How To Pack Chung Cake For Tet Holiday Guide

Chung cake is one of the indispensable traditional dishes on Tet holiday of Vietnamese people. However, many people still do not know how to pack banh chung on Tet so that it is delicious and beautiful. Let's learn about the origin, meaning, ingredients and how to make Chung cake on Tet holiday!

Origin of the custom of wrapping banh chung on Tet holiday of Vietnamese people

According to legend, the custom of wrapping banh chung on Tet holiday originated from the 6th Hung King Dynasty . On the occasion of the ancestor's death anniversary, King Hung summoned his sons and commanded that whoever finds an offering that suits the king will be ceded the throne by his father .

Lang Lieu was the poorest son, so he was unable to offer rare offerings. He used very familiar agricultural products such as sticky rice, green beans, pork and dong leaves to create two types of cakes. Chung cake represents heaven and Giay cake represents the earth to make offerings.

Lang Lieu's offering was very suitable for King Hung and the king passed the throne to Lang Lieu. Since then, the custom of wrapping banh chung and banh day has been handed down in the human world and is an indispensable offering when making offerings to ancestors. The custom is to express the heart to drink water and remember the source of posterity.

The meaning of banh chung on Tet holiday

Although it is a familiar dish every Tet - Spring comes, few people know all the special and profound meanings of banh chung on Tet.

Banh chung and banh tet on Tet holiday bring the beauty of Vietnamese culture

Since ancient times, the wet rice culture of the Vietnamese nation has depended heavily on natural factors. Therefore, Chung cake appears in the New Year's tray to show gratitude to heaven and earth . And pray for favorable rain and wind for a bountiful harvest and a prosperous life for the people.

Besides, banh chung is a gift from Prince Lang Lieu to his father on the occasion of the birth of the god with all filial piety. Therefore, banh chung on New Year's Day also shows the filial piety of a child for his parents.

And the decoration of Chung cake tray on Tet holiday to worship ancestors will also contribute to showing the sincerity and filial piety of the descendants towards their ancestors. 

The image of banh chung on New Year's Day has a special spiritual meaning

On the 27th and 28th of the Lunar New Year, each family is busy preparing ingredients, gathering together to pack cakes before the exciting atmosphere of spring. Grandparents, parents, and children gather together to share and tell each other the happy and sad stories of the past year while watching the pot of banh chung on Tet.

A Tet will not be complete without the green color of banh chung and banh tet. No matter how messy the work is, a banh chung offering to the ancestors' altar is definitely a must. The tradition of wrapping banh chung is a beauty in the spiritual life of our nation.

Banh chung is a healthy food

Banh chung is a very nutritious dish. With ingredients such as glutinous rice, green beans and pork, banh chung provides us with a lot of nutrients for the body.

Specifically, green beans have the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, helping banh chung have a cool taste that is balanced with the fat of meat and sticky rice. Besides, glutinous rice provides starch, adds energy and is good for the liver.

What do you need to prepare to pack banh chung?

When you choose pork belly, you should choose soft meat, including skin, meat and a layer of fat. You should choose thin grease so that the cake is not oily and too soft. If you do not like to eat fat, you can choose pork at the shoulder to pack banh chung. However, you should not choose the type with too much lean so that the cake is not hard.

Materials for wrapping banh chung on Vietnamese New Year

Materials for wrapping banh chung on Tet include:

• 1 bunch of soft bamboo

• Bamboo mold for wrapping banh chung 

• 1 large pot to boil banh chung

• Charcoal or firewood

How to pack Chung cake on Tet holiday is simple and beautiful for newbies

Stage 1: Preparation and preliminary processing of ingredients

Because the cake is boiled and preserved for a long time, the preparation and preliminary processing of ingredients to wrap banh chung on Tet is extremely important.

Dong leaves

Dong leaves are the soul of banh chung on Tet, so you choose large, even, unbroken, green leaves to pack. Before washing, you need to use a small and sharp knife to cut off the spines of the leaves. Because the raw dong leaves are quite large and hard, making it difficult for the wrapping process.

Peel the dong leaves to make wrapping easier

After cutting the leaves, wash both sides of the leaves and dry them with a cloth. If the dong leaves are washed thoroughly, the banh chung will be preserved for a longer time and avoid moldy conditions.  

Sticky rice

In order for banh chung to be delicious, glutinous rice must have large, round, and elastic seeds and be harvested more fragrant. Many people prefer to choose Cai Hoa Vang sticky rice or Nuong sticky rice .You wash the sticky rice and then soak the rice with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt for about 12 hours. After soaking, take out the sticky rice and let it dry. If you do not soak with salt before, you can sprinkle salt on the dried sticky rice after soaking. 

Green beans without skin

Green beans for wrapping banh chung on Tet must be carefully selected. You should choose beans grown in the midland hills of Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, ...) will be more fragrant and friable. After harvesting, the beans need to be dried in the sun, sifting all the garbage, dust, and flat seeds, sorting the seeds, and then packing them into clay jars and jars.

The way to prepare green beans is quite similar to sticky rice. You also bring green beans soaked in warm water. Because it is soaked in warm water, it only needs to be soaked for about 2-3 hours .

Soak the green beans until they bloom evenly and are soft. Then you take the beans out to a basket to drain. You can mix it with 1 teaspoon of salt, cook it and then mix it with 1 teaspoon of pepper. Use your hands to form a circle.

