Thanh Khuc (or Tranh Khuc) Village at Duyen Ha Commune, Thanh Tri District,Hanoi is famous for making their traditional Chung cake. This is a place wherethe spirit of Tet comes alive the earliest in Hanoi.

Tranh Khuc Village is particularly busy at the end of the year. Although Tetis approaching next month, the entire village is preparing to make Chung cake.You cannot find such a traditional feature of Tet anywhere other than here.

Chung cake is a traditional Vietnamese cake which is made from glutinousrice, mung bean, pork and other ingredients. Its origin is told by the legendof Lang Lieu, a prince of the sixth Hung King, who became Hung King ’ssuccessor thank to his creation of Chung cake and Giay cake, which symbolisedrespectively the Earth and the Sky. Considered an essential element of thefamily altar on the occasion of Tet. The making and eating Chung cake duringthis time is a well-preserved tradition of Vietnamese people, and the specialtyof Tranh Khuc Village.

“Daily, we wash la dong (a special kind of leave which is popular only insouthern Asia), rice, beans and then wrap chung cake. We cook it for a nightand the next day we will sell it. We keep working day and night,” said NguyenThi Thuy, a villager.

Each family here has 10-25 workers with 5-10 big pots to cook chung cake.Their business used to be retail sales but now it has grown to wholesale.

Making Chung cake is a traditional business in this farming village and hasremained very successful. It helps them to improve their livelihood.

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Ngan’s family is among those becoming wealthier thanks to making chung cake.“My family’s economic situation has been much improved thanks the Chung cakebusiness. We just inherited a legacy left by our ancestor and continued todevelop it,” said Ngan.

However, the title of “Chung cake Master” belongs to Nguyen Minh Tan, who isover 50 years old but has spent 30 years making chung cake. He has about 20employees working for him. His entire house is full of la dong, strings, andsticky rice.

He has sold thousands of Chung cakes. The first time he exported Chung cakeswas back in 1994. He exported 4,000 cakes to Germany in addition to Australiaand Russia.

“It looks simple because every family makes Chung cake on Tet holiday butwhen it becomes a business, it needs a lot of effort, experience andpreparedness. We want to maintain our prestige and reputation for ouroff-spring,” said Nguyen Quoc Trieu, a villager.

In order to make a good Chung cake, we need to buy and select high qualityingredients. For example, la dong should be bought from Thanh Hoa, Nghe An orYen Bai, Lao Cai and Ha Giang provinces because they are soft, hard to bebroken and have a nice green colour after cooking.

La dong and giang strings have to be washed carefully in order to preservethe taste of the cake. Giang strings may be soaked in salt water or steamed sothat they can become flexible enough for wrapping. Fat and lean pork isprefered for Chung cake because its fatty flavour associates mixes well withthe glutinous rice and bean, developing a special taste, according toTrieu.

“We make Chung cake for the whole year. We can earn VND10,000-15,000(.5-0.8) per cake. But during Tet, we can earn much more money,” addedTrieu.

The people here prepare for Tet beginning in early December and keep busyfor the entire month. They welcome the New Year after the last cake hassold.

Tranh Khuc Village has 90 percent of its population making Chung Cake. Theyhave been famous for 40-50 years. They don’t even need mould to wrap Chung Cakein the right manner. Many masters can make hundreds of cakes of the samesize.

Source: dtinews.vn/by Quang Thanh      

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