In Bac Kan, in addition to famous specialties such as Ba Be sour shrimp, cooc mo cake, dam deng sticky rice, ra sang (wild spinach), Na Ri dong vermicelli, smoked pork, etc., there is another delicious dish that surprises anyone who hears its name for the first time. That is banh chung with carp filling.
True to its name, the Tay ethnic people in Bac Kan have created a traditional Vietnamese cake with a unique filling made from carp.
According to locals, no one knows when banh chung with carp filling appeared, but it is known that every year on the 7th lunar month, locals make this cake to worship their ancestors.
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Unique carp-filled banh chung dish of a group of Tay people living in Bac Kan province
Thu Huyen (born in 1996, Tay ethnic, currently living in Na Ri district, Bac Kan province) said that the carp-filled banh chung (locally called peng ho) is not yet known to many people. In Bac Kan, mainly the Tay people in Na Ri and Ba Be districts make this cake.
And depending on the habits and culture of each locality, the way of making the cake is also different, such as some places use ginger leaves, other places use Vietnamese coriander to remove the fishy smell of the fish when making the cake filling.
It is known that the main ingredients to make this cake include sticky rice, fatty meat, carp, Vietnamese coriander or ginger leaves and some other spices.
In addition to carefully selected sticky rice, the locals will use carp raised in the rice fields. Here, around the 4th and 5th lunar months, when planting rice, people will release wild carp into the fields. The fields are not fertilized or sprayed with pesticides to ensure cleanliness.
This type of fish is quite small, only the size of two fingers, but is naturally raised so it has a characteristic delicious taste. When cooked, it will be soft and delicious.
A few days before the full moon of July, people start harvesting fish. They herd the fish into a hole at the end of the field and catch them. The carp were initially only as small as a toothpick tip, but after a few months they grew in size, about 2-3 finger tips. To keep the fish clean, the locals put the fish in baskets and hang them in the middle of the stream for 3 to 4 days. When they bring them home, the fish are pure white and clean.
After being caught, the fish is cleaned, carefully processed, then mixed with chopped ginger leaves and a little seasoning to remove the fishy smell and increase the richness.
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Some steps to prepare the unique carp-filled banh chung dish
After preparing the ingredients, people start wrapping the cake. The wrapping method is not different from traditional banh chung but is mainly wrapped in a round, elongated shape like banh tet. The cake is boiled for 12 to 15 hours to ensure that the carp filling is soft and tender, while the rice is sticky and fragrant.
When the cake is cooked, people take it out and hang it up high to drain.
Many people, upon hearing the name, are curious about the taste of Banh Chung Ca Carp. Some people are even wary and skeptical about the combination of a traditional cake with a strange filling.
However, if you have the chance to enjoy it, diners will easily be conquered by this unique cake because of the aroma mixed from fatty meat and ginger leaves, which overpowers the fishy taste of the fish. The carp filling is also soft and fatty, so you don't have to worry about choking on the bones when eating.
Carp-filled banh chung is considered to be quite picky, but if you get used to it, you will enjoy it because of its unique flavor, hard to find anywhere else.
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Ms. Huyen excitedly wrapped Chung cake with carp filling on a special occasion in her hometown.
According to Thu Huyen, because this cake is not popular yet, it is almost only available in the two districts of Na Ri and Ba Be in Bac Kan, so few tourists know about it. And every year, the Tay people here only make the cake on the full moon day of the 7th lunar month, so if diners want to enjoy banh chung with carp filling, they have to order in advance.
The Tay ethnic girl also revealed that on the traditional Tet holiday, local people still wrap banh chung with bean and meat fillings like many other places. In addition, there is banh chung with red peanut filling which is quite unique and easy to eat.
Phan Dau - Photo: Huyen Bun
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