Each nation, each ethnic group has a unique culture, a unique cuisine. For Korea, there are also kimchi with other salty vegetables. France is famous for its delicious cupcakes. Food is a characteristic culture that no country has. Food is also a feature of attractions. Vietnamese cuisine in the eyes of visitors always create an interest and curiosity. One of the tourist attractions in Vietnam is the real sound.
Vietnamese cuisine is rich and diverse, divided into many different categories. Highlights include traditional cuisine, regional cuisine, royal cuisine, street food ... Each type has its own characteristics. For traditional cuisine, there is a dish that can not be mentioned is the banh chung.
As a traditional Vietnamese dish, banh chung (banh tet) is considered as the soul of the big day feast, especially the New Year. Banh chung (Vietnamese biscuits) is associated with the banh chung (cake). The story involves a sixth king of the war. He figured out how to make cakes and cakes to give to his father and to give up his throne. Since then, Banh Chung has become a familiar dish of families every Tet to spring. Biscuits are made quite sophisticated. The first is to choose the ingredients to make the cake. Raw materials for making cakes include seaweed, glutinous rice, green bean, tamarind, scallion, some common spices, indispensable indispensable pepper. The first is the leaves. Leaves are a leaf grown in northern Vietnam. Leaves are dark green, the veins of the leaves are clear, usually growing in dust. Large leaves can be up to 80 cm long. Leaves have fan shape. The leaves used to make cake. Because of the toughness when cooked, especially the smell and the eye-catching blue, leaves are selected to make the cakes of the distillation. Cut leaves or purchase will be carried out through fire (roasted) or soft sun, avoid tearing when wrapping cake. After that, the leaves continue to be cut stalks as well as the center of the leaf vein and washed. So the raw materials to make the cake has finished processing. Next to the cake section. The first is sticky rice. Glutinous rice is a very high amilopectin of about 90%, so it makes the glutinous rice very pliable when it is cooked, especially with a very attractive aroma. Based on this nature, people choose glutinous rice for banh chung. Sticky rice will be soaked in water for 5 hours, then clean and salt to taste. Gow is so, green beans are well prepared. Green beans are fresh yellow, very fragrant when cooked. Often the person who packs the cake will choose the peeled green peas to save the initial processing time. This kind of beans is very easy to buy at supermarkets as well as grocery stores. After the purchase will be soaked with water for about 6 to 7 hours to fully hatch. Next up is the three pointed meat. Three pieces will be cut thin but square, next to 4 to 5 cm depending on the big or small cake. The meat is marinated with regular spices and pepper. Pepper will help the meat is rich, flavored, aromatic and especially neutral the taste of other spices make the meat not be too. The final material is tied. Coal is made of flexible bamboo, thin bamboo body is very long, is carried to soak or boiled through soft to easy to tie. Coil is used to fix the cake when boiled. If there is no tiara the cake can not be finished. After initial processing of the ingredients, the cake will arrive.
Banh Chung package needs meticulous, careful as well as skillful package. The cake must be square, the leaves are not torn, not too tight nor too loose. First, spread a leaf, followed by sticky rice, followed by green beans, then pork, green beans, and finally rice. Then the packer will use his hands to wrap the leaves in the bag to select the kernel, fold for the square, and finally use fixed binding. The hard part is that the packer loosens the square so that it does not get too tight. If too tight, the pie will be cooked unevenly or lead to unfinished cake. If too loose, the material layers of the cake will not be fixed and mixed together to cause aesthetic loss as well. Whether the package is beautiful or not is based on the hands of the packer.
The cake process is finished to the last but not least. That is boiled bread. Cake is delicious when cooked with dry wood, in a large and thick cast iron pot. Fried rice cake is very long, about 6 hours. Because the cake needs to be ripe and soft. The fire to cook the cake is not too big fire but only small riu. The cooked rice will be cooled to reshape the shape of the cake and iron to disk for everyone to enjoy. Peel the cake to a beautiful blue color and attractive aromas. Cut the cake will be lower layer by layer inside the attractive pole, greasy piece of fat meat, ripe sticky rice is soft sweet sweet fragrant. All blend together to create a traditional flavor.
In the past, banh chung (glutinious rice cake) was only available on the occasion of Lunar New Year. But today, whatever You can always see the picture of the cake. On the occasion of the festival or a big day like wedding cake, rice balls can be brought into the menu of rice family. Biscuits are rich in nutrients, high in calories. Apart from boiled rice dumplings, people can turn into other attractive dishes such as fried rice cake. Banh Chung can be eaten with salted carvings to enhance the flavor of the dish.
Banh Chung has become a culture, a traditional and long-standing food in Vietnam. This unique feature has contributed to beautiful images in the eyes of international friends. Anyone who is far from home is hoping to go home by the pot of rice cake on New Year's Eve!
