Hanoi green rice cake is a simple yet unique gift, representing the quintessence of the capital's culinary culture. The green rice cakes captivate diners with their elegant sweetness, fragrant with the aroma of young rice, mixed with the soft, fatty green bean filling, delicious but not boring.
The origin of Hanoi green rice cake
Hanoi green rice cake is a specialty gift of the capital, born in the second half of the 19th century. According to records, green rice cake was created in 1865 by Mrs. Tran Thi Luan - the head of the Nguyen Ninh family living on Hang Than street, based on the traditional banh chung. Her original idea was to help people enjoy the delicious taste of green rice all year round without having to wait for the green rice season.
The green rice cake making profession on Hang Than street was also formed from that time, before the whole street had only a few cake makers, now there are more than 50 shops running along the street. Hanoi green rice cake is now a little different from before, the traditional method of stir-frying green rice with charcoal has been replaced by modern machines or gas stoves.
However, the ingredients and the way of making the cake are still the same, except for the change in packaging. In the past, the cake was wrapped in young banana leaves, now it is wrapped in nylon paper, contained in a paper box with beautiful labels, convenient for both storage and transportation.
Hanoi green rice cake flavor
Hanoi green rice cake has an eye-catching green crust, is chewy and has a fragrant smell of new green rice. When eating, you will feel the fragrant green rice crust, slightly sweet combined with the soft green bean filling and fatty shredded coconut. All the ingredients blend harmoniously, sweet, elegant, delicious without being boring.
Ingredients and how to make traditional green rice cake
Hanoi green rice cake is not fussy about its appearance but is extremely elaborate in its making, from the selection of ingredients to the preparation. If you want to "try" this cake at home, you can refer to the recipe below from Traveloka.
Ingredients for making green rice cake
To have a fragrant, traditional green rice cake for 4 people, you need to prepare the following ingredients:
Dried flat rice: 200gr
Green beans: 200gr
Glutinous rice: 50gr
Panda leaves: 100gr
Coconut milk: 80gr
Spices: grapefruit essential oil, cooking oil, sugar, salt
How to make Hanoi green rice cake
After preparing all the ingredients, you proceed to make green rice cake according to the following steps:
Step 1: Prepare the ingredients for the cake
The first step in the process of making Hanoi green rice cake is to choose and prepare the ingredients such as: sticky rice, green rice and green beans. For green rice, you should choose the type of green rice that is thin and flat, has a characteristic aroma and a natural green color.
The green beans used for the filling must be bright yellow, large, even, and free of worms or unpleasant odors. Sticky rice for the cake crust should also be bright, naturally fragrant, and not too white.
After buying the dried flat rice, you should sift it thoroughly to remove sand, pick out the bad grains, then rinse with warm water and drain. Wash the mung beans and sticky rice thoroughly and soak them in cold water for about 3-4 hours. Wash the pandan leaves with water, cut them into small pieces and grind them with 150ml of filtered water, then squeeze out the juice.
Step 2: Prepare the mung bean filling for the cake
After soaking the mung beans in water, cook them with 300ml of water and 1 teaspoon of salt, for about 3 minutes. When the mung beans are cooked, drain all the water in the pot and wash the beans again to make sure they are clean. Next, put the beans in the pot, add water about 3cm above the beans and cook over high heat.
After about 5 minutes, reduce the heat and cook for about 10 minutes until the beans are cooked. After the beans are cooked, put them in a blender and blend until smooth.
Step 3: Cook the green rice
Cooking the green rice is one of the important steps in the process of making Hanoi green rice cakes. After washing the sticky rice, put it in water and a little salt, boil until boiling, then reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes. Next, add pandan leaf juice to the cooked sticky rice, add 80g of sugar, green rice and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix well.
The above mixture will be cooked over medium heat for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat and cook for about 15 minutes until the green rice is completely dissolved. While the sticky rice is still hot, add 15ml of grapefruit essential oil, mix well and put it in a blender to puree. A small note is that you should only add a sufficient amount of grapefruit essential oil, too much essential oil will make the cake filling bitter.
Step 4: Wrap the green rice cake
For easy storage, Hanoi green rice cakes are now mostly wrapped in plastic wrap. First, spread the plastic wrap on a flat surface, brush a layer of cooking oil over it, then spread the green rice on top. Next, add the cooked mung bean filling and spread another layer of green rice over the filling. Finally, wrap the cake tightly with plastic wrap, flatten it into a square shape, and smooth the edges to complete.
The finished green rice cake has a soft, flexible crust, fragrant with green rice and pandan leaves. The green bean filling is finely ground, and when eaten, it has a characteristic fatty and nutty taste and the aroma of grapefruit essential oil. In terms of appearance, the cake must have a natural green color, be of moderate size, square, not too thick or too thin.
After processing, you can store the cake at room temperature.
