Bánh chưng
lá dong ready to be steamed | |
Course | Main course |
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Place of origin | Vietnam |
Region or state | Regions of Vietnam |
Serving temperature | Hot, room temperature, fried |
Main ingredients | Glutinous rice, mung bean, pork |
Other information | Traditionally consumed during Tết |
Bánh chưng (IPA: [ʔɓajŋ̟˧˦ t͡ɕɨŋ˧˧]) also called Chưng cake, is a traditional Vietnamese food which is made from glutinous rice, mung beans, pork and other ingredients.[1] Its origin is told by the legend of Lang Liêu, a prince of the last king of the Sixth Hùng Dynasty, who became the successor thanks to his creation of bánh chưng and bánh giầy, which symbolized, respectively, the earth and the sky. Considered an essential element of the family altar on the occasion of Tết, the making and eating of bánh chưng during this time is a well-preserved tradition of Vietnamese people. Besides the Tết holiday, bánh chưng is also eaten all year round as Vietnamese cuisine.
Origin and symbolism
According to the book Lĩnh Nam chích quái (Extraordinary stories of Lĩnh Nam) published in 1695, the creation of bánh chưng was credited to Lang Liêu, a prince of the last Sixth Hùng Dynasty of the Hùng dynasty (c. 1712 – 1632 BC). It was said that in choosing a successor among his sons, the monarch decided to carry out a competition in which each prince brought a delicacy representing the sincerity of the ancestors on the occasion of Tết, whoever could introduce the most delicious dish for the altar would become the next ruler of the country. While other princes tried to find rare and delicious foods from the forest and sea, the eighteenth prince, Lang Liêu, who was the poorest son of the Hùng king, could not afford such luxurious dishes and had to be content with everyday ingredients, such as rice and pork. He created one cake in the square form of earth called bánh chưng and one in the round form of sky called bánh giầy from these simple ingredients. In tasting the dishes offered by his son, the Hùng king found bánh chưng and bánh giầy not only delicious but also a fine representation of the respect for ancestors. Therefore, he decided to cede the throne to Lang Liêu and bánh chưng, bánh giầy became traditional foods during Tết.[2][3][4] Lang Liêu founded the Seventh Hùng dynasty (c. 1631 – 1432 BC).
Considered an indispensable dish of Tết, bánh chưng is placed on the family altars to honor the family ancestors and pray to them for support in the new year.[5] Wrapped in a green square package, bánh chưng symbolizes the earth,[6] the various ingredients of bánh chưng, which come from all the products of nature, also emphasize the meaning of bánh chưng with Vietnamese people.
Ingredients and presentation
The required ingredients of bánh chưng are
The cake is wrapped in the following order. First, the giang strings and two lá dong leaves are placed as the square base for the bánh chưng. Then glutinous rice is stuffed in lá dong, followed by mung bean, pork, more mung bean and finally another layer of rice so that bean and pork can be respectively in the center of the cake. The ingredients are carefully wrapped in lá dong and bound by giang strings in the square form. In order to get a near-perfect square-shaped cake, the maker can use a square mold to help in the wrapping and pressing the ingredients to fill the corners of the square mold. To keep the cake from
The prepared cakes are arranged in a large pot (with recommended spacing between cakes, using chopsticks, bamboo or other spacers). The pot is filled with fresh water and boiled for hours until they are cooked thoroughly. As the water evaporates during cooking, more boiled water should be added to keep the cakes submerged at all time. The outer-most layer of rice turns green because the rice absorbed the color of lá dong.
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The prepared ingredients of bánh chưng
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Wrapping bánh chưng using a mould
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An unwrapped bánh chưng, cut into eight pieces, ready to serve
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Bánh chưng is served with chả lụa and other dishes
History and tradition
Bánh chưng is always considered an essential element of a traditional Tết, which is described by a popular
Vietnamese: Thịt mỡ, dưa hành, câu đối đỏ
Cây nêu, tràng pháo, bánh chưng xanh
Translation: Rich meats, pickled onions, red couplets
Nêu tree, firecracker, green bánh chưng
Women wear áo dài for their tradition. Traditionally, bánh chưng requires the preparation of many ingredients, each Vietnamese family that can afford such a preparation begins to make the cake on the 27th or 28th day of December (tháng Chạp) in Lunar calendar. In making bánh chưng, all members of the family gather to perform different tasks, from washing the lá dong, mixing the pork with spices, preparing the mung beans and most importantly wrapping all ingredients into the square form and boiling the cakes. Bánh chưng needs to be carefully boiled for ten to twelve hours during which the adults and children sit together around the boiling cauldron.[6] In the countryside, to ensure that bánh chưng is available for every family even the poor ones, a fund called họ bánh chưng is jointly set up and about one month before the Tết, the accumulated capital and benefit are divided between members of the fund so that they can have enough money to prepare bánh chưng.[2]
Nowadays, the tradition of self-made bánh chưng gradually declines in Vietnam when the size of a typical family is smaller and people do not have enough time for the preparation and making of bánh chưng. Instead, they go to the bánh chưng shop or order cakes in advance from families that specialize in making them. Therefore, bánh chưng still appears in each family during the Tết but they are not a family product anymore.
