.75/10 pieces) from Kim’s Sandwiches
(in the Lion Supermarket area)
1816 Tully Rd 182, San Jose, CA 95111
(408) 270-8903
(*) Lime paste is used to eat with betel leaves and areca nuts.
Click here for a recipe of bánh ú tro (Vietnamese zong zi)
———————————————————————–
Previously on Sandwich Shop Goodies: bánh bía (Vietnamese adapted Suzhou mooncake)
Next on Sandwich Shop Goodies: corn xôi
I really appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thanks again!
1Appreciate it for this tremendous post, I am glad I detected this web site on yahoo.
2Attractive component to content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your weblog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your augment or even I fulfillment you get entry to consistently rapidly.
3There may be noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made sure nice factors in features also.
4you’ve gotten an important weblog right here! would you prefer to make some invite posts on my blog?
5I went over this web site and I think you have a lot of wonderful info , bookmarked (:.
6Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
7I’ll immediately grab your rss feed as I can not find your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
8I think this web site has some real wonderful information for everyone :D. “Believe those who are seeking the truth doubt those who find it.” by Andre Gide.
9Hey there, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, superb blog!
10Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s truly informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. Lots of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
11Some genuinely wonderful content on this web site, thanks for contribution.
12I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high quality articles or blog posts in this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this website. Studying this info So i am happy to show that I have an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I such a lot for sure will make sure to do not omit this website and provides it a glance on a relentless basis.
13My partner and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking into your web page yet again.
14Good day very nice web site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…I’m happy to find a lot of useful information here in the put up, we want develop extra techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
15I got what you mean , thanks for posting.Woh I am glad to find this website through google. “Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public.” by Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno.
16I went over this website and I conceive you have a lot of great information, bookmarked (:.
17I’m not sure why but this web site is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
18As I site possessor I believe the content material here is rattling excellent , appreciate it for your hard work. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.
19I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…
20I truly appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thank you again!
21I love your writing style genuinely loving this website .
22I have recently started a blog, the info you provide on this website has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
23After study a few of the blog posts on your website now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Pls check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.
24Utterly indited content material, appreciate it for information. “In the fight between you and the world, back the world.” by Frank Zappa.
25Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was looking for!
26Howdy this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
27Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this web site. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the information I already searched all over the place and simply couldn’t come across. What a perfect website.
28I haven’t checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are great quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
29I am always thought about this, regards for putting up.
30Thanks for another magnificent article. The place else may anybody get that kind of info in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
31Hey, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, awesome blog!
32Amazing blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your theme. Bless you
33As I website owner I believe the articles here is rattling good, regards for your efforts.
34Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
35Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!
36Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I am very glad to see such excellent information being shared freely out there.
37I’ve recently started a site, the info you provide on this website has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
38Rattling nice design and excellent content, nothing else we require :D.
39Wohh precisely what I was searching for, regards for putting up.
40Hey very cool web site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I am happy to find numerous useful info here in the post, we need work out more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
41Almost all of whatever you claim happens to be supprisingly appropriate and it makes me ponder why I had not looked at this with this light before. This particular article really did switch the light on for me as far as this specific topic goes. Nevertheless at this time there is actually 1 factor I am not too comfortable with so while I try to reconcile that with the actual core theme of your issue, allow me see exactly what the rest of the readers have to say.Very well done.
42This really answered my problem, thank you!
43You really make it appear really easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really one thing which I think I’d never understand. It sort of feels too complicated and very huge for me. I’m taking a look forward for your subsequent put up, I will try to get the grasp of it!
44Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.
45As soon as I detected this web site I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.
46Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!
47I’m really inspired along with your writing talents and also with the layout on your weblog. Is that this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice high quality writing, it’s rare to peer a great blog like this one today..
48Great post. I am facing a couple of these problems.
49Very interesting details you have mentioned, thanks for posting.
50