Tet Doan Ngo come back to eat pancakes with mom

Pancakes must have all kinds of vegetables, pickles, sweet and sour fish sauce

According to the custom in the West, every year on the Dragon Boat Festival, it is necessary to pour pancakes to offer to grandparents, for children and grandchildren to gather, and to give back and forth. neighbor… for love.

When I was young, before Lunar New Year A few months ago, my mother bought a flock of ducklings to raise. My mother gave me the task every day to cut banana stalks mixed with rice to feed the ducks. There was a time when I was playing and had to go back to cut bananas, I grumbled: “Why are you raising these ducks, it’s too much work”. Mother asked back: “So, will you eat duck pancakes on the fifth day?” I understand what you mean, so shut up.

The ducks that year were fat, their mother sold them less, leaving only one pair to make pancakes. My neighbor Ly came over to play and tell stories my husband hunched over while as an assistant. I’m worried On this year’s day, she has no money to buy ducks to bring home to her grandmother.

In many places in the West, there is an unwritten rule: a daughter marries her husband, whether near or far. On the fifth day, she has to bring a pair of ducks to her mother’s house to make pancakes. Every year, on the morning of the fifth day, the street is bustling with traffic. Each car is a family including husband and wife, children, small bags, big bags, and ducks.

Ma thanked Ly for her lack, discussed with my father to pair ducks for her. Ms. Ly had tears in her eyes, thanking my cheeks.

I pouted: “The peacock grazes ducks for a whole year, mom gives it to you and then what do you use to pour pancakes?”. Mom gently said: “Every year there is a Dragon Boat Festival, it’s so sad to get married far away and can’t come back. Tomorrow, you will grow up, get married and then know”.

Now I know, know that on the 5th, my children are busy asking to go back to their grandmother. As parents, the phone does not leave their hands, calling to remind the couple of Hai, Ba, my husband and Ut: “Go back to eat pancakes now”, “Where are you and your wife now, the cake dough is ready. listen”…

In the past, making pancakes was very hard, and had to soak the rice the night before. In the morning, pour it into the mortar and grind it by hand. Then grind the turmeric, grate the coconut and squeeze the juice. Now there is industrial pancake flour, available packages of turmeric powder, dried scallions…

While Mom was making flour, Hai minced duck meat, and my grandchildren and I went to the garden to pick vegetables. In the rainy season, vegetables are green. I sniffed, the smell of lettuce, broccoli, lettuce, herbs… my mother had grown more fragrant than market vegetables.

I found some wild vegetables such as dandelion leaves, cassava leaves, silk leaves… Eating pancakes must have these leaves in the Western style.

Mom put the stove on the porch, the whole family spread mats around the kitchen, because the pancakes are delicious when they are poured. Mom fried duck intestines for dad and brother-in-law to sip a glass of beer. My sisters and I held the fork waiting, Mom scooped the cake out of the pan and picked it up.

Roll a piece of banh xeo with duck meat, bean sprouts, and dandelion flower filling, add some broccoli leaves, herbs, and just dip into a cup of sweet and sour fish sauce that every taste buds wakes up. So delicious that my stomach is full but I still want to eat more.

The whole family had a bad stomach, and my mother gave up the kitchen to Hai. Hai’s skills, of course, are not comparable to her mother’s, but that’s okay, the cake is shaped like an… o or a letter o, it’s still delicious at this time. It will be a memory for the sisters to call each other from time to time, reminding “do you remember the pancakes that year, the fat duck should be so sweet. The cake is burnt and fragrant until now.”

Every year, my father sat down to eat with the whole family for a while, then put on his clothes to go to Uncle Nam’s house, Uncle Bay’s… to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with his uncles and aunts. This family invites the other to eat cakes, bring each other home-made cakes. That’s how busy a day is.

It’s the fifth day, let’s go home, eat pancakes mom made! Go home to chat with your parents in a warm kitchen, to have a warm love for the village. New Year’s Eve, the village is still busy with pancakes, it’s still fun…

According to Women in Ho Chi Minh City