Over the long- established culture of Vietnam, many festivals come with their own morals. Travelling around the cities these days, you may see lots of food vendors selling white round cakes. Those are the traditional foods of “Tết Hàn thực” or the Cold foods festival.
The occasion falls on the third day of March of the lunar calendar, when every family prepares the floating cakes to offer to ancestors, showing their gratitude.
They are two traditional cakes of Cold Foods Festival. “Banh troi”- floating cake with a round shape is made of glutinous rice flour stuffed with a cube of brown sugar inside. “Banh chay”- lean cake shapes bigger with mung bean paste mixed with sugar and coconut, serving with sweet soup.
Preparing ingredients seems to be complicated but steps to make a proper dish are quite simple and quick.
An interesting journey of Banh Troi & Banh Chay (Source: kenh14.vn)
For Banh Troi, the glutinous rice flour after being knead and mixed with water, is cut into small pieces. Each will be stuffed with a small cube of brown sugar then rolled to make a ball.
The balls are then boiled in water and well cooked when they start to float.
Making Banh Troi (Source: Phunu8.vn, Facebook Minh Hung Land)
Sesames are sprinkled on top of the cake to make them look more flavorful.
For Banh chay, the coat is prepared the same as Banh troi but stuffed with sweet mung bean paste. A bowl of Banh chay are often served with 3 pieces and a sweet soup made of tapioca, grated ginger root and sugar.
The pure cakes are made with white glutinous flour. However, with the creation of the food makers, more vivid colors extracted from natural ingredients are added to the cakes to make them more attractive.
The well-cooked cakes are then let cold and offer to ancestors. When the liturgy of ancestor worship ended, the cakes will be shared among family members.
The cake making activity is precious a chance for family to gather together. Children are taught to roll the cake with their moms. It may be difficult for them to remember the origins of the custom, even for the elder. But it is still considered an important occasion in memory of the great contributions of ancestors.
Amid fast-paced social development and hustle life, these dishes of Banh troi and Banh chay in Cold Foods Festival greatly help preserve Vietnamese traditional values.