Gio cake – a gift has long been a culinary specialty unique in Dac So commune, Hoai Duc district (Hanoi).
The traditional cakes
Gio cake of Dac So Village (Hoai Duc, Hanoi) is famous for the characteristic cool taste. During the Tet holiday, on the food tray of worship of Hanoians or the hot summer days almost never lack gio cake. Even though it is a traditional dish, gio cake has become a meaningful gift, connecting the friendship of many visitors on street food tour in hanoi.
Coming to the Dac So in the spring or summer, enjoying the slices of gio cake watered a little bit of sweet sugar molasses, visitors on Vietnam food tours will feel more aromatic flavor of the new grain of rice mixed with warm ash water from Sticky straw and sweet cool of molasses, you will also feel all the talent and skill hidden in the way to make this simple home gift.
How to make
According to the Dac So people, their gio cakes have a different taste from the gio cakes in other regions. The cake is wrapped in the long form like miniature tet cake. Whatever the form is it, the color of the cake must remain the same. Always before bringing the cake to market consumption, the family here will check carefully each batch of cake. When opened, the cake must be golden yellow and cool, with the sweet smell of sticky rice, the warmth of the ash water, adding the cool taste of fresh leaves.
To make a batch of gio cake usually takes a whole day from ash making, soaking the dong leaves, soaking the rice to wrapping the cake and boiling the cake, but the most important stage is choosing and soaking rice. Rice must be soaked enough so that when boiled cake, the cake is not limp but both flexible and durable. The secret is kept by many people in Dac So. Rice must be completely the sticky rice, not mixed with ordinary rice. By simply a grain of ordinary rice will make the cake lose all the sweet aroma inherent.
Sticky rice is soaked with ash water (soak for about three hours with ash water from the spinach, sticky rice straw or grapefruit ash), making the cake soft, with the same taste as traditional duc cake, and combined with the characteristic aroma of the dong leaves which do not make people bored when eating, whether in the hot summer. The essence of pickling rice, wrapping cake, and boiled cake makes a slice of yellow gold gio cake have a cool taste and become an attractive dish featured in the Doai area.
All the ingredients for making gio cake are the products of the countryside Dac So so the taste of the cake is very light and easy to eat. Although it has been going through hundreds of years, Dac So gio cake is still famous, not only to the Hanoians but also many other places. When enjoying gio cake, people always think and mention four words “gio cake Dac So “. Dac So gio cake randomly becomes an attractive dish to help quench the thirst of hot summer holidays, items to offer to ancestors or as meaningful gifts, bonding of friendship.
Where to buy
Gio cake is also known as tro cake – a Hanoi traditional food is most easily found in the street vendors. However, the gio cakes are quite small and the molasses are not yellow and smell sweet. Gourmets often tell each other about a place selling delicious gio cakes – Hom Market(Hue Street). The cakes here are quite big, with the price of each of 7,000 VND.
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