Visit the village that wraps thousands of banh chung every day in the middle of the capital

Tranh Khuc traditional banh chung village in Lunar New Year 2024.

Located about 20km from the center of Hanoi , Tranh Khuc village (Duyen Ha commune, Thanh Tri district, Hanoi) is the largest and most famous banh chung wrapping village in Hanoi.

70% of families in Tranh Khuc still maintain the profession of making banh chung (out of a total of 300 households), of which more than 10 households are large establishments.

On full moon days or before Tet, the atmosphere here is even more bustling and busy.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dap's house (63 years old, owner of a banh chung wrapping facility) is filled with green dong leaves and pots of banh chung that are still steaming before Tet. "If we do not count Tet, on a normal day, my family wraps 300 to 500 banh chung per day, but around Tet, it's from 1,000 to 3,000, even up to ten thousand banh chung," Mrs. Dap said.

According to the people of Tranh Khuc village, the profession of making banh chung here is a "father-to-son" profession that has existed for hundreds of years. "I, like most of the villagers, have been exposed to the profession and started doing it since I was a child. During the subsidy period, not many people did it, but gradually, many people felt that they could make money from this profession, so they encouraged each other to do it, and the number of households doing it has increased," a resident of Tranh Khuc village shared.

The process of wrapping the cake is divided into stages that each person is responsible for: someone washes the leaves, someone makes the filling, someone wraps the cake, someone ties the strings...

The decisive factor in the delicious taste of the cake is the careful selection of ingredients. The baker must be really thoughtful and meticulous from the stage of choosing leaves, rice, green beans and meat. The rice must be Bac Ninh sticky rice or yellow flower sticky rice, the cake crust will be soft.

The filling is made of pork belly or lean rump, wrapped in a layer of cooked green beans, creating harmony between the ingredients inside and out.

With many years of experience, the craftsman's skillful hands can wrap "hundreds of banh chung" without a mold, and in less than 30 seconds, a square banh chung is finished.

The finished cakes are placed in a steamer to be boiled. The boiling time is from 8 to 10 hours, which will produce the final product, the famous banh chung of Tranh Khuc village.

Source: https://vtc.vn/tham-ngoi-lang-moi-ngay-goi-nghin-chiec-banh-chung-giua-thu-do-ar848343.html