Khanh Hoa specialty, rich rice cake with fish sauce loved by thousands of people in the ancient citadel countryside

The series of shops along National Highway 1, the section across Dien Khanh town (Dien Khanh district, Khanh Hoa province) forms a street called Thanh wet rice cake or Dien Khanh wet rice cake, almost a famous "craft village" that locals also call Phu Khanh wet rice cake after the name of this village.

I don't know when banh uot appeared, but since I was a child I knew that this cake had a famous "brand" in my hometown.

The series of shops along National Highway 1, passing through Dien Khanh town (Dien Khanh district, Khanh Hoa province) form a street called Thanh wet rice cake or Dien Khanh wet rice cake, almost a famous "craft village" that locals also call Phu Khanh wet rice cake after the name of this village.

In Dien Khanh, there are many garden houses and large plots of land. The wet rice cake shops that have this advantage are often decorated very "arrogantly" in a country style.

The shop in front of the house (thatched or corrugated iron roof), the clay cake oven and the very simple tables and chairs. However, the locals and tourists coming here can feel the warm and friendly village atmosphere.

If Phu Khanh rice paper rolls are fancy in appearance, with the rice paper being spread very thinly on a plate and the filling being shrimp floss, scallion oil, and the dipping sauce being fish sauce, fish sauce, etc., then the dish of rice paper rolls in the countryside does not need to be elaborate! A cake is taken out of the oven, and the person making the rice paper rolls just puts it on the plate.

The filling of the wet cake here, in addition to scallions and fat, also has mung beans, which makes the cake uniquely delicious. In the past, wet cake from Dien Khanh had a complete set of "three ingredients": scallions, fat, mung beans, and shrimp floss. Now, people have simplified it to just two things - if there is mung beans, there is no shrimp floss, or vice versa.

The deliciousness of the country wet rice noodle shops is the dipping sauce, especially the fish intestines! Buy fresh green tuna and beef, take the intestines, then marinate with salt and ferment, then dry in the sun. After about 2-3 days, the fish sauce will ripen, become a thick liquid and have a very distinctive aroma.

At this point, the deliciousness comes from the mixing skill! Fry the oil with onions and garlic until fragrant, then add the fermented fish sauce and season. Each restaurant has its own way of making and seasoning the fish sauce, but the characteristic is that the flavor of fermented fish sauce is almost identical.

Dien Khanh wet rice cake - one of Khanh Hoa specialties.

Due to the speed of industrialization, the deliciousness of the traditional rice cake in this area is gradually fading away. However, if you take the time to wander around and explore Dien Khanh, you will find many rustic, country-style rice cake shops that are very… authentic and very delicious!

On Nha Trang - Thanh street, near Ong Bo bridge, there is a wet rice cake shop like this, it is delicious beyond description. Customers enter the shop, slowly pull up chairs, wipe their chopsticks. The waiter quickly brings a bowl with a little scallion oil.

There are 2 jars of fish sauce for customers to choose from: Fish sauce with intestines and fish sauce with water. Customers open the lid of the fish sauce jar, scoop it into a bowl, crush the chili and add some chopped mango.

The steaming plate of banh uot was just taken out. The vendor quickly scooped a spoonful of scallion oil and passed it over, sprinkled a layer of mung beans, and brought it over. The customers leisurely picked up each piece and dipped it into the fish sauce, from one plate to another!

In Thanh Minh, Phu Loc, Dien Lam regions... there is a unique way to use fish sauce with a little fish juice, usually chu fish, dipping fish, beef... cooked salty. Fish cooked salty especially small catfish, cooked to add another delicious flavor to the rice cake.

Looking at the sophisticated way these old people in the countryside eat, even the most demanding guests will be… craving for it. Here, scoop a bowl of fish sauce, scoop another spoonful of fish sauce and pick up a few fish and put them on a plate. While waiting for the cake to be brought out, the old people leisurely draw fish.

This is a tiny fish, mainly used for fresh water, but the ancients also drew all the meat of the fish, leaving only the bones. It shows how skillful, delicate and extremely frugal the ancients ate, eating in a way that saved for their children and grandchildren, not wasteful!

On the 15th and 1st of the lunar month, there is soy sauce for vegetarians. The soy sauce here is not soy sauce but a dipping sauce made from soybean paste and scallion oil replaced with cooking oil with ba-ro. Making soy sauce is also a secret, only native Thanh people can make it delicious.

Minced lemongrass, tomatoes, pineapple… sauteed in oil, then add soy sauce, season to taste… The recipe is only that much, but in the hands of a skilled cook, the dipping sauce is delicious, unforgettable after just one bite!

The rice cake making business can partly solve the family’s economic problems and help raise children. Covering the shop, building an oven, and making some tables and chairs from mixed wood is enough. You don’t need much capital, you just need… the ability to mix delicious dipping sauce!

Source: https://danviet.vn/dac-san-khanh-hoa-dam-da-banh-muot-cham-mam-ruot-van-nguoi-me-o-vung-que-thanh-co-20241227201859704.htm