Does anyone remember the dish of pork lolot and river bones?

The harsh summer sun made all the trees in the garden moody. But in the corner of my small garden, the cactus tree is still growing green. The leaves with two characteristic dark and light colors clinging to the stem spread out in opposite directions. Nearby is a bush of glossy green leaves with heart-shaped leaves swaying in the breeze that has just passed. I suddenly thought of the dish of guava leaves, river bones with its own unique flavor.
Grilled leaf lot, river bone is a simple dish in Ha Thanh. The way to make this dish is quite simple. According to experience, to make this dish, we should choose guise leaves, river bones of the type “plain cake” because the old leaves are often hard to wrap, but the young leaves are too young and not fragrant. Leaves are washed, arranged in open baskets to drain. With cactus leaves, we can crush the stem to make it easier to pack.

Illustration The filling of this dish is not too picky. I usually grind the shoulder meat with dried onions, then mix it with finely chopped scallions, marinate some delicious fish sauce, main noodles, and pepper. If you want to add more “taste”, we should mince a little more young leaves mixed with meat. After letting the filling soak in the spices for a while, we can wrap the patties. There is an interesting thing, both guise leaves and river bones have different color characteristics of two-sided leaves. One side is dark green, one side is lighter in color and the petiole is quite hard. When wrapping the rolls, we should turn the light green side in, and the dark green side out so that the patty has a nice color. Spread a leaf, we put the spoonful of filling just enough with the leaf and then roll it evenly. After rolling the patty, the smart housewife often takes the leaf stalk to tighten the patty so it doesn’t fall apart. Put the pan on the stove, wait for the oil to be hot, then gently put the fried rice in it. Note that you should put the part with the edge of the leaf rolled in first. Remember to fry on low heat and turn it over with your hand so that the patties are evenly cooked. When the sausage is cooked, take it out on a plate with greaseproof paper and place it on a flat plate. Lot leaves, river bones eaten with rice and vermicelli are all suitable. Pick up a piece of golden, stretchy spring rolls, dip into a bowl of fish sauce mixed with lemon pepper and chili, we slowly enjoy. The flavor of the fragrant patties brings up the taste of the guava leaves, the river bones, the soft and fatty texture of the meat… it’s a real treat. If eaten with vermicelli, the dipping sauce is as light as the bun cha dipping sauce. Some people prefer grilled basil leaves because they don’t like the characteristic scent of river bones. However, with vermicelli with fresh bamboo sticks, the river bone cake is really delicious. This is also the “attractive” dish of some bun cha restaurants in Hanoi. In addition, river bone pork rolls are also combined by housewives with rice paper soup. The bowl of rice paper soup has a completely new flavor and color when it is dropped a few pieces of pork loin leaves on top. Cha la lot, river bones are not only made with pork, mothers also create a cute variation with beef patties. To make the patties sweeter and softer, we should blend pork with beef or mix diced pork fat into the filling. After rolling cha with guise leaves, river bones, we can bake it on a charcoal stove. When the leaves turn yellow, the meat is soft, and the fat is secreted out of the patties. Remove the patties from the blister, soak in a bowl of sweet and sour dipping sauce and pickle, we enjoy with vermicelli. If eaten with rice, beef patties with guise leaves, river bones just need to be dipped with salted fish sauce sprinkled with pepper. Although it is a simple dish, it has its own special flavor. Sometimes, I ask myself, does anyone still remember the taste of the dish with guise leaves and river bones?