Every holiday season, Muong women in Tu Vu commune, Thanh Thuy district, Phu Tho province are busy making fish cakes - a traditional cake of the Muong ethnic group here. In addition to basic ingredients such as sticky rice flour, fish filling and spices, an indispensable ingredient when making fish cakes is tau leaves.
Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Xuan in zone 6, Tu Vu commune, divides the dough into small portions to make fish cakes.
The ingredients for this dish are carefully selected, and each step of preparation is also extremely meticulous. Glutinous rice must be soaked for 12 hours or more, then ground and fermented for 1-2 hours to meet the standards for making cakes. The best fish to choose for the filling is carp or grass carp weighing 5kg or more.
After cleaning, the fish is marinated with seasonings including seasoning powder, pepper, and anise seeds and grilled over charcoal. When grilling the fish, it is important to ensure even heat, especially grilling until just cooked to keep the softness and sweetness of the fish meat. After grilling, the baker carefully removes each piece of fish meat to remove the bones, then fluffs it up and stir-fries it again to allow the fish filling to absorb more spices.
Carefully remove the fish to make the filling.
Grilled fish stir-fried with chopped tamarind leaves as filling creates the flavor of fish cake.
Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Xuan in zone 6 of Tu Vu commune shared: In addition to basic ingredients such as sticky rice flour, fish filling and spices, an indispensable ingredient when making fish cakes is tau leaves. Tau leaves look like betel leaves, have a light aroma but are very difficult to find because this type of plant is usually only found in streams and rocky mountains. This is also a special ingredient that creates the unique flavor of fish cakes.
Fish cakes are wrapped by the Muong people in Tu Vu by hand. When wrapping the cakes, the wrapper usually divides the dough into small portions, enough for one cake, flattens it, then adds the filling and shapes it again. After that, the cake will be wrapped once with tau leaves and then wrapped with banana leaves to make the cake shell.
After shaping, the fish cakes are wrapped in tau leaves.
Tamarind leaves are an indispensable ingredient when making fish cakes.
The process of steaming the cake also requires meticulousness from the stage of preparing enough water to the stage of adjusting the fire. While steaming the cake, you need to keep the fire steady, hot enough and steam for about 1 hour so that the steam can cook the cake. When the time is up, the cake is cooked and you must take it out to cool, drain the water so that the cake leaves are dry and not moldy.
The cake is wrapped in square, beautiful banana leaves.
...and put in a pot and steam for 1 hour.
According to Mrs. Phung Thi Thin, whether it is a holiday, Tet or whenever the family has an event, she and many other families choose fish cake as a special dish and gift. The cake has existed since ancient times, through many generations, and until now still retains the traditional features of the Muong people in Tu Vu.
When cooked, the fish cake is chewy and rich, with the characteristic aroma of tau leaves, fish and spices.
Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Xuan and her mother-in-law carefully wrap each fish cake to prepare for Tet.
Enjoy each piece of fish cake, feel the special, fragrant, sticky taste of sticky rice flour mixed with the sweet, rich taste of fish filling with traditional spices and the characteristic light aroma of tau leaves...
Preparing and wrapping each fish cake together is also an opportunity for family members to gather together and strengthen their relationships during each traditional holiday and Tet of the nation.
Source: https://danviet.vn/la-tau-la-va-hiem-giong-trau-khong-moc-o-rung-sau-la-linh-hon-dac-san-banh-cua-nguoi-muong-phu-tho-20250129220252874.htm
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