Unique traditional cakes during the traditional Tet holiday of the three regions

banh-chung.jpg.jpg — Every time Tet comes, family members gather around a pot of green banh chung. (Photo: Minh Quyet/VNA)

For every Vietnamese person around the world , the traditional Tet holiday always has a very sacred meaning. It is an occasion for all family members to reunite, put aside all worries and busyness, and gather around the Tet meal. And on that reunion meal, there must be traditional cakes that have been around for generations.

In each region of the country there is a different type of cake, not only beautiful, delicious but also has many meanings.

Chung cake

Banh Chung has a long history and a special place in the minds of Vietnamese people. Banh Chung is not simply a dish, but the origin, the culture, the synthesis of heaven and earth with the quintessence that nature bestows on Vietnamese people. Perhaps that is why people remember Banh Chung as they remember Tet and remember Tet is to remember the cake of their ancestors.

Banh chung symbolizes the ancient Vietnamese concept of the universe and gathers the quintessence of Vietnam in a simple, familiar dish. According to the legend of banh chung and banh day, banh chung is square, wrapped in green dong leaves, symbolizing the evergreen and fertile land with the long-standing rice culture of the Vietnamese people. Inside the cake is fragrant sticky rice, green bean filling and fatty marinated pork belly, pepper, and spices.

After wrapping, the banh chung is boiled for 10-12 hours, taken out while steaming, left to cool in the cool weather of the changing seasons, absorbing the flavors of heaven and earth and blending with the warm, happy atmosphere around the pot of banh chung of generations of northern families in the last days of the year.

During the Tet holidays, on the ancestral altar as well as the New Year's table of Northern people, the image of green Chung cakes with fatty meat and pickled onions is indispensable. On the altar, seeing Chung cakes, everyone feels nostalgic as if they see the hard work of their ancestors to grow rice, see the joy of Tet reunion, and feel the simple quintessence of the Vietnamese soul every time Tet comes, Spring returns.

Skillful hands wrap beautiful, square banh chung cakes in preparation for the traditional Tet holiday. (Photo: Minh Quyet/VNA)

Phu The Cake

Phu the cake is also a typical Tet cake of the Northern people, especially in Bac Ninh - Kinh Bac, the homeland of these golden, sweet cakes. Every time Tet comes, people prepare these delicious cakes together with the wish for a happy and prosperous life.

According to legend, the first phu the cakes were made about 1,000 years ago, in Dinh Bang ward, Tu Son city, Bac Ninh province. According to Dinh Bang ward people, phu the cakes (also known as xu xe cakes) originated from the Ly dynasty, when King Ly Anh Tong went to war, the queen at home missed her husband so much that she made cakes and sent them to the battlefield. The king ate the cakes and found them delicious and sweet, and cherished the love between husband and wife, so he named them phu the cakes.

But there is also a legend that, on one occasion when King Ly Thanh Tong and his queen visited the Do Temple festival, the people of Dinh Bang were eager to find local products to offer the king. A young couple in the village made cakes to offer the king. The king enjoyed them and found them delicious, so he named them Phu The cakes, or "husband and wife cakes." Since then, Phu The cakes have symbolized loyalty and happiness in marriage, so they are often used in weddings and New Year's celebrations.

To make a delicious Phu The cake, all steps must be carefully selected from sticky rice, green beans, banana leaves, dong leaves, and gardenia fruit. The cake crust is made from yellow sticky rice, ground into powder, mixed with white sugar, shredded green papaya, banana essential oil, vanilla, and gardenia fruit juice, and kneaded well. The bright yellow color of the cake crust is the color of the gardenia fruit juice. The cake filling is made from peeled green beans, steamed, mashed, and mixed with white sugar, coconut milk, and grated coconut.

Dong leaves and banana leaves must be washed and drained, then the stems must be removed so that when wrapping the cake, it will be soft. The inner leaves must be soft banana leaves, boiled and dried. When wrapping, the baker also spreads a layer of fat on the leaves so that when peeling the cake, it will not stick and will have a characteristic richness. After wrapping, the cakes are boiled and taken out and tied in pairs with a pink string with the meaning of wishing for the couple's love to be forever warm and strong.

Every time Tet comes, Dinh Bang people are busy making cakes to prepare for their families, as well as to send to diners in provinces and cities across the country. The aroma and stickiness of the cake comes from the golden sticky rice, the chewiness of papaya, combined with the richness of green beans, coconut, and the sweetness of sugar, creating a very unique flavor, combined with the golden color of the cake crust, all blending together to bring the Spring atmosphere to the ancestral altar and the family reunion dinner on Tet holiday of each family.

The steamed phu the cake. (Photo: Dinh Van Nhieu/VNA)

Green bean cake

This is a famous cake of Hai Duong . The cake is made from green beans, has a rich, sweet and fragrant taste. On Tet holiday, green bean cakes are kept in boxes shaped like gold bars, printed with flying dragons. Many people often buy green bean cakes as gifts to send wishes of fortune to the homeowner in the New Year.

