Garden owners

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

VNA

The Hanoitimes – Although the ingredients to make this addicting dish sound fairly simple: ripe bananas, sugar, flour, turmeric powder, making banh chuoi requires the exceptional skills of a master artisan.

For a lot of Hanoians, banh chuoi (deep-fried banana) is the nostalgic food of childhood. Many of us would savor these crispy, slightly sweet snacks on the sidewalks as an after-school snack, or as a treat to send away the cold.

Street food stalls selling deep-fried bananas are ubiquitous in Hanoi. You can find them pretty much anywhere, but do keep in mind that they are open only in the afternoon. It makes a lot of sense actually, since rarely anyone wants something heavy and greasy in the morning.

A set of deep-fried bananas, along with sweet potato pancakes and corn pancakes. Photo: Thuy An.

Although the ingredients to make this addicting dish sound fairly simple: ripe bananas, sugar, flour, turmeric powder, making banh chuoi requires the exceptional skills of a master artisan. It’s not easy to achieve the golden ratio of the batter to produce a crunchy, delightful texture. And it’s equally tough to master the art of deep frying.

After trying various food stalls, let me introduce you to one of the hidden gems of Hanoi. Settled in Van Chuong street, this food stall has a simple set-up. You’ll find two large pans full of scorching hot oil, a giant bowl of batter mixture, and some racks that serve to cool down the pancakes and to display them at the same time. While there are spaces for you to sit and savor the hot, fragrant pancakes right away, bánh chuối is often a take-away item. So, you won’t find a lot of people who actually stay and eat.

The owner skillfully cooks three different types of pancakes at the same time. Photo: Thuy An.

The key ingredient is obviously the banana. Not all kinds work, actually. The owner uses ladyfinger bananas ( chuoi Su ), a variety of short and small bananas that tastes much sweeter and is more fragrant than the more popular Cavendish cousin. It’s important to use ripe bananas as well, since they’re at their sweetest. The blacker and more wrinkled the peel, the better.

To make banh chuoi , the owner cuts the bananas in half and presses them gently into flat slices using a wooden handle. She then swiftly dips the banana slides one-by-one into the secret batter mixture and fries them to perfection in piping hot oil. Different from other stalls that solely rest the freshly-fried pancakes on a cooling rack, the owner, after cooling the pancakes down, adds another step and actually puts them in a mini oven so that they stay crisp and crunchy.

Different from other stores, the pancakes here are put into a mini oven to preserve the freshness and crispiness. Photo: Thuy An.

The owner confides that she always threw away old oil that had been used several times for frying at the end of the day, and used new oil to maintain the excellent taste of the pancakes. “Everyone in my family has to eat at least two to three fried pancakes per day”, she added.

Usually, deep-frying banh chuoi in old oil gives it an off-putting brown-yellow color and a greasy taste and burnt smell. On the other hand, the fried pancakes here have a bright, appetizing golden color and a signature crunchy texture of foods that are fried in new oil. I also love how she only fries the pancakes when ordered.

Another special point about banh chuoi here lies in its crunchy outer shell. When putting the banana slices into the frying pan, the owner makes sure that each layer is thinly and evenly spread, so that the banh chuoi doesn’t become too dense and the exterior stays airy and crunchy. It is, in fact, very satisfying to bite into since you will be able to taste both the batter and the sweet, soft banana stuffing.

In addition to banh chuoi , the owner also sells sweet potato pancakes and corn pancakes. They are equally scrumptious and worth a try. The sweet potatoes are shredded finely so that when fried, they are cooked evenly and give you a crunch in every bite. Meanwhile, the corn pancakes are made of sweet, juicy corns and can bring you a harmony of flavor and texture.

Banh chuoi is a delicacy that is loved not only among children and teenagers, but also among adults. It’s quite cheap, priced at VND6,000 VND only. So, whenever you’re craving a snack, I hope I’ve given you enough reasons to give it a try.

Address: Opposite of 320 Van Chuong, Dong Da District

Opening hour: 1pm – 7pm

Price: VND6,000 per piece

Earlier, a 35-year-old man was recently found growing nearly 3,500 opium plants in his garden in Viet Yen District.

Opium is on the list of narcotics forbidden in Vietnam.

Those growing opium on a small scale can be fined VND2-5 million ($86.16-215.40). Farmers found cultivating 500 to 3,000 plants could face jail terms of six months to three years, while those operating on a bigger scale can get up to seven years in jail.

