Making sticky rice cakes on New Year's Eve, a speech on Nghe An cuisine, reminiscing about a wild childhood.

The Tet feast in Nghe An province is not as elaborate as in some other places, but there is one dish that is often present on New Year's Eve: banh ngao (a type of sweet cake).

Sticky rice cake - a sky full of childhood memories every Tet holiday - Photo: DAU DUNG

Over time, many things have become simpler, and some families no longer light fires to cook sticky rice cakes (also known as sweet cakes or honey cakes) on the last night of the twelfth lunar month.

In my family, for decades, my mother has maintained the old tradition. On New Year's Eve, along with a bowl of sweet soup and sticky rice, there are always several bowls of sweet rice cakes arranged on a tray to offer to our ancestors.

It has to be soaked in molasses to be considered authentic "banh ngao" (a type of Vietnamese sweet cake).

My hometown, Bac Xuan village (Dien Chau district, Nghe An province), is famous for its rice noodle making, so many families have rice mills at home. Normally, they mill regular rice for rice noodles, but during Tet (Lunar New Year), they mill glutinous rice to make sticky rice cakes. Long ago, before rice mills existed, they milled rice using heavy stone mortars.

The rice is soaked for several hours before being ground; the finer the flour, the better the cake will taste. The flour for making sticky rice cakes will be much thicker than the flour for making smooth rice cakes.

Grind the flour and put all the water into a coarse cloth bag (the name of an old type of plain cloth) and hang it from a beam from morning until evening. Place a basin underneath. The cleverness of this cloth lies in the fact that the water seeps through the cloth and drips slowly into the basin, while the flour is retained in the bag.

After the year-end ceremony was over, in the evening my mother would take the glutinous rice flour mixture out of the cloth bag and begin kneading it until the dough was soft, pliable, and no longer sticky to the hands.

Nghe An-style rice cakes usually have both savory and sweet fillings. Some families add peanuts to the filling for a nutty flavor. My family, however, only makes savory fillings. Besides preparing the dough, my mother also grates and shreds ginger and minces meat for the filling.

Shaping the dough in preparation for cooking - Photo: DAU DUNG

After preparing everything, they spread out a mat and began shaping the dumplings. Each piece of dough was rolled into a ball, then flattened, and the filling was added. The edges were then sealed, gently kneaded to ensure the dumpling was perfectly round or flat and that the filling didn't leak out. This step requires very skillful hands; anyone who rushes will ruin the dumplings.

When we were kids, we were all curious and liked to imitate what adults did, so we competed to make our own clay figurines, but some were misshapen, and others had all the filling spilled out.

Okay, kids, sit still and let the world be peaceful . Mom's hands moved quickly, shaping one cake after another. They looked absolutely beautiful. Before long, the whole tray was covered with cakes. Boil them in water for about 1-2 minutes, then take them out.

Unlike many cakes made with sugar syrup, the soul of Nghe An's "banh ngao" (a type of Vietnamese cake) lies in its molasses. The best molasses comes from Nghia Dan.

Pour the honey into a pot and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Those with a sweet tooth can use 100% pure honey. Those who prefer a moderate sweetness can add water to dilute it. My family has had sweet tooths for three generations, and I'm the fourth, so the cakes have to be bathed in pure honey to be truly satisfying.

I don't know about other families, but in my family, we can't make sticky rice cakes quickly. We have to cook them until they turn "like honey." What does "like honey" mean? It's hard to explain.

All I know is that the cake is firm, and the molasses is deeply infused into it, not just a superficial combination. When eaten, it's soft yet slightly chewy, with a rich aroma of molasses. The cake is sweet but not overpowering.

Savory-filled rice cakes - Photo: DAU DUNG

When cooking, pay attention to using low heat. High heat will burn the whole pot of rice cakes. To avoid burning, those who are skillful can use chopsticks to stir, but to be safe, lift the pot by the handles and shake it a few times.

When the mixture in the pot is almost caramelized, add the ginger. Cook for a while longer, then remove from the heat, scoop into bowls, arrange them on a tray along with sticky rice and mung bean sweet soup, and place them on the altar.

But that's not the end of the story.

The kids were the most excited at this moment. They vied with each other to scrape the bottom of the pot of sticky rice cakes. After all the cakes were scooped out, there was a light layer of cake remaining at the bottom. It was the chewiest, sweetest, and tastiest.

The children had just finished eating when midnight arrived, and fireworks exploded loudly. Dad lit incense and offered prayers for the New Year, murmuring old sayings, but everyone understood he was wishing the family good health in the new year, and that the children would be well-behaved and obedient to their grandparents and parents.

So the whole group abandoned their pot of sticky rice cakes and ran quickly out into the street to watch the lively crowd. Fireworks filled the sky. A new year had truly arrived.

My mother made sticky rice cakes - Photo: DAU DUNG

"Speech" dedicated to my homeland

Once, I was craving sticky rice cakes so much that I ordered some online from a seller in Hanoi , but they couldn't recreate the magical taste of those days. So I bought Laotian sticky rice flour (dry flour) and molasses to make them myself, hoping to get that taste back. But it still felt incomplete…

It turned out to be a feeling of homesickness. The whole family had to gather in the kitchen together, some preparing the filling, others peeling ginger, and still others shaping the dumplings.

The whole family must sit together and eat amidst the lingering sounds of New Year's firecrackers. Eating during Tet – a ritual in every person's life – is the only way to feel truly satisfied and fulfilled, isn't it?

In the old days, each region had its own produce, and transportation wasn't as convenient as it is today. It was impossible to travel far and wide to bring back the best food.

People use the finest and most fragrant local produce, or products made with their own hands and hearts, to prepare offerings for their ancestors.

Bánh ngào – a rare type of traditional cake that uses sugarcane molasses in its cooking. Made from seasonal glutinous rice and sugarcane molasses – the finest local molasses – bánh ngào is like a culinary "speech" for the homeland of Nghe An province.

"We invite our ancestors to witness the sincerity of their descendants as Tet (Lunar New Year) arrives."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giao-thua-nau-banh-ngao-dien-tu-am-thuc-xu-nghe-nho-tuoi-tho-du-doi-20250127193201605.htm