Pork belly

Marinate pork belly for only about 2 hours before wrapping so that the meat can absorb the spices evenly

After buying meat, you cut it into pieces about 3cm thick, then wash and drain. Then, you proceed to marinate the meat with a little shallot, salt, pepper and seasoning for about 2 hours to allow the meat to absorb the spices. The meat is only marinated with salt, pepper and seasoning, but absolutely not with fish sauce to preserve the cake longer.

bamboo mat

Bamboo lattes also need to be soaked in water before wrapping

You soak bamboo strips in water for about 8 hours to make them softer and easier to tie when wrapping the cake. If the bamboo strips you bought are quite large, then after soaking, you tear them into small fibers with a width of about 0.5 cm.

Stage 2: Wrapping banh chung on Tet holiday

Introducing how to make banh chung on Tet by hand without a mold

Step 1: Arrange the leaves

Using a tray, put the plate down on the tray in the shape of a cross. Choose two large leaves and place 1/2 stack vertically on the leaves, so that the leaf side does not have leaf veins facing down. Arrange the other two leaves on top in a perpendicular direction, the leaf surface without veins facing up.

Step 2: Pour rice into the arranged leaves

Pour a bowl of rice into the center of the cross, and spread it evenly over the four corners to create a square, so that each side is about 20 cm long.

Step 3: Spread the layers of bean paste and meat

Spread half of the green beans and press lightly, take 2 pieces of meat and arrange them evenly in the middle of the cake, place the remaining half of the green beans on top of the meat. Brush the green beans evenly so that the green bean paste covers all the meat. Pour another bowl of glutinous rice over the filling so that the glutinous rice covers the filling.

Step 4: Fold the leaves

Use your hands to fold the left and right dong leaves in turn, the excess folds inward, if there is a lot of excess, you can cut it off with scissors. Note that while folding, you must be sure to make the new banh chung beautiful and square. Next, squeeze the edges of the top and bottom of the cake, folding and patting to create a square shape.

Step 5: Tie

Tie the first 2 parallel slices together to keep the cake tight and not to fall off. The next 2 halves are tied perpendicular to the previous 2 halves.

How to pack banh chung with a mold

Step 1: Arrange the leaves

Arrange 4 dong leaves like folding by hand, 2 lower leaves face down without veins, 2 upper leaves face up without veins up. Turn the inner mold upside down on the center of the leaf.

Step 2: Place the mold inside

Use dong leaves to wrap the mold like wrapping banh chung by hand above. You can see the detailed steps in the illustration.

Step 3: Place the outer mold

When the dong leaves have been folded into a square shape, use the outer mold to surround the inner mold, then open the foil and lift the inner mold out.

Step 4: Put the ingredients into the mold

Put the ingredients in turn as in the order given in the manual cake package above into the shaped leaf mold. Try to make the amount of sticky rice and green beans evenly above and below, then wrap the leaves neatly, evenly sealing the cake according to the existing folds.

Step 5: Tie

After wrapping, use one hand to hold the leaf to fix it and gently remove the cake mold. Then, use 4 slices to tie the cake tightly. Remember to put the excess in the layers to keep the cake neat.

Stage 3: Cooking banh chung on Tet holiday

Boiling banh chung is the most important step because boiling banh chung takes a lot of time and effort.

Step 1: Put the cake in the pot

Place the cake in a large pot and cover with water . The time to boil a small cake is about 5 hours, with a large cake it will need more time.

Step 2: Cook the cake and change the water

Heat on high until it boils, then reduce it. Cakes always have to be submerged in water when boiled, so you need to prepare water for the pot of banh chung. Every 1 hour you check the water level in the pot once . If the water drops, add water.

Step 3: When the cake is boiled for half of the time, return to the cake, change the water.

Step 4: Remove the cake

After the cake is cooked, take it out and immediately put it in a pot of cold water to soak for 20 minutes . Then let the cake drain and then use a heavy object to press the cake to squeeze out the juice within 5-8 hours to help prevent the cake from becoming mushy.

Tips to help cook banh chung green and delicious

To make banh chung on Tet holiday green and delicious, follow these cake cooking tips :

• After the cake is wrapped and cooked, you need to put a layer of leaves on the bottom of the pot to help the banh chung add flavor, not stick and not burn.

• When placing the cake in the pot, you need to stack it on top of each other to help fix the cake during the cooking process, avoid when the boiling water causes the cake to fluctuate, causing the cake to be broken and not intact.

• Adjusting the heat to moderate, simmering during the cooking process helps to make banh chung more delicious and more even. Change the cold water when cooking the cake for half of the time so that the cake retains the natural green color of the leaves, looks more eye-catching and delicious.

• You must not pour cold water in when adding water to the pot of banh chung, cold water will make the cake half cooked and half raw, and the rice will return later.

Store banh chung after cooking so it doesn't go rancid

Because the cake has sticky rice, it will be easily spoiled and rancid if not preserved properly. Here are 2 ways to help keep the cake delicious for longer:

• Press the cake with a heavy object to make it smooth and not mushy. 

• Hang the cake in a cool place to dry completely. 

With 2 ways, banh chung can be preserved from 7 to 10 days in normal conditions. Banh chung on Tet holiday when stored in normal conditions will taste much better than in the refrigerator. But if you pack too much and don't eat it all, putting banh chung in the refrigerator is also a good way to preserve it. 

Sharing about how to pack banh chung on Tet , cake cooking tips as well as simple ways to preserve banh chung that anyone can make at home. Through the article, helps you better understand the origin and meaning of banh chung to appreciate the beauty of Vietnamese culture even more.