TINY CAKES
The name revokes a man’s difficult question: “A plate full of cakes, why would you call it “tiny”; the market is full of betal (trầu), why would you call it none-betal (trầu không)?” A folk story goes that in the time of the sixth Hung Kin, one of his sons, Lang Lieu won the contest of making offerings to heaven and earth with banh chung and thick cakes. The king had the youngest princess who was very clever and creative in the kitchen. She decided to simulate the shape of the banh chung and banh dày. Her cakes are rounds without wrapping leaves which are similar to dày cake, and another kind wrapped in square shapes like chưng cake. Her cakes are smaller in size. And to distinguish them with Lang’s cakes, and also to pay tribute to Ut princess, her cakes are called “Út’s tiny cakes”. Slowly, the cakes have grown with time as well as its name has been shortened into “tiny cakes”. These pyramid-shaped cakes are irreplaceable in the traditional New Year holidays, Đoan Ngọ Tết, death anniversaries, or Lunar July festival.
Southern tiny cakes: Recipe for these cakes is simple. Glutinous rice flour is mixed with water until it become sticky and to be molded into different shapes. Stuffing can vary from green beans to coconuts. These pyramid-shaped cakes wrapped in banana leaves from the South can have salty or sweet stuffing. For salty stuffing, sometimes, shrimps are mixed with pork and steamed to cook. They are made for New Year holiday or as countryside gifts. Medium sized, fatless, and non-fried, these cakes still contain high level of energy since they are made from glutinous rice and oil is used a lot for the dough and stir-fried stuffing, and sugar for sweet stuffing. Salty stuffed cakes provide more energy since they are served with onion oil and fish sauce. Averagely, a cake provides about 150 kcal, 40% of which is from fat. Although high in energy, they lack some vitamin, minerals, and fiber needed to converse that amount of energy.
Tiny cakes made from palm sugar and magenta plant, stuffed with coconut and green beans: Cakes are made of glutinous rice, palm sugar, magenta plant, pandan leaves, coconut or green beans. Banana leaves are washed and poached in boiling water for flexibility. Put the stuffing in the middle of the dough and fold the edge into a cone shape. Cakes are well-done when peeling the leaves aren’t sticky, beautiful purple color is seen and the cakes is chewy with lightly sweet flavor of palm sugar.
Cau Vi’s black glutinous rice tiny cakes Cau Vi is located on Highway 53 in Vinh Long province. Black glutinous rice tiny cakes whose name is not on the map, yet every by passer would like to stop by this area to buy some dozens of them. Every 3kg of white glutinous rice is mixed with 1kg of black glutinous rice. The mixture is brewed, drained and grinded. Then it is mixed with sugar syrup until it becomes sticky. For green bean stuffing, green beans are cooked and seasoned to taste. For coconut stuffing, the flour mixture does not need to be drained, just cooked until they are flexible enough to mold. Then add grated coconut meat which has been dried and sugared, and grinded roasted peanuts (durian can be an option). Finally, cakes are steamed to cook until they get that beautiful purple, chewiness and attractive fragrance.
Collected by Linh Trang
