Tranh Khuc Chung Cake Village

Tranh Khuc village is located in Duyen Ha commune, Thanh Tri district, about 20km south of Hanoi center. This place has a traditional profession of making banh chung.

Until now, Tranh Khuc sticky and fragrant banh chung is not only favored by Hanoians, but also known by people in many places. Professional banh chung wrappers in Tranh Khuc do not need to use molds but can still wrap square, even and beautiful banh chung. When wrapping, the wrapper usually wraps tightly, in the right way, with the right weight, and must be boiled for the right amount of time. Making banh chung seems simple but actually requires high technical skills. Just the wrong technique such as unclean leaves, poor quality charcoal, or mixing water at the wrong time can also affect the product.

Making the cake has many steps and is done in large quantities, so most family members participate. The elderly and children wash the leaves, arrange them, and puree the beans, while the young do the steps that require more technique and strength.

The village’s secret to making banh chung is also from the ingredients: sticky rice, green beans, pork wrapped in dong leaves. However, to make delicious banh chung, one must be very meticulous from the steps of choosing leaves, rice, and beans.

As simple as choosing the number of leaves, you also have to consider the weather. If the weather is favorable and cold, you only need enough leaves, usually 6 leaves are needed to wrap the set. But when the weather is humid and hot, you have to wrap the leaves thicker, sometimes you have to wrap 10 leaves. This way the cake will be better preserved.

Villagers often choose the yellow sticky rice of Hai Hau to make the cake filling because the rice of this region has round, fragrant, sticky, white, even grains that do not break. Before wrapping the cake, just wash the rice for an hour to drain, no need to soak the rice overnight. The mung beans must also be of good quality and sticky. In the past, when broken beans were not available, villagers often chose the pepper bean, which was dark in color, more delicious and fragrant than the large-grained fat bean, which was also crumbly and sticky.

The delicious and rich taste of Banh Chung also depends on the pork, usually the pork belly. When making the filling, blanch it in hot water before slicing, the meat is clean and firm, seasoned with pepper, fish sauce and salt. The cake must be wrapped tightly, tied tightly and boiled for 8-10 hours. When the cake is cooked, the worker usually washes it in cold water to clean the cake, the leaves are not dry and ugly. Then use a bamboo mat to press the cake so that the corners are evenly expanded, the corners are equally tight. Usually the leaf making process is done in the morning, the afternoon is wrapped, and the stove is turned on in the late afternoon. At night, every family's kitchen is bustling all night. In the morning, the cake is scooped out, pressed and taken away. A delicious Banh Chung is one that is firm when cut but the rice grains are soft and sticky, and has a fragrant and fatty taste when eaten.

The spring atmosphere has filled every corner of Hanoi, so the villagers are also more urgent with wrapping and delivering cakes to all the streets, serving the needs of Tet shopping and Tet celebration of the capital's people.

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