On the full moon or the first day of every month, the image of mothers and grandmothers returning from the temple with bags of banh duc peanuts with soy sauce or banh duc salad in their hands has become quite familiar in many families. Banh duc is a simple, rustic dish of the countryside but has gradually crept into afternoon snacks in the city without anyone noticing. This rustic dish imbued with the soul of the Vietnamese countryside has a special appeal.
You can find many banh duc salad stalls on the streets of the capital, but the most delicious and famous is the banh duc stall at 47 Chau Long or Ms. Le's street stall, which sits in front of house number 66 Hang Bac in the morning and in the afternoon she moves to sit in front of the old house number 14 Dao Duy Tu.
Each piece of smooth and shiny banh duc is quickly cut into thin, long strips by the saleswoman, put into a large bowl, then poured in sesame and peanut broth mixed with blanched bean sprouts. All of the saleswoman's actions are very fast and skillful, in just a moment, diners will see a bowl of delicious banh duc salad before their eyes. Banh duc salad must be served with herbs such as Vietnamese coriander, Vietnamese balm, perilla, banana flower or thinly sliced young banana stem... If you can eat spicy food, diners can add a little chili powder or a few slices of fresh chili to fully experience the color and flavor of this simple, rustic yet sophisticated dish.
When eating, diners will feel each piece of soft and smooth banh duc mixed with the rich, fatty flavor of sesame and peanut soup, the cool sweetness of blanched bean sprouts and the fragrant aroma of raw vegetables, creating a gentle yet attractive flavor that spreads in the mouth, captivating the hearts of the people of Hanoi.
To have delicious banh duc, when cooking, you must use chopsticks to stir continuously and evenly so that the flour does not clump and does not stick to the pot. The heat must be small and even so that the cake is cooked and not burnt. A "standard" banh duc when cooled must be salty, smooth and shiny, not smell of lime and not stick to your hands when cut.
But the "soul" of the Banh Duc Nap dish lies in the creamy white broth made from sesame and peanuts. The seller must be very careful in choosing the ingredients; the sesame and peanuts must be completely fresh, otherwise, if there is just one bad bean, the whole pot of broth will have a very unpleasant smell. Then, the sesame and peanuts are ground and boiled with blanched water to create a fragrant, creamy, fatty broth that is not too greasy and still ensures a refreshing and attractive taste.
With simple, rustic ingredients such as rice, vegetables, sesame, peanuts and a light, delicate flavor, banh duc nang is a vegetarian dish, a rustic snack that conquers the taste buds of even the most discerning gourmets. A bowl of banh duc nang costs 20,000 VND.
