Leftover rice recipes have Vietnamese netizens going crackers

Duong Tam Tu Tu, 23, typically posts videos on the short video platform showing people how to make rice crackers with fish sauce, rice cakes, and other snacks from leftover rice.

In one video, she grinds leftover rice before mixing it with flour and black sesame seeds, then cuts it into pieces, lets it dry and fries it into crispy crackers.

Tu's videos, mostly filmed in her hometown, have been shared by many netizens, attracting millions of views. Her TikTok account has garnered almost 500,000 followers, with more than 11 million likes.

"Now I know how to deal with leftover rice from this dinner," and "My dog will not have leftover rice to eat today," many people commented, expressing their excitement over Tu's creativity.

Duong Lam Tu Tu (L) and her sister have rice crackers. Photo courtesy of Duong Lam Tu Tu.

Apart from leftover rice recipes, Tu has also shown people how to make other snacks and desserts like tofu, grilled banh mi, watermelon salad, etc.

Tu told Thanh Nien newspaper she had the idea of making rice crackers after getting stranded in her hometown amid the pandemic, making her unable to return to Ho Chi Minh City to buy snacks for her little sister, who appears in many of her videos.

In the prolonged Covid-19 lockdown, forcing many restaurants to close, many netizens have shown their cooking skills by posting short videos of themselves making dishes at home with simple and easy-to-find ingredients.

On TikTok, "amateur" chefs like Phuong Vy, Chau Muoi, and Muon An Ngon have garnered millions of likes.

The short video streaming platform has been a magnet for Vietnamese youth in the last few years, with 10 million users as of August 2020.