Phu Ly rolls are not eaten with cinnamon rolls like Thanh Tri rolls but are eaten with fan rolls (also known as grilled meat).

Banh Cuon is a portion of popular breakfast food in many provinces and cities, but each place has its own unique flavor: Thanh Tri rolls with cinnamon rolls, Thai Binh shrimp rolls, Ha Long squid rolls, or Lang Son egg rolls Filled with delicious peach-boiled eggs, served with broth made from bone marrow.

Before the August Revolution in the low-lying Ha Nam area, there was a famous Banh Cuon shop by Mrs. Ca Nhi in the Bau market. In those days, traditional Banh Cuon was dipped with Ca Cuong fish sauce, rich in flavor and delicious to the very last bite.

Phu Ly rolls are eaten with fan rolls (Photo: Phu Ly spring rolls)

Taste of homeland

Like Banh Cuon in many other places, Banh Cuon in Phu Ly is made with eight Xoan rice or the most delicious type of plain rice. In the old days, rice was soaked with rainwater for 1 night, ground into a powder with a stone mortar, then soaked in flour again, filtered through a few times of thin cloth to make the flour clear and pure, then when coated, the cake will be tough without being damaged. limp.

A pot of boiling water smoky, add a cloth mold evenly stretched, and fit snugly on the mouth of the pot on the fire stove. A simple cake coating tool, only with a coconut shell to scoop the dough and a very thin bamboo stick. The person making the rolls masters all operations, from smoothing the dough to brushing, flipping, and removing the thin layer of cake from the mold so that the cake is not torn…

The person making the rolls masters all the operations (Photo: thamhiemmekong)

Hands quickly scoop the dough into the mold, use a ladle to smooth the dough until it is very thin and then cover it. The hot steam rises to cook the dough, turning it into egg white. At this time, the cake maker uses a thin bamboo stick to thread one end of the cake, skillfully lifts the cake out of the mold, and pours a new batch of dough with the other hand.

Rice paper is evenly cooked, and not wrinkled, when rolled, it is not dry or crushed. Each thin tang cake is arranged in a file in turn. The seller will flip each layer of thin cake and cut it into bite-sized pieces, put it on a plate and give it to the customer.

Cleverly remove the thin layer of cake from the mold (Photo: dacsanvina)

Banh Cuon – Banh Cuon (grilled meat)

Phu Ly rolls are not eaten with cinnamon rolls like Thanh Tri rolls but are eaten with fan rolls (also known as grilled rolls, or grilled meat).

Meat for making pork rolls usually chooses lean meat mixed with fat (such as lean shoulder, or bacon), cut into bite-sized pieces, seasoned with fish sauce, main noodles, dried onions, pepper, sugar, garlic, and can be sprinkled with a little more sesame seeds, then clamp them with a bamboo stick, and grill the meat on a charcoal stove full of fire.

Bamboo sticks for meat, grilled on charcoal (Photo: Ha Nam)

While grilling, do not fan evenly and constantly rotate the bamboo clips so that the meat does not burn. Grilled fan is especially delicious when grilled at medium heat, ripe yellow, fragrant (do not bake too carefully, it will make the meat dry). The outer edges of the meat shrink, but the inside still retains the characteristic sweetness of the meat.

Cold rolled cake – hot dipping sauce

Phu Ly rolls are very flexible and soft, not thickly coated with 2 layers like Hung Yen rolls, nor thinly coated in the style of Old Quarter rolls. More specifically, people here prefer the style of “cold cake with hot dipping sauce”.

However, to have a delicious bowl of dipping sauce requires the ingenuity of the bartender according to the esoteric recipe. Banh Cuon dipping sauce must have enough sour taste of vinegar, spicy of chili, and aroma of garlic, not too salty nor light enough to just dip the cake and slurp it!

Banh cuon dipping sauce is prepared according to an esoteric recipe (Photo: Van Anh)

Grilled fan drops in a bowl of sweet and sour dipping sauce with a few slices of green papaya. When eating, the smooth white cake is submerged in the dipping sauce, and add a piece of sweet and tender grilled meat. Banh Cuon can be served with lettuce, bean sprouts, thinly sliced ​​banana flowers, perilla, marjoram, and coriander, adding a few green sticky figs to help the dish have meat without being boring.

However, in Phu Ly, there are also Banh Cuon shops that maintain the traditional way of making cakes. That’s when the customers come in, the new owner starts working. The finished cake is placed on a tray, rubbed with minced meat, wood ear, sprinkled with a little dried onion, dipped in a few drops of fat to make the cake soft, rolled and cut into pieces to eat.

Cold rolled rice cake served with fan rolls and hot dipping sauce (Photo: Ha Nam)

Despite the long wait, diners will fully experience the traditional cake-making process, and fully enjoy the taste of Phu Ly coated hot spring rolls in the traditional way…

If you have the opportunity to travel to Ha Nam, in addition to enjoying the famous specialties of the low-lying plains such as braised fish in Vu Dai village, boiled potatoes, vermicelli with perch, etc., do not miss the familiar but delicious breakfast food. No less unique – Phu Ly rolls are eaten with fan rolls with hot dipping sauce!

Photo: Internet