Khot Cake – Traditional Vietnamese Food

Khot Cake – Traditional Vietnamese Food

Khot Cake is one of 15 Vietnamese dishes nominated as Asian records in 2017. This is a simple tiny crispy cake containing the soul of Vietnamese cuisine. Khot cake is made from popular ingredients in Vietnam such as rice, turmeric powder, pork and shrimp… It’s served hot with sweet and sour fish sauce dip, herbs, pickled green papaya and carrot.

It needs many steps to make a delicious cake and the cook must be patient, skillful and experienced. Firstly, the cook should mix water, rice flour, wheat flour, turmeric powder, mung bean paste (optional), coconut cream and egg.  The proportion to mix ingredients is the key to the good cake which is crispy outside but tender, crunchy and little airy inside. Turmeric powder makes the cake have a yellow color and special smell so that it becomes more attractive. Coconut cream and egg make the cake greasy and sweet. The cook pours batter in-to a special pan with holes of about 10 cm in diameter on charcoal, add ground pork and shrimp after putting some oil into the hole. Cover the lid and wait until Khot cake is well-done, smelling and crispy.

Khot cake has yellow color from turmeric, vegetables and herbs are always served with Khot cake

Some prefer putting chili into fish sauce dip

Dinners can use rice paper to wrap Khot cake instead of salad and greens

Khot cake should be served right after being removed from the pan. Dinners just use salad, greens or rice paper to wrap the cake, pickled green papaya and other herbs. Then dip the roll into sweet and sour fish sauce dip with carrot pickle and tuck in. All blend and leave a perfect flavor in your mouth.

In Central Vietnam, they don’t put turmeric powder into the batter so that Khot cake is white. In addition, the cake is topped with ground dried shrimp and chopped green onion oil. It doesn’t need oil because they use a terracotta pan to cook the cake. People in Central Vietnam call this version of Khot cake another name – Can cake.

Can Cake is topped with ground dried shrimp and chopped green onion oil, it has white color because the cook doesn’t put turmeric powder into the batter like Khot cake in South Vietnam

Can cake is served with pickled green papaya and fish sauce dip

Khot cake is a traditional food which appeared a long time ago. In the past when most of the Vietnamese people earn livings by growing rice, after harvesting, family members usually gather to make Khot cake and eat together. This has been one of the most beautiful memories of Vietnamese life. In recent days, mothers and grandmothers cook this cake to eat at home or go out to enjoy this food at weekends.

Followings are famous restaurants serving Khot cake in Vietnam:

1. Khot Cake at Co Ba Vung Tau restaurant, 102 Cao Thang Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City (7 AM – 10 PM)
2. Khot Cake at Co Ba Vung Tau restaurant, 40B Tran Cao Van Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City (7 AM – 10 PM)
3. Can Cake at 151 Hoang Van Thu, Nha Trang (6 AM – 9 AM)
4. Can Cake at 165 Nguyen Trai, Nha Trang (3 PM – 9 PM)

Khot cake at Co Ba Vung Tau

Tourists enjoy Khot Cake at Co Ba Vung Tau restaurant on Saigon Food Tour by Motorbike