Besides familiar dishes such as banh tro (also known as banh gio), sticky rice, purple sticky rice or summer fruits such as lychee, plum, etc., banh nep is also a simple gift and specialty that many people love and look for during the Doan Ngo Festival (also known as the Insect Killing Festival, on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month).
Sticky rice cake is a traditional dish that preserves the cultural identity of Hanoians. However, over time, the famous sticky rice cake of Hanoi has gradually been lost, with only a few places selling and preparing it with the right flavor. Therefore, in the heart of the bustling, modern city, sticky rice cake is considered a "rare and hard to find" traditional dish.
Ms. Nguyen Thu Huong, owner of a food store on To Hien Thanh Street (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) and a kitchen workshop on Nguyen Luong Bang (Dong Da District) has restored this dish for the past 6 years to serve diners.
Until now, sticky rice cake has always been one of the best-selling dishes of the restaurant, regardless of weekdays or holidays, especially the Duanwu Festival. This cake has 2 main ingredients: a smooth, soft crust and a rich, savory filling.
"My childhood was associated with simple dishes, imbued with the cultural identity of Hanoi people. In my subconscious, I was always impressed with the sticky rice cakes of my grandmothers and mothers, and I always remember the rich flavor of this rustic snack.
Later, when the sticky rice cake gradually faded away, I decided to research and consult recipes and experiences from many sources to restore and preserve this simple gift of the old Hanoians," Ms. Huong shared.
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Sticky rice cakes are usually made with two traditional fillings: green bean and fatty meat filling and shrimp and meat filling (Photo: Huong Thu Nguyen)
Like many other traditional cakes, sticky rice cake also consists of two main ingredients: the crust made from sticky rice flour and the filling made from green beans or fatty meat, shrimp and onions. To make delicious sticky rice cake with the traditional taste, according to Ms. Huong, the ingredients must be carefully selected.
The crust is made from a special type of sticky rice that helps to avoid feeling greasy, heavy or hot in the stomach. The amount of flour for each cake is also measured just enough to create a thin, soft, flexible crust that does not break when steamed.
The fatty meat filling is carefully selected from wild boar. When processed, it has a characteristic crispiness and aroma, enhancing the flavor of the sticky rice cake.
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Although a rustic dish, sticky rice cake also requires meticulous and elaborate preparation to bring out the most fragrant and flavorful aroma (Photo: Huong Thu Nguyen).
The filling is divided into two types: fatty meat or shrimp and meat. Fat meat is taken from the nape fat to have a crispy, fragrant taste. The shrimp used is fresh, uniform in size so that when ground and stir-fried, it still has a rich aroma of the sea.
In addition to the main ingredients of shrimp and fatty meat, the filling is also skillfully prepared with accompanying spices such as pepper, Phu Quoc and Phan Thiet fish sauce or Dien Bien wood ear mushrooms,... to ensure the dish has a fragrant aroma and the most characteristic rich flavor.
In addition, Ms. Huong also carefully selects banana leaves, usually dried in the sun or heated over a fire (on a cool, cloudy day, when it is rainy and windy without sunlight) to soften the leaves and ensure their elasticity. Thanks to that, when wrapping the cake, the leaves will not tear, and the dough will not be exposed.
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Sticky rice cake is used as a convenient and nutritious breakfast dish or as a snack to warm the stomach of diners every afternoon (Photo: Thu Huong)
Thanks to the meticulous and careful preparation in each stage, sticky rice cake is still popular with many diners in modern cities, becoming a snack that warms the stomach at any time of the day.
Ms. Huong revealed that on peak days such as weekends, wedding season, party season or the Duanwu Festival, sticky rice cakes are always "sold out". There are days when the shop serves more than 500 cakes, having to mobilize all employees to participate in stages such as kneading dough, stir-frying filling, wrapping cakes, etc.
However, the sticky rice cake is handmade, requiring sophistication, so the shop only serves a limited quantity to ensure the quality of the dish, helping diners enjoy the flavor of the cake to the fullest.
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At Ms. Huong's kitchen, sticky rice cakes with fatty pork filling cost 15,000 VND/piece, and sticky rice cakes with shrimp and pork filling cost 18,000 VND/piece. This cake also often appears during Tet holidays, becoming a familiar dish of Hanoians to this day (Photo: Huong Thu Nguyen)
Taking a bite of sticky rice cake, diners will feel the thin, soft, smooth crust with the green bean filling, rich, fatty meat with a little spicy pepper and the faint aroma of fish sauce. All the flavors blend together, spreading throughout the mouth, making anyone who eats it once remember forever the famous sticky rice cake specialty of Hanoi people.
Phan Dau
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