Going back to my hometown to eat rice cakes.

(Dong Nai) - Suddenly, as the early summer days arrived, I noticed my landlady seemed to be preparing to make cakes. Seeing her steaming sticky rice with gac fruit juice to create a red color, and then seeing the basket of gardenias next to it, I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. She then steamed the gardenias to extract the juice, which she then used to steam the sticky rice, creating a familiar, eye-catching yellow color. It had been a long time since I'd seen this traditional cake from my hometown, evoking a deep longing for home and a craving for the sticky rice cake that had been a part of my childhood for so long.

Back in my hometown, whenever my grandmother made rice cakes, we kids would gather around to watch because this childhood treat was a delicious snack and also because of its appealing appearance. The cakes were usually made in the summer, when the ingredients were at their best and in season, unlike the year-round cakes that are sold.

After steaming the sticky rice with gac fruit and gardenia fruit to create a reddish-yellow color, I would often help my grandmother mix them together and then mash them until smooth. Whenever she made sticky rice cakes, she would make a lot because there were so many children and grandchildren in the house; she usually only made them for special occasions or large ceremonies. Once the sticky rice was soft and smooth, the dough would be rolled out, sliced ​​thinly, and then dried. Making a large quantity required careful slicing, so back then, the large courtyard in front of my grandmother's house was always filled with baskets and trays of soft, smooth sticky rice slices, covering the entire yard, just like when she dried bananas for making dried bananas. The sun had to be hot so the dough wouldn't harden or become wet, and it would also have the fragrant aroma of sun-dried dough.