The feeling of going back to the hometown where I was born and grown up with my parents brings many beautiful memories. An extremely simple happiness and often the imprints of unforgettable memories. I remember that my hometown is very poor, near the sea and rice is mainly grown, so the cuisine of the countryside also has many interesting things. It doesn't carry expensive spices or ingredients like in the city, it gives a different taste because of that simplicity. But it is unique because most of the big cities don't have it, or lack some crafting materials. This is my favorite dish to be served by my mother when I have not been home for a long time. The North we call it Cha, the South where I live and work call it Nem or Ram. A type of dish that is wrapped with layers of rice paper and wrapped with ingredients such as minced meat, vermicelli, and a number of different leaves and fried it gradually.
It does not have high aesthetics or eye-catching colors but the taste is rich and attractive, eating with white rice is extremely suitable. Why are so few people processing it in big cities? Because it needs two hard-to-find ingredients, which are sticky rice paper and guise leaves. There are a lot of rice paper, but because of the production and drying process, it often creates a hard and thick rice paper. When people use these types of rice paper to roll the inside, they will have to dip it in water to make it soft to roll. But it will have to be wrapped in two layers and will give the Cha a thick crust and will break easily when fried with oil. In my hometown, the cake is made from eight rice or jasmine rice, it will make the cake more supple and thinner thanks to the skillful hands of the craftsman. Especially, even though it's thinner, it doesn't need to be soaked in water to soften it, which will help the Cha after frying to retain its softness and not dry out.
The second factor is guise leaf, a type of leaf that grows wild near bamboo bushes, so it is difficult to find in the city and is picky for food. It smells a bit pungent and bitter but goes well with this dish when we mix it with egg yolks and minced meat.
The complete ingredients required for this dish are quite simple, including:
- Minced pork (should have a little bit of lard to balance the bitter taste of the guava leaves).
- Fresh guise leaves
- Chicken eggs
- Vermicelli (made from rice and seaweed)
- Mushrooms
- Onions, basil and parsley
- Spices: pepper, seasoning powder, fish sauce, salt
After mixing the artificial ingredients well and seasoning, I used rice paper to roll them into rolls as pictured and fried them.
The Cha pieces will be cooked but still soft and just a little crispy. It is different from the types of Cha with high crispiness and crispy batter coating. I use sweet and sour dipping sauce with lemon and sugar, fish sauce. A little garlic and chili are minced to make the sauce more flavorful when served. This is my favorite dish when I was a kid, when I come home from school, my mother cooks for me. It is especially suitable for cold weather. The rolls I rolled weren't as pretty as my mom's, but I was very pleased with it.
And yes, I was so passionate about making and enjoying it with my family that I forgot to take a full picture of the final result on the dining table. But believe me if you get a chance to enjoy it, it will surely make you nod or exclaim how wonderful it is.