For over a century, Me Tri village in Tu Liem, Hanoi, has been making com or young green rice flakes. Visiting Me Tri in autumn, one can enjoy the scent of young milky rice being dried all over the village. After drying, the fragrant plump rice grains are roasted in an iron pan over a low-heat wood fire to keep the rice’s natural fragrance and then pounded into flakes.

Young sticky rice is the main ingredient of this delicacy.  Me Tri green rice is made from fleshy, soft and fragrant grains. Me Tri villagers make green rice twice a year based on two summer and winter crops.  Plucking the grains is the first step to make rice flakes.  Me Tri young green rice is known nationwide. Drying young sticky rice in a yard in Me Tri.  Cleaned young rice ready for roasting.  During peak times, the work goes from 4.00am to 10.00pm for young rice makers in Me Tri. Rice is roasted over a low-heat fire and stirred constantly.  When the green grains turn white, the roasting is finished. Rice is pounded after being husked. The process involves many steps.  The last step is sifting the pounded rice three times.

With its special sweetness and nutty flavor further enhanced by the lotus leaf in which it is typically packed, com is a delicacy which shows the quintessence of Hanoi’s original cuisine that every visitor to the capital city should try.

Green sticky rice contains the delicate sweetness of heaven and earth.  The specialty sells for 160,000-180,000 dong (7-8 US dollars) per kg.  It is an indispensable dish for every Hanoian when autumn comes.  Young sticky rice flakes are wrapped in lotus leaves to retain their softness and fragrance.  The fragrance of green young rice spreads all over Me Tri village every autumn comes.

 

By Tat Son & Cong Dat