Cylindrical glutinous rice cake is a must cake at Tet festival – the biggest festival in Vietnam. It is served as a meal or used as a valuable gift to family and friends. There are not less than 10 recipes of this Vietnamese traditional cakes around the country. Tra Cuon cylindrical glutinous rice cake (Banh tet Tra Cuon) is one of the specialty foods of Tra Vinh province. The cake is created by Ms. Thach Thi Ly – a Khmer person living in Hiep Hoa commune, Cau Ngang district, Tra Vinh province over 80 years ago. Banh tet Tra Cuon has been more and more famous around the country for its great taste.
Similar to other kinds of Cylindrical glutinous rice cakes in other regions, Tra Cuon cylindrical glutinous rice cake has a cylinder shape. To eat, it is cut into nice looking circles with sticky and greasy green crust made from glutinous rice and katuk leaf juice; filling made from mung bean, pork belly, salted duck egg yolk. People in Tra Vinh use a thin banana rope which is used to tie the cake to cut it. According to them, circles cut with a knife is rougher than that cut with the banana rope.
The cake is made from rich-nutrient ingredients so that it is very healthy. The cake looking plump and firm, the sticky green crust and the special filling make the cake different from others of its kind. The excellent blend of buttery mung bean, fatty, sweet-tasty pork belly, and rich salted duck egg yolk is the highlight of Banh tet Tra Cuon. It has been said that the filling tastes amazing and melts in the mouth. This kind of cake is usually eaten with soybean sauce, pickled scallion heads, dried shrimp. The cake can be eaten as a meal or supper at every time during the day. It can be stored for 5-7 days at room temperature or a few weeks in the freezer. On your trip to Tra Vinh, Mekong Delta, do not miss tasting this wonderful cake and buy some to bring home.