For many farmers in Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam, buffaloes are also the highlights of eco-tours hosted by the Jack Tran Tours company.

So in the Year of the Buffalo, they have more tales about the animals to tell than ever.

Tran Van Khoa (third from the left, in green T-shirt) shows his visitors how to ride a buffalo. Photo courtesy of Jack Tran Tours

Tran Van Khoa, sales manager and owner of the company, told Viet Nam News that the idea for the tour came to him on a field trip he took a group of foreigners to visit Tra Que vegetable village on the outskirts of ancient Hoi An Town 10 years ago.

“The foreign tourists seemed to be interested in buffaloes eating grass,” he said. “They asked the owners to take photos with the cattle. They often tipped the farmers one or two US dollars for each photographing session. I thought the buffalo might be a special tourism product that will bring more income to farmers.”

Over the time, the company has gathered nearly 20 farmer families who own some 100 buffaloes for wet rice tours, which offer tourists the chance to work in the field with buffaloes. Before the pandemic, each year the company received 2,000-3,000 guests, bringing each family VND10-15 million ($434-651) a year.

Such a tour lasts for five hours when tourists try various farming tasks.

Two junior tourists enjoy riding a buffalo in Tra Que Village. Photo courtesy of Jack Tran Tours

“At first local farmers were not willing to join the service,” Khoa recalled. “They thought foreigners would never like dirty work in the field. I spent lots of time to persuade them.”

Now the tour attracts mostly group tours and families at a ticket cost of VND1.3 million each including lunch at homestays.

Local farmer Le Nhien, in his mid-50s, who has raised buffaloes since his childhood, is among the farmers who have worked the longest with the company.

“We often choose strong male buffaloes for the job,” he said. “They are gentle, good-looking with twisted hair in the middle of their heads, stubbed noses, big ears, square forehead and bent back, which shows that the buffaloes are very hard-working. The buffaloes with red eyes should not be chosen to serve visitors as they are aggressive.”

“We teach them to stand up following oral orders and be friendly to visitors. The buffaloes should also have at least two years of experience working in the field as they will be more agile and hard-working,” he said.

“I let them sniff perfume and sun cream to be familiar to tourists’ smell,” he revealed.

The trainers should control their buffaloes by short and sharp orders like dí means “walk to the left”; há means “walk to the right”; dờ means “stop”, and dùn means “walk backwards”.

He now owns in total 20 buffaloes and the five best work on the tours. The buffaloes brings home VND10-15 million per month, double the income from raising rice, he said.

He even names his buffaloes like humans with names such as Gio, Si, Tưong and Phao.

The buffaloes are given young rice to be stronger and can work in the field from the ages of three to 20.

Beside stable income from tourism, each female buffalo may give birth to a baby each year, Nhien said.

The tour attracts foreigners. Photo courtesy of Jack Tran Tours

Nhien said each peak month before the pandemic, his family could get VND20 million per month including tips from tourists.

“I have enough money to raise three children,” he said. “My eldest son helps me with the tours.”

Khoa said most of the tourists like his eco-tours with the wet rice planting experience, which also helps create more jobs for locals, and the Jack Tran Tours page is filled with good reviews on Tripadvisor.

Khoa said in 2020, the pandemic has seriously affected tourism in Hoi An, including buffalo tours.

“I was shocked and very sad to tell my staff of 30 people and dozens of involved farmer families to stay off from work as there have been no tourists,” he said. “I gave them each VND5 million for three months at the beginning of the pandemic.

“Before the pandemic, we received 20-100 tourists per day. Now, there are only 1-2 tourists per day or even no tourists in the past year.”

Male strong and friendly buffaloes are chosen for serving tourists. Photo courtesy of Jack Tran Tours

“The farmers and buffaloes now focus only on their farming work,” he said. “I sometimes support them some money to care of the buffaloes.”

“I just hope the disease will soon be controlled with vaccines so that tourists will return to us,” he said.

This year, the company will aim focus on domestic guests with 50 per cent discounts for the tours.

He said a group of tourists has just booked a tour of 45 minutes at VND500,000 per person.

Some customers have also booked the tour for this summer, he said.

“We always compare the buffaloes to the BMWs of the field: strong and valuable,” he said.

“They do not only resemble the familiar image of Vietnamese village and traditional culture but also of the patience and resilience of Vietnamese people to overcome obstacles.” VNS

Farmer Nhien (standing) takes some tourists on a buffalo ride. Courtesy Photo of Jack Tran Tours