Rice Paper: A Food Knight

Rice is the king in Vietnamese cuisine, and Rice Paper is its noble knight that enhances many toothsome dishes.

Hello, I am Bánh Tráng, also known as Rice Paper. I am a staple food in Vietnamese cuisine, second only to rice. I would like to share with you my life, my large family and my origins. I will also introduce you to some toothsome dishes that are made with me and the ancient craft villages where I was born. This is just the beginning of a series that will take you on a delicious adventure. Are you ready to join me on this journey?

What is Rice Paper and how I was born

Typically, we are white, thin, and round. We come in various sizes, from 20 to 50 cm in diameter. We may seem fragile, but we can be topped with a lot of food on our surface. We were born from a big pot of steaming water, fueled by a rice husk stove. Our mother is a large spoon that gently spreads the rice batter over a cloth on top of the pot. Then, the pot is covered by a lid for a few seconds. When the lid is lifted up, there we are, ready to be peeled off and go into the next stage.

Before we can fulfill our sacred mission, we have to pass a tough test: drying on bamboo mats under the sun. We have to withstand the heat and avoid any damage, or we won’t be able to embark on our journey. We put on thin, transparent nylon shirts that show our happy, smiling faces, and then we head to different destinations, ready to begin our adventure.

Although rice flour is our main ingredient, we sometimes get other additions to create different features. For example, we can have tapioca flour to give us more durability, chili to add some spice, or sugar and coconut milk to enhance our sweetness. I also have many siblings who are made from the batter of roots or fruits, such as cassava, sweet potatoes, mangoes, and even… anchovies. Don’t worry, I will introduce you to them and let you taste their unique flavors during our exploration journey.

I belong to the old-fashioned generation of the 20th century, when I was lovingly handmade on a rice husk stove. Many of my younger siblings in the 21st century are born from electric machines. The steps of grinding and mixing the materials are also done by machines instead of human hands. However, the drying process still depends mostly on the sun. This method is good for saving energy and protecting the environment, but it has the downside of being affected by the weather.

My siblings tell me that we need to modernize our production if we want to expand in the domestic and international markets. We need to boost our productivity and ensure our food safety and hygiene. I get their logic, but I worry that if machines totally take over rice husk stoves, water pots and bamboo mats, my siblings would forget their roots and heritage. 

They ask me curiously why they should care, so I give them a realistic example: “If you become world famous one day, how would you answer if someone asks you how Vietnamese people made rice paper in the past?” They think about my question, and I add, “Knowing the past can help us shape the future, and history can give us wisdom and confidence, knowing who we are and where we belong”. I hope they will value my thoughts someday.

Rice Paper: A Food Knight

The Cake family chose me as a Food Knight of the Vietnamese culinary world, for some obvious reasons. They say I am generous, brave, versatile, and supportive of many food creations without asking for anything in return. Their nomination paper is very long, so let me give you a quick overview of our rich and useful life.

Protect and Shield

First of all, we protect other foods from the scorching oil or the messy fillings when they are fried or wrapped in a roll. Better yet, we have a natural rice aroma and a slightly sweet and sour taste of rice flour that provides a harmonious canvas for them to paint their flavors.

For example, we are the ones who shield minced shrimp and meat, carrots, vermicelli and mushrooms for spring rolls before they dive into the oil. We brace them to endure high temperatures and keep them intact. We allow just enough heat to cook them to perfection, with a crispy exterior and a juicy interior – a delight for the eaters’ taste buds.

Spring Rolls have three different names in Vietnamese: nem rán in the North, chả ram in the Central, and chả giò in the South. As they settle down with Vietnamese people around the world, they become more and more famous, with their own English names. When they asked me which of their English names is the best, I suggested using “Viet spring rolls” to set them apart from the Chinese spring rolls, and avoid confusion with gỏi cuốn, which can be called “Viet summer rolls”. They agreed happily, and you see, I did not take any credit in their names, either English or Vietnamese.

I am not only the guardian of spring rolls, but also the shelter for many other foods such as boiled meat, grilled pork patties, steamed fish, beef dipped in vinegar, braised bamboo shoots on Tet and so on. If meat and fish sometimes clash with vegetables and pickles, I will be their mediator, so that they can all harmonize with each other under my wings. Sweet and sour fish sauce is my partner on this journey. She often teases me for being too kind-hearted, but I can’t help it, that’s my nature.

Assist

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I am fearless, so I don’t mind the fire. Fire knows that, and he only gently warms me, making me golden and aromatic. Now I often serve as a “spoon” for salads, such as shrimp pork and lotus root salad, Hue jackfruit salad, or an ancient Hanoi raw fish salad. 

It’s a pity that the raw fish salad is no longer available. Its flavor only remains in a few lines of Vu Bang’s writing: “The raw fish salad is a sensory explosion with many flavors like bitter, sour, sweet, spicy, and salty. Sometimes you get the nutty taste of peanuts and sesame and smell the faint fragrance of grilled rice papers.” (Thương nhớ Mười Hai, Văn Học Publishing House 1993, p. 107)

I also like to have fun with my food friends. After being grilled, I break myself into many pieces, then join Quang noodles and play together. They say they are not tasty enough without me, maybe because I have a bubbly and lively personality, always making crunchy noises.

My grilled version can be a good alternative for thính (roasted rice powder), a catalyst for food fermentation or a way of adding nutty flavor to meat and salad. My sibling tapioca paper even gets a more surprising role: he serves as edible wrappers for candies and sticky rice. 

I have a special friendship with fire. Fire is hot-headed but he rarely gets angry at me. He knows I can be roasted quickly and never keep him waiting too long. He also enjoys my rich flavors, from spicy chili, fragrant pepper, sweet banana, fatty coconut to even durian. When he’s happy, he often says that every time he roasts me, he is curious to see what flavor I have. I don’t mind what flavor I have, as long as he likes it and doesn’t burn me.

Adapt and Invent

I have an older sister called Bánh Ướt. Together, we create the dish “Two Wet, One Dry” (two steamed rice papers and one grilled rice paper) in Ha Tinh province. When we get to Quang Nam – Da Nang, only one sister stays with me. People like to smear my sister with garlic chive oil, then smash us together and fold us in half. They call us Bánh Đập, which literally means “smashing cake”. The mắm nêm girl (sauce of fermented fish, pineapple, garlic, chili, and sugar) always teases us by begging us not to “smash” her, which is obviously not our intention. 

I don’t mind if someone eats me with just fish sauce, shrimp paste or whatever they get their hands on. I am happy to fill their stomachs, or to be a snack in between meals. I am adaptable and inventive, so Vietnamese people of all ages love me.

My older sister Bánh Ướt was born in the same way as me, but she didn’t need to dry like me. People cut her into strips and call them fresh noodles, while my strips are called dry noodles. Phở, the famous Viet dish, usually uses fresh noodles in Vietnam, but dry noodles abroad for easy transportation and storage. 

Lately, the Viet youth have put me on the list of “most favorite dishes” when I team up with others to make bánh tráng trộn (mixed rice paper) and bánh tráng nướng (grilled rice paper). These are two new dishes that have been around for just about twenty years but they are awesome. I will tell you more about them in the next episode. Stay tuned!

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