VI
EN
Son Tay rice cake
With its picturesque natural scenery, the Đoài region always attracts tourists with its famous Đường Lâm ancient village. In addition, it boasts a unique local dish that you should definitely try. The kind and simple people here often include bánh tẻ (a type of rice cake) instead of bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake), bánh dày (round sticky rice cake), or xôi (sticky rice) in their feasts. These small, elongated bánh tẻ, filled with minced meat and wood ear mushrooms, are so delicious you'll never tire of eating them, and they're always a popular souvenir for visitors to this area.
 |
| The rice cake has a fragrant aroma of wood ear mushrooms, onions, and minced lean meat. Photo:Dang Tuyen |
Typically, the rice used to make bánh tẻ (a type of Vietnamese rice cake) must be high-quality, white, sticky, and fragrant, soaked thoroughly and changed frequently. After soaking, the rice is ground into a fine powder to create a pure white rice flour mixture. The mixture is then drained to the right consistency, thickened in a pot, and then used for wrapping, ensuring the cake is both chewy and crispy.
Making the filling is simple but requires skill and careful seasoning. Lean and fatty meat is finely minced, and black wood ear mushrooms are thinly sliced and stir-fried briefly with onions until fragrant and seasoned before being wrapped. The banana leaves must be small and green, and thin strips of string are used to wrap the filling along the length of the cake.
To preserve the delicious flavor of the cake without it becoming soggy, it is steamed instead of boiled. The steam cooks the dough evenly, preventing it from becoming mushy, and the filling remains flavorful. The pretty cake, when its green banana leaf wrapper is opened, reveals a translucent white slice, emitting a gentle warmth and a delicate aroma.
Honey cake, thorn cake
During Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), some families often make banh mat or banh gai, a type of traditional cake made from glutinous rice flour. Typically, after milling the glutinous rice, it is drained and then mixed with molasses until smooth. The filling is made from mung beans, stir-fried with sugar, and sometimes with a little coconut or pork fat boiled in sugar syrup, placed in the center of the cake and wrapped into a square shape. For banh gai, a few dried, boiled, and finely chopped thorn leaves are added and mixed into the flour and molasses.
These cakes are usually wrapped in dried banana leaves, then steamed until cooked through, ensuring they are neither too soft nor too hard.
To enjoy honey cakes and thorn leaf cakes, diners must be very meticulous in tearing each banana leaf into small strips; otherwise, the cake will stick to the leaf, revealing the filling inside. When peeled, you will see a thin, brown or black layer encasing a fragrant mung bean filling, along with the aroma of molasses, thorn leaves, and dried banana leaves, creating a unique, rustic flavor.
Dumpling candy
 |
| Donut candy (white), a simple, traditional gift from the countryside. Photo:Mr. Phuong |
This simple yet delicious treat always attracts tourists. The ingredients for peanut brittle are simple, usually malt syrup, sugar, and peanuts, but it requires meticulous effort and skill from the maker. The malt syrup must be cooked to a specific consistency – not too runny and not too hard – to successfully whip the candy. Therefore, the maker needs strength and stamina.
The entire block of sugar is flattened as thinly as possible, then the mixture of peanuts, sugar, and malt syrup is placed in the middle, and it is rolled up into a sausage shape. Once cooled sufficiently, it is sliced diagonally with a knife into pieces resembling sausages.
After admiring the rural scenery, sitting at a tea shop at the edge of the village, and enjoying the pristine white sticky rice candy with a cup of fragrant green tea, you'll find life here truly delightful.
Nem Phùng is famous.
These square-shaped nem (fermented pork rolls) release an irresistible aroma of roasted rice flour, pork skin, and the pungent scent of fig leaves when opened, leaving a lasting impression on anyone who tries them. Phung nem is special because of its meticulous ingredient selection and elaborate preparation. To make delicious Phung nem, one must choose pork loin with both lean and fatty parts, and the skin must be free of hair. Based on the grain, the cook cuts the pork into sections, then blanches them in boiling water until partially cooked, then removes them and separates the skin, lean meat, and fatty meat.
Pork skin must be boiled twice until it is thin and translucent, then sliced into thin strips, which are both fragrant and crispy. Lean and fatty meat should also be chopped into tiny pieces, like green peas; the fat should be as thin and small as a pencil, then mixed with a little seasoning such as salt, pepper, good quality fish sauce, and MSG, adjusting the amount to suit your taste.
The rice used to make the roasted rice powder for nem (Vietnamese fermented pork sausage) must be a mixture of glutinous rice and regular rice in the correct ratio to ensure the powder is fluffy and fragrant. Roasting the rice powder is also a meticulous process, requiring the right temperature to achieve a golden brown color. Then, the roasted rice powder is mixed thoroughly with the meat filling. For a delicious nem, pork skin is added later. The leaves used to wrap the nem must be green banana leaves, washed clean and dried. The filling is then tightly wrapped and tied with string. After being kept warm for a few days, it's ready to eat. Nem Phùng should be eaten with young fig leaves and Gynura procumbens leaves, dipped in a sweet and sour fish sauce with a touch of spiciness to fully appreciate the delicious flavor of this rustic, traditional dish.
 |
| Nem Phùng is famous in Sơn Tây province. Photo:dulichgo |
Mia chicken from Doai region
When mentioning the poetic land of Đoài, one cannot forget to talk about the famous Mía chicken breed. Boiled Mía chicken is always a popular dish on feast tables during holidays, ancestral worship ceremonies, and Tet (Lunar New Year).
Mia chicken is a purebred chicken breed that has been raised and preserved in the Duong Lam region for a very long time. This breed has a moderate weight; when boiled until cooked through, cooled, and cut into matchbox-sized pieces, sprinkled with finely chopped lime leaves, the meat is white, firm, and exceptionally fragrant and delicious. The meat retains its skin, with a thin layer of fat underneath that is sweet but not greasy or fatty like some other chicken breeds.
When eaten together with pickled celery, the richness of the fat, the sweet aroma of the chicken meat, and the sour crispness of the celery create a memorable taste experience.
