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 After all, bánh bía, also adapted from the Chinese and also originally made just for one specific festival, shines its face all year long in every bakery and sandwich shop these days.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
It’s really a nice and useful piece of info. I am glad that you just shared this useful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
1Perfectly composed written content, Really enjoyed studying.
2Some times its a pain in the ass to read what website owners wrote but this website is rattling user pleasant! .
3Rattling excellent info can be found on site. “The quality of an organization can never exceed the quality of the minds that make it up.” by Harold R. McAlindon.
4I couldn’t resist commenting
5I do agree with all the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They’re very convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too short for beginners. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
6My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on various websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another platform. I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it? Any help would be really appreciated!
7Hi my friend! I wish to say that this post is awesome, nice written and include approximately all vital infos. I’d like to see more posts like this.
8Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look complicated to more introduced agreeable from you! By the way, how could we be in contact?
9There may be noticeably a bundle to learn about this. I assume you made sure good factors in options also.
10There may be noticeably a bundle to learn about this. I assume you made certain good factors in options also.
11I really wanted to develop a small word so as to express gratitude to you for all the fantastic tricks you are giving at this site. My extensive internet look up has at the end been recognized with wonderful knowledge to exchange with my best friends. I ‘d state that that most of us visitors are very blessed to exist in a fabulous network with many outstanding individuals with beneficial ideas. I feel quite lucky to have come across your entire weblog and look forward to tons of more fun minutes reading here. Thanks a lot again for everything.
12Just wanna state that this is very useful, Thanks for taking your time to write this.
13It is best to participate in a contest for one of the best blogs on the web. I will advocate this site!
14What i do not understood is actually how you are not really much more well-liked than you may be right now. You’re so intelligent. You realize therefore significantly relating to this subject, made me personally consider it from so many varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it is one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs excellent. Always maintain it up!
15Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will be back later to read some more. I am bookmarking your feeds also.
16You actually make it appear so easy with your presentation however I to find this topic to be really one thing that I feel I might never understand. It seems too complicated and extremely extensive for me. I am having a look ahead in your subsequent post, I’ll attempt to get the cling of it!
17At this time it seems like BlogEngine is the best blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
18wonderful points altogether, you just gained a new reader. What would you recommend in regards to your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
19Thank you a lot for sharing this with all people you really recognise what you are talking about! Bookmarked. Please additionally seek advice from my web site =). We could have a hyperlink change arrangement among us!
20Way cool, some valid points! I appreciate you making this article available, the rest of the site is also high quality. Have a fun.
21Along with every little thing that seems to be building throughout this specific area, many of your viewpoints are somewhat radical. Nevertheless, I beg your pardon, because I can not subscribe to your entire suggestion, all be it exhilarating none the less. It would seem to everyone that your opinions are actually not entirely justified and in actuality you are yourself not really fully confident of your argument. In any case I did take pleasure in examining it.
22A powerful share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a bit evaluation on this. And he actually bought me breakfast as a result of I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I really feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you change into experience, would you thoughts updating your weblog with extra details? It’s extremely helpful for me. Huge thumb up for this weblog put up!
23My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was totally right. This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
24Real informative and wonderful body structure of written content, now that’s user genial (:.
25Hello my loved one! I wish to say that this article is amazing, nice written and come with almost all important infos. I would like to look more posts like this .
26WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
27Woh I love your articles, saved to bookmarks! .
28Great write-up, I am normal visitor of one’s site, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
29Hi there very nice blog!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds alsoKI am satisfied to search out numerous useful information here within the put up, we need work out extra strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
30Have you ever thought about writing an ebook or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog centered on the same information you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my subscribers would enjoy your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
31The next time I read a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to learn, however I really thought youd have something fascinating to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you would repair in case you werent too busy on the lookout for attention.
32We are a group of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with helpful information to work on. You’ve done a formidable activity and our whole neighborhood will be thankful to you.
33I got what you mean ,saved to bookmarks, very decent web site.
34Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
35I like what you guys are up also. Such intelligent work and reporting! Keep up the superb works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website 🙂
36I think other web-site proprietors should take this website as an model, very clean and magnificent user friendly style and design, let alone the content. You are an expert in this topic!
37Simply wish to say your article is as astounding. The clearness in your post is just great and i could assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work.
38A powerful share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing just a little analysis on this. And he in reality bought me breakfast as a result of I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love studying more on this topic. If attainable, as you turn out to be expertise, would you thoughts updating your blog with extra particulars? It’s highly helpful for me. Large thumb up for this blog post!
39Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.
40Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate?
41I like this web site very much, Its a very nice billet to read and incur information. “I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.” by Samuel Johnson.
42Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
43Great write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s web site, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
44This blog is definitely rather handy since I’m at the moment creating an internet floral website – although I am only starting out therefore it’s really fairly small, nothing like this site. Can link to a few of the posts here as they are quite. Thanks much. Zoey Olsen
45I couldn’t resist commenting
46You made some respectable points there. I regarded on the internet for the issue and located most individuals will go along with with your website.
47I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I do not know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
48I 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…
49I’ll immediately grab your rss feed as I can’t find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
50