A famous dessert with a 'smelly' name in Ho Chi Minh City

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Ms. Nhat Binh's sweet soup shop in front of Quan Am Pagoda (Phu Trung Ward, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City) was unusually crowded. Customers came here to enjoy the famous sweet soup, which has the strange name "chicken dung" sweet soup.

Binh’s family has been selling this dessert for over 20 years. Recently, after being shared on social media, the dessert has suddenly become famous, attracting a large number of diners to enjoy.

However, the restaurant is only open 2 days a month, the 1st and 15th of the lunar month. If you miss it, you have to wait until half a month later to enjoy it.

By 8am, customers had already crowded this small sweet soup shop, most of them temple goers. Many were new customers, having learned about the shop through social media, so they came to try the "chicken droppings" sweet soup to see what it tasted like.

Ms. Binh smiled brightly and enthusiastically prepared the dish for the guests. The owner introduced this as a traditional, familiar Chinese dish called "cải xìa thang", which translates to "chicken droppings" in Vietnamese.

Although the name is a bit ugly, this dish is actually made from two main ingredients: washed and ground hairy dream leaves with rice.

Then, this mixture is mixed with tapioca starch, made into cakes and steamed. When the cakes are cooked and cooled, they are cut into small, bite-sized pieces.

The finished dough has a beautiful dark blue color. To prevent them from sticking together, the seller sprinkles and mixes a layer of dry flour on the outside.

The dessert has a distinctive color and delicious flavor. Because the perilla leaves are processed and mixed in a certain ratio, when finished, the dough is soft, flexible, chewy, and has a smooth, glossy dark green color.

In particular, the noodles are not strong smelling but have a mild aroma. Meanwhile, the broth has a cool sweet taste, with a hint of fresh ginger aroma.

Ms. Nhat Binh said that this dish is more delicious when eaten hot than when eaten cold. Although her shop also sells other types of sweet soup such as corn sweet soup, lotus seed sweet soup, etc., "chicken manure" sweet soup is still the best-selling dish because most customers come to the shop for this dish.

Talking about the reason for selling only 2 days a month in front of the temple, Ms. Binh shared that on these 2 days, the temple is crowded with visitors. Each time she opens for sale, she can sell more than 500 portions of sweet soup.

On the day she opened, many people not only came to buy sweet soup but also bought noodles to make at home according to their preferences.

Ms. Binh shared that perilla leaves are good for the intestines, help reduce stomach pain, bloating and detoxify the liver, so the dish is not only a snack but also good for health. Hot tea combined with ginger warms the body, many customers choose to enjoy in the morning.

The shop opens from 7am to 7pm, sometimes selling out early. For Ms. Binh, selling traditional Chinese desserts with her mother's and grandmother's family recipes, receiving support from regular and strangers and enjoying her delicious dishes is happiness.