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 After all, bánh bía, also adapted from the Chinese and also originally made just for one specific festival, shines its face all year long in every bakery and sandwich shop these days.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
This is a topic close to my heart cheers, where are your contact details though?
1WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
2Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he just bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Thus let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! “How beautiful maleness is, if it finds its right expression.” by D. H. Lawrence.
3Hello, i believe that i saw you visited my site so i got here to “go back the prefer”.I’m attempting to in finding issues to enhance my site!I guess its good enough to make use of a few of your ideas!!
4I like what you guys are up also. Such smart work and reporting! Carry on the excellent works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my site 🙂
5I like this post, enjoyed this one appreciate it for posting. “‘I have done my best.’ That is about all the philosophy of living one needs.” by Lin Yutang.
6I have recently started a site, the information you provide on this site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work. “The man who fights for his fellow-man is a better man than the one who fights for himself.” by Clarence Darrow.
7Hello, i believe that i saw you visited my weblog thus i came to “go back the prefer”.I’m attempting to in finding things to enhance my website!I suppose its good enough to make use of some of your ideas!!
8I am glad to be one of many visitants on this great web site (:, appreciate it for posting.
9Would love to constantly get updated outstanding site! .
10It’s really a great and useful piece of information. I’m satisfied that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
11whoah this blog is magnificent i really like studying your posts. Stay up the great work! You realize, lots of people are hunting round for this info, you can aid them greatly.
12You could definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
13Whats up! I just wish to give a huge thumbs up for the good info you will have right here on this post. I can be coming back to your weblog for more soon.
14I loved as much as you’ll receive performed right here. The comic strip is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish. nevertheless, you command get got an nervousness over that you would like be delivering the following. ill for sure come more before again since exactly the similar nearly very ceaselessly within case you shield this hike.
15It’s really a great and helpful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
16It is really a nice and useful piece of information. I am happy that you simply shared this useful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
17I am happy that I detected this web site, precisely the right info that I was searching for! .
18Some really interesting info , well written and broadly speaking user genial.
19Wow! This could be one particular of the most beneficial blogs We’ve ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Excellent. I’m also an expert in this topic therefore I can understand your hard work.
20Андрей Бурим он же Мелстрой, начал играть в [url=https://azino-777.online/download]скачать казино Azino777 на Android[/url]
21certainly like your web-site however you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the truth on the other hand I’ll surely come again again.
22Terrific work! This is the type of info that should be shared around the net. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my site . Thanks =)
23Hi my friend! I wish to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include almost all important infos. I’d like to see more posts like this.
24You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
25Hello my friend! I want to say that this article is amazing, nice written and include approximately all vital infos. I would like to see more posts like this.
26I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…
27Write 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 waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
28I found your weblog website on google and verify a few of your early posts. Proceed to maintain up the superb operate. I simply extra up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. In search of forward to studying extra from you afterward!…
29I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this website. Reading this info So i’m happy to convey that I’ve an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to don’t forget this site and give it a look on a constant basis.
30Way cool, some valid points! I appreciate you making this article available, the rest of the site is also high quality. Have a fun.
31I will right away grab your rss feed as I can’t find your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
32I like this site very much, Its a really nice billet to read and find information. “You have to lead people gently toward what they already know is right.” by Philip.
33I have been checking out a few of your articles and i can state clever stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your blog.
34I together with my pals came looking at the best ideas on the blog and so instantly I got an awful suspicion I had not thanked the site owner for those techniques. The boys came certainly very interested to see all of them and now have sincerely been loving these things. Appreciation for really being simply helpful as well as for picking variety of magnificent themes millions of individuals are really desirous to be aware of. My very own honest apologies for not saying thanks to you earlier.
35Along with everything which appears to be building throughout this specific subject material, many of your opinions tend to be very stimulating. Nonetheless, I am sorry, because I do not give credence to your whole strategy, all be it exhilarating none the less. It would seem to me that your comments are generally not entirely validated and in actuality you are generally yourself not wholly confident of the assertion. In any case I did take pleasure in examining it.
36Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and aid others like you aided me.
37Hi my family member! I want to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include almost all significant infos. I would like to see more posts like this .
38I’d have to examine with you here. Which is not one thing I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a post that may make folks think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to comment!
39What i do not understood is in fact how you are not really a lot more smartly-liked than you might be right now. You’re so intelligent. You understand thus considerably in the case of this matter, produced me in my opinion believe it from so many numerous angles. Its like men and women don’t seem to be involved until it’s something to accomplish with Woman gaga! Your own stuffs nice. Always maintain it up!
40I have read several good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you set to create such a wonderful informative web site.
41I 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’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
42Hello my loved one! I want to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include almost all significant infos. I would like to look extra posts like this.
43An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
44Dead composed subject matter, thankyou for information .
45I like this web site very much so much superb information.
46so much wonderful information on here, :D.
47I really like your writing style, wonderful info , thankyou for putting up :D.
48hey there and thank you for your information – I have certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical issues using this website, since I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for a lot more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you update this again soon..
49I’ll right away grasp your rss feed as I can not to find your email subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please permit me recognize in order that I may subscribe. Thanks.
50