Cake

If the North has banh chung for Tet, then people in the Central region, especially in Hue, will eat banh in. Banh in is a local cake, originally made for kings and is now an indispensable traditional cake.

The ingredients of the cake include sticky rice flour, tapioca flour, sugar and mung beans. In the past, this cake was made exclusively for kings, but today, Banh In is a traditional cake that is indispensable during Tet holiday of families in Hue. The cake is printed with many images such as dragons and phoenixes, the words "Phuc", "Tai", "Loc", "Tho" ... as a wish for a new year of happiness, prosperity and good luck to everyone.

Banh it la gai

Just like Southern people eat banh it during the 3 days of Tet, Central people also eat banh it, but it is banh it wrapped in gai leaves, a specialty of Binh Dinh.

According to folklore, this cake appeared during the Hung King period, created by the King's youngest daughter from Chung cake and Day cake. The cake is cubic in shape, has a delicious, soft and fatty taste, so anyone who has tasted it will find it hard to forget.

Banh it la gai is a specialty of Binh Dinh, shaped like a block, with a delicious, chewy taste. According to folklore, this cake appeared during the Hung King period.

Banh To

Central cuisine is extremely rich and diverse, each dish has its own characteristics. Central specialties from snacks, to traditional Tet dishes or desserts all have charm and sophistication in the way they are prepared, making it difficult for diners to ignore.

Whenever mentioning Quang delicacies, people immediately think of Quang noodles, Cau Mong grilled veal, Tam Ky chicken rice, Hoi An cao lau... And among the people, there are many folk songs about the specialties: "Nem cha Hoa Vang, Banh to Hoi An...". These are long-standing traditional dishes during every Tet holiday of the people of Quang. However, a delicious and attractive cake that cannot be absent from the ancestral altar during Tet is Banh to.

On the altar on New Year's Eve, not all dishes are offered. For meat dishes, people only choose a bowl of Quang noodles or a plate of sticky rice, and for cakes, banh to is indispensable.

Banh to is usually only available during Tet, it is harder to find on normal days. Banh to is dark brown like the color of soil, poured in a thick mold, square or round, which is the symbol of "round sky, square earth" in the people's thinking.

The process of making Banh To is not simple, because it must ensure the cake is soft, chewy and has a sweet taste. Therefore, the sticky rice flour must be selected from the famous Quang sticky rice, and sugar and crushed ginger are added to get the juice. The sticky rice flour and sugar are kneaded well, and a little ginger juice is added for fragrance. All are mixed together.

Clean the dried banana leaves or dong leaves and line them around the bamboo mold that has been previously woven into a basket, square or round, with a diameter of 10 to 15 cm. Mix the sugar powder mixture until it becomes thick before pouring it into the mold, then steaming.

After steaming, the cake is taken out. At this time, sesame seeds are sprinkled evenly on the surface of the cake, left for about 3-4 minutes to cool, then stored in a cool place. Those who are more careful will dry the cake in the sun until it dries. However, a good cake is one that is not too hard or too soft, and when cut, the dough does not stick to the knife. Quang Nam cake can be kept for a long time without fear of mold. In fact, the longer it is kept, the more flexible and chewy the cake becomes, and the more flavorful it becomes. This also depends on the secret recipe of the person making the cake.

Nowadays, the market is flooded with many types of cakes with beautiful designs and quality, but Banh To still holds a very important position for the people of Quang. Banh To is not only a delicious dish but also carries a good traditional culture. Remembering Banh To is also remembering the origin of the village.

Banh tet

If banh chung originated from the reign of the 16th Hung King according to "The Legend of Banh Chung and Banh Day", then banh tet of the Southern people reminds of the talented King Quang Trung. Initially, this cake was wrapped by the king for Tet and named banh tet. However, over the years, it was misread as banh tet as it is today.

The main ingredients to make a banh tet are the same as banh chung in the North, which are sticky rice, green beans, and pork belly. However, banh tet has two differences from banh chung, which are that it is wrapped in banana leaves and has a long, round shape.

To have a delicious banh tet, it is necessary to be very meticulous, carefully from the steps of preparing ingredients such as sticky rice must be new, fragrant, delicious; green beans have been peeled, cooked; grated dry coconut to get coconut milk; pandan leaves are ground, filtered to get the water mixed into the rice to soak to create a cool green color; pork belly is cut according to the length of the cake, marinated with spices to make the filling.

Boiling banh tet is similar to boiling banh chung, from the way you arrange the cakes in the pot, the boiling time to constantly watching the fire so the cakes are cooked evenly, not undercooked or mushy.

The time to boil the cakes is always the most anticipated time, the whole family gathers together, the children also eagerly stay up to watch the pot of cakes, chatting with grandparents and parents with countless questions about the traditional Tet. Just like that, love mixed with the warmth of the fire spreads to every kitchen and every house. Year after year, Vietnamese children grow up like that.

After boiling, Banh Tet is left to cool, cut into beautiful round slices to offer to ancestors and is also an indispensable dish on the New Year's Eve tray of Southern people./.