It is not difficult to find banh te when going on a street food tour in Hanoi. This kind of rustic cake is made in many place in the north. However, to the gourmets, banh te made by Phu Nhi villagers still have the unforgettable flavor.
Delicious cake originated in a sad love story
Banh te is called banh rang bua in some places because of its shape. The cakes are wrapped in banana leaves or dong leaves and tied with bamboo strings; the strings winding into the cakes look like the teeth of the rake.
Phu Nhi Village (Phu Thinh Ward, Son Tay Town, Hanoi) has long been famous for banh te. Banh te in Phu Nhi Village was born from a sorrowful love story.
It is told that Nguyen Phu was a young man in Giap Doai village. Hoang Nhi was the daughter of a duc cake maker. Every day, Nhi brought duc cake to the vendors of her mother under the red-silk cotton tree in the market. Phu and Nhi got acquainted thanks to the market days. They fell in love and their love went deeper and deeper.
One day, Phu stealthily came to Nhi’s house. They was so engrossed in conversation that the pot of duc cake was forgotten. The fire of the oven had stopped burning, the duc cake was half-cooked. When Hoang Nhi’s father knew the reason for the bad batch of cake, the couple was debarred from meeting each other. He also prohibited his daughter going to the market to deliver the cake to her mother. Since then, Hoang Nhi could not meet her lover. She was in deep sorrow and passed away after falling seriously ill.
After spoiling the pot of duc cake, Nguyen Phu took the cake flour back home. Instead of throwing away, he picked dong leaves and banana leaves, spread cake flour on the leaves, used sliced scallions to make cake fillings. The cakes were wrapped in the leaves and tied with bamboo strings, then steamed. Those were his very first batch of banh te.
The more cake he made, the more he missed his deceased beloved. On her death anniversary, Phu often made the best of banh te and brought them to her house. He did not get married but gave all his heart to the business of making banh te. Phu not only helped his family become well off but he also taught the local people here to make this unique cake.
Nowadays, banh te Phu Nhi are brought to many part of the capital city, which proves that banh te Phu Nhi is one of the best Hanoi street food.
The unique process making unforgettable flavor
Vietnam food tours will surely give you the chance to taste banh te from many provinces in Vietnam such as banh te of Cho village (Yen Phong, Bac Ninh), banh te of Van Giang (Hung Yen)… However, you will see that banh te made by Phu Nhi villagers cannot be mistake for the cake of other places.
Phu Nhi people selected the delicious rice to make the cake. Banh te is made of ordinary rice, unlike many sticky rice cake introduced on the website of Hanoi local food tours. The rice is drenched until expanding; then it is ground into powder. The rice flour is soaked for 3 to 5 days. The water is changed every day.
After that, the flour is scooped out and cooked. People boil the wet flour and stir well to make the water in the flour drain. In this step, Phu Nhi villagers have the secret know-how which create the flavor for the cake in Phu Nhi.
The cake core includes pork, black fungus, shallot and scallion. These ingredients are all minced to make them blend with each other when stir-frying. The cake core is compared with the soul of the cake, so Phu Nhi people carefully spice the ingredients inside the cake flour with salt and pepper.
The sticky and thick cake flour is spread on dong leaves or banana leaves, put on with a moderate amount of the fillings. The layer of flour is fold skillfully to block the filling inside. Bamboo strings are used to hold the covering leaves and make the characteristic shape for the cake. The cakes are ready to serve after being steamed in 30 minutes.
It is interesting that you can eat banh te when they are hot. You also can enjoy them as a cold dish in summer.
This specialty of Phu Nhi Village can now be found on many streets in Hanoi. Join the food walking tour and explore the addresses for the best of banh te in Hanoi.