Savor the crispy golden cakes while exploring Tiền Giang

Each piece of golden crispy cake, mixed thoroughly with fresh vegetables, vermicelli, and soaked in garlic chili fish sauce, is a must-try dish when visiting Tiền Giang.

Savor the crispy golden cakes while exploring Tiền Giang

Alongside rice cakes, savory pancakes, golden crispy cakes are traditional dishes that have been present in various provinces in the Western region for ages. Despite its simple preparation, the delicious and enticing flavor attracts many diners to the land of Tiền Giang.

Golden crispy cakes have a distinctive flavor because instead of using shrimp, locals here often use small crabs as substitutes. These small crabs were abundant in the past, so people often use them to fry with cake batter.

The name 'golden crispy cake' sounds unfamiliar because it originates from the main ingredient in the cake, which is fresh bean sprouts. These long, white sprouts make the cake crispier and do not cause a heavy feeling for diners. However, many people also call golden crispy cakes 'patch cakes' because they believe that when fried, the cakes are enclosed in small patches.

Preparing the cake begins by soaking rice and soybeans until soft, then grinding them together until smooth. Mix rice flour, soybean, and wheat flour into a smooth mixture, add a pinch of salt and mix well by hand. If there is more wheat flour, the cake will be crispy, while more rice flour will make the cake very chewy.

The filling of the cake includes small crabs, pork liver, minced pork, and bean sprouts. The crabs are cleaned with their heads and tails intact, and the pork liver is thinly sliced. Then marinate minced pork, crabs with garlic, salt, and sugar to absorb flavors.

Frying is the final and most important step to make a beautiful and fragrant cake. To fry the cake, you need a frying patch, add bean sprouts, pork liver, crabs, meat, and a few roasted peanuts into the patch, then scoop batter to cover these ingredients. Dip the patch into a pan of boiling oil until the cake sticks together, then slowly remove the cake.

To keep the crabs intact in the cake, insert them into the patch last before scooping the batter, so that when cooked, the crab shapes are still maintained and look more appealing. Fry the cake over low heat until it is cooked through, crispy but not burnt. When the cake turns golden, stack it on bamboo or zinc trays placed across the mouth of the pan to drain the oil.

Golden crispy cakes are often served with vermicelli, rolled cakes, or sticky rice along with fresh vegetables and sweet and sour chili garlic fish sauce. After frying, the seller will use scissors to cut the cake into bite-sized pieces, which can be cut into three or four pieces depending on preference. Then, arrange the cake on a plate of fresh green vegetables including lettuce, aromatic herbs, and some bean sprouts.

When eating, diners will put vermicelli in a bowl and add a few pieces of cake, assorted raw vegetables, and chili garlic fish sauce for a delicious meal. You can enjoy this cake at Giồng Market or Hòa Đồng intersection.

As per information from Vnexpress.net

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Reference: Travel guide from Mytour