Mrs. Ket (right) and her daughter wrap banh chung in bamboo leaves.
On the occasion of the Doan Ngo Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month), many people are busy preparing to wrap banh u in bamboo leaves to worship their ancestors. This is a traditional occupation of many families in Trang Bang, including the family of Mrs. Tran Thi Ket (born in 1963), residing in Loc Trat quarter, Gia Loc ward. In recent days, her family has focused on wrapping banh u in bamboo leaves to worship their ancestors and to sell.
Over 30 years of making bamboo leaf sticky rice cake
Since she was young, Mrs. Tran Thi Ket has been able to make many kinds of traditional cakes. During the Doan Ngo Festival, Mrs. Ket tried making banh u la tre to worship her ancestors and give to relatives and neighbors. Many people who ate her cakes praised them as delicious and then asked her to make a few skewers to worship their ancestors the following year.
The good news spread far and wide, one person, two people, then dozens of people came to order cakes. Mrs. Ket mobilized her sisters, husband and children to stay up all night to wrap the cakes. Some prepared sticky rice, some picked bamboo leaves, some made the filling, and busily wrapped the small bamboo leaf cakes in time to deliver to customers on the occasion of the Doan Ngo Festival.
Mrs. Ket tells the story of her 30-year-old love for making bamboo-leaf sticky rice cakes. When she first received the order, she thought she would help her neighbors make a few skewers of sticky rice cakes to worship their ancestors because they were too busy. Over time, the orders for cakes increased, and one year she received orders for more than 6,000 cakes, and had to mobilize her whole family to help make them.
Gradually, the job of making bamboo leaf sticky rice cakes for the Doan Ngo Festival has become her family's traditional job. Near the Doan Ngo Festival, regular customers call and text to order cakes. There are customers from other provinces and cities who order, some order a few dozen, some order thousands. Just like that, the job of making bamboo leaf sticky rice cakes has become the main income for her family. "At first, I only made bamboo leaf sticky rice cakes to sell to have more money to take care of my family, but gradually this job has brought a decent income for my family every Doan Ngo Festival" - she concluded sharing.
This year, Mrs. Ket planned to make a few dozen cakes for her family to worship their ancestors, but many customers "begged" her so much that she could not refuse, so she accepted several orders of nearly 1,000 cakes. With this number of orders, her whole family only had to make them in one day. "Wrapping banh u la tre has become a joy for me and my family. When it comes to the Doan Ngo Festival, if I don't make cakes, I feel "empty" somehow. Therefore, even though I am old and my health is not as good as before, I still want to make cakes so that my family can gather together, adding to the Tet atmosphere," said Mrs. Ket.
Talking about the meaning of offering to ancestors with bamboo leaf sticky rice cakes during the Doan Ngo Festival, researcher Phi Thanh Phat (Trang Bang town) said that, associated with the agricultural culture of our ancestors, sticky rice and beans are considered the fruits of a bountiful harvest. To show respect to grandparents and ancestors and pray for favorable weather, fertile land, and abundant fruit trees, people used sticky rice and beans to make bamboo leaf sticky rice cakes to offer along with summer fruits such as rambutan, durian, mangosteen, etc. This is a ritual and custom associated with the folk life of Vietnamese people.
She has four daughters who are married and have families, but on the occasion of the Doan Ngo Festival, they all come back to their mother's house to help wrap banh chung. At an old age, Mrs. Ket has passed on her craft to her children. Therefore, it can be said that this is a profession that connects generations of the family together. "Seeing my children and grandchildren gather together to wrap and cook banh chung, I feel warm inside. I pass on my craft to my children so that they can make their own banh chung to worship their ancestors every Doan Ngo Festival. They love this profession, I am very happy," Mrs. Ket confided.
Mrs. Ket's meticulous hands wrap the cakes.
Mrs. Ket's bamboo leaf sticky rice cake has a beautiful, natural green color.
Bamboo leaf sticky rice cake with Malabar spinach flavor
Mrs. Ket's bamboo leaf sticky rice cake is made from 100% natural ingredients, including the cake's color. To give the cake a beautiful green color, Mrs. Ket uses Malabar spinach leaves to color it. The process of coloring the cake is quite elaborate. After plucking and washing the leaves, the Malabar spinach leaves are boiled and then taken out to cool. After that, Mrs. Ket grinds the Malabar spinach leaves into a thick, dark green solution, filters the leaf juice and mixes it with the sticky rice to give the cake a natural green color.
Regarding the stages of making the cake, Mrs. Ket said that to have a delicious, soft, fragrant bamboo leaf cake, the most important step is soaking the sticky rice. The sticky rice used to make the cake must be grade I. After washing it, Mrs. Ket soaks the sticky rice in ash water for 2 days to remove impurities and make the sticky rice softer.
Next, she stir-fried the filling, which is usually made from steamed mung beans, pureed and simmered with white sugar. She mixed the mixture over a low flame, stirring constantly until it thickened. Then, she let it cool and used her hands to roll the mixture into small, pretty balls.
After preparing all the ingredients such as sticky rice, filling, bamboo leaves, and string, the whole family started wrapping the cake. Wrapping the cake also requires skillful and steady hands, and the cake must be compressed tightly to have a beautiful shape. Mrs. Ket's wrapping speed is very fast, finishing a cake in less than 1 minute. Thanks to the contribution of the whole family, 1,000 cakes were wrapped in 1 day.
Hot, small bamboo leaf sticky rice cakes are an indispensable dish on the Duan Ngo festival.
After wrapping, Mrs. Ket starts cooking the cake. Bamboo leaf sticky rice cake usually takes about 3 hours to cook. After taking the cake out, it must be blanched in cold water to cool it quickly and then dried on a rack to drain the water. “Bamboo leaf sticky rice cake left overnight will become more “soft” (the cake will be firm and chewy) and taste better than when it is just cooked. Bamboo leaf sticky rice cake can be kept for 5-7 days. Because the cake has a short shelf life, most customers want to get the cake on the day of the Doan Ngo Festival,” Mrs. Ket said.
Trying Mrs. Ket's bamboo leaf sticky rice cake with spinach flavor, first, the eater will be amazed by the natural green color of the cake, then feel the sticky aroma of sticky rice and the light aroma of spinach leaves, along with the sweet taste of mung bean filling, all contributing to making Mrs. Ket's bamboo leaf sticky rice cake more delicious and lively.
Although she has been selling cakes for many years, the price of Mrs. Ket's banh u has not increased much, only from 35,000 VND/string when bought at her house. Her quality, delicious and food-safe cakes are always trusted by customers and come to buy every year.
Ngoc Bich - Hoang Yen
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