Gàu Village's Dough Cake – Culinary Heritage of Hưng Yên

Every year, as the anniversary of Hùng Kings approaches, people enthusiastically make bánh chưng and bánh dày to honor the founding of the nation by King Hùng. In Hưng Yên, Gàu Village's dough cake, with its various adaptations, has become an indispensable specialty during festive occasions and Tết.

Gàu Village's Dough Cake – Culinary Heritage of Hưng Yên

Dough cake is a traditional delicacy found in various regions. The northern region is famous for Quán Gánh dough cake (Hà Nội), while Gàu Village's dough cake (Hưng Yên)... Each place's cake carries a different flavor, but overall, they all reflect the ancestral heritage.

The traditional craft of making dough cakes in Gàu Village has unclear origins. It is known that since ancient times, during the anniversary of the Kings or Tết Nguyên Đán, villagers enthusiastically husked rice and molded dough cakes.

The main ingredient of Gàu Village's dough cake is glutinous rice with a golden hue. Villagers are meticulous in selecting rice for the cakes; only good rice can produce quality dough cakes. The grains must be plump and firm; any defective grains are discarded.

Soak rice in water overnight to soften, then grind into flour and skillfully mold into round cakes. The grinding must be done with just the right force, neither too strong nor too weak. Hence, men and women often grind together to achieve cakes that are soft yet firm.

The filling is made from mung beans, meticulously husked and evenly green. Then they are soaked in warm water overnight. The next morning, clean the bean shells, steam until tender, then mash until smooth, without any lumps. The mashed beans are then rounded with strands of coconut into small balls.

For savory filling, sauté minced pork with mung beans before making the filling. For sweet filling, simply adding sugar suffices; one pound of beans mixed with half a pound of sugar is adequate to avoid overly sweet cakes and preserve the delicious fragrance.

Once the dough and filling are ready, the cake makers proceed to place the filling in the middle of evenly rolled dough pieces and mold them into attractive cakes. When cooked, the cakes are white, round, elastic, and fragrant. The villagers of Gàu are so skilled that every cake is uniformly shaped, stacked neatly, all identical as if cast from the same mold.

Dough cakes are indispensable on the tables of the people of Hưng Yên, serving as evidence of their love for this rustic delicacy. Gàu Village's dough cakes are loved by diners and ordered in large quantities to serve restaurants, conferences, weddings, and other events.

The green color of banana leaf lining underneath, with round cakes on top, looks very appealing. The chewy, white, fragrant cakes, combined with soft, smooth, and slightly fatty mung beans... bring Tet closer to the people of Gàu Village and attract distant guests to come to the village to enjoy the delicious cakes.

 As per Mytour

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Reference: Travel Handbook by Mytour