Romance in the Southern Land…

(NB&CL) This cake is a variation of Banh Chung on the "Southern pilgrimage" of our ancestors; and later became a traditional cake of the Southern people during death anniversaries or every spring: Banh Tet!

Banh tet is not called a cake but a stick (don banh tet!) because it has a long, round cylindrical shape like… a stick; a shape that is “not related” to the original banh chung! This variant shape is probably convenient for taking along as food on the journey to open up new lands of the ancient Southerners. The ingredients to make the cake are similar to banh chung: sticky rice, pork, green onions and spices to marinate the filling. The difference is that beans are not used to keep the cake from spoiling. Another difference is that the filling for wrapping banh tet is “raw filling”; that is, it is only marinated and not fried first!

Wrap the cake in banana leaves, tie with bamboo strips or thinly sliced ​​banana stems, and dry. Cooking banh tet is similar to cooking banh chung, and usually takes a whole day or a whole night. Arrange the cakes in a pot or a large barrel; set up a large stove in the garden or yard; put the pot on, add enough water to cover, cover tightly, and cook with firewood. Keep an eye on the pot; add more water when the water runs out. It usually takes several times of adding water for the banh tet to cook…

It is called banh tet because when eating, people rarely cut it with a knife but use a string (large thread) to "cut" the cake. The way to cut it is quite simple: hold one end of the string in one hand, put the other end in the mouth; the other hand holds the cake with part of the wrapping leaves removed. Stretch the string, place it horizontally on the cake at the position you want to cut. Still keeping it taut, slowly bring the end of the string in your hand and wrap it around the cake to form a closed hug. Pull the two ends of the string tight so that the "noose" slowly tightens (...like the form of... execution of feudal kings!) The tension of the string will crush the part of the cake you want to cut into a round, thin, straight slice that looks like... a wheel. The remaining piece of cake that you want to save for the next meal just needs to be folded, tied with a bunch of excess leaves to cover the half-cut part of the cake. That layer of leaves will temporarily protect the cut surface of the cake, preventing it from being exposed to air, which can easily grow mold.

Banh tet can be used as a snack or as a real meal; because it is like a shortened meal that includes both food and provisions in the cake! That is why eating banh tet, to make the flavor perfect, requires... fish sauce! Using chopsticks to pierce the cake slice horizontally, dip it in the fish sauce and chili, and bring it to your mouth, you will enjoy a combination of flavors of sticky rice, banana leaves, pork, and scallion oil, accompanied by the pure Vietnamese savoriness of the fish sauce and chili; a flavor that a true Vietnamese person will never forget even if they die! I don't know how true the poetic legend of Prince Lang Lieu is; but the banh tet dish that is eaten as a snack is truly a unique inheritance of the traditional banh chung dish of the Southern Vietnamese. No wonder the time when our ancestors went to open up new lands has long passed; but in the Southern land, banh tet still exists, always present on the Tet tray every spring...

Y Nguyen

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tinh-lang-lieu-tren-dat-phuong-nam-post331357.html