Each year, on the occasion of the
Variations
While being normally eaten warm or at room temperature, bánh chưng also be fried up and served in the form of a crisp pancake. It is then called bánh chưng rán or bánh chưng chiên (fried bánh chưng).[17] Writer Vũ Bằng in his book Thương nhớ mười hai (Longing of the 12 months) mentions bánh chưng rán as a delicious dish during the cold February of Hanoi.[18]
In some regions, instead of bánh chưng, people make bánh tét: a cylindrical cake with almost the same ingredients as bánh chưng.[6][17] A similar cake as bánh tét is made in some regions in the North but with the name bánh tày, bánh chưng dài (long bánh chưng) or bánh dài.[19][20] Bánh tày is often made with a small quantity of mung bean and little or no pork, so that it can be preserved for a longer period. Bánh tày can be cut in slices and fried like bánh chưng rán.
The San Diu people has another variation of the long bánh chưng with a hump in the middle of the cake – hence it is called bánh chưng "gù" ("humped" bánh chưng). Besides lá dong, bánh chưng "gù" is wrapped with an additional type of leaf named lá chít.[21]
There are also variations of bánh chưng for vegetarians and Buddhists, such as bánh chưng chay (vegetarian chưng cake) or bánh chưng ngọt (sweetened chưng cake). Instead of being stuffed with pork these cakes are filled with molasses or brown sugar.[2] In these variations sometimes the glutinous rice is mixed with gac, giving the cake a red skin considered more appetizing. In the countryside bánh chưng chay was once made by the poor families who could not afford pork for stuffing. They replaced pork with cardamom, black pepper and cooked mung bean. This type of bánh chưng was eaten with molasses.[22]
See also
- Bánh tẻ
- List of rice dishes
- List of steamed foods
- List of stuffed dishes
- Lo mai gai
- Pamonha
- Tamale
- Zongzi
References
- ^ Aruna Thaker, Arlene Barton Multicultural Handbook of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics 2012 Page 171 "Bánh chưng"
- ^ ISBN 978-87-91114-93-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8248-1553-0.
- ISBN 0-87483-527-5.
- ISBN 0-7645-9676-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-520-23872-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-8225-4125-4.
- ^ Ngô Chí Tùng (2008-02-04). "Tết ở Trường Sa" (in Vietnamese). Laodong.com.vn. Archived from the original on 2009-12-08.
- ^ Nguyễn Nhã (2006-01-25). "Bánh chưng ngày Tết". Tuoitre.com.vn. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31.
- ^ a b Caitlin Worsham (2008-02-10). "Banh chung: leafy chunks of love and lore". Vietnamnet.vn. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18.
- ISBN 1-86366-381-9.
- ISBN 0-8247-0331-6.
- ^ "Craft village's banh chung gets trademark". Vietnamnet.vn. 2008-02-06. Archived from the original on 2009-11-09.
- ^ Minh Nguyen (2004-01-22). "The cake of mystique". Vietnamnet.vn. Archived from the original on 2010-04-14.
- ^ "Festival to honor nation's ancestors". Vietnamnet.vn. 2009-04-03. Archived from the original on 2009-04-14.
- ^ Van Tien (2005-04-13). "Biggest cakes for Hung Kings". Vietnamnet.vn. Archived from the original on 2008-03-16.
- ^ ISBN 1-58008-665-9.
- ^ Vũ Bằng. "Tháng Hai, tương tư hoa đào". Thương nhớ mười hai (in Vietnamese). Literature Publishing House.
- ^ "Hội thảo Tết Việt 2005: Tôn vinh VH dân gian" (in Vietnamese). Vietnamnet.vn. 2005-01-31. Archived from the original on 2009-05-12.
- ISBN 0-7946-0146-4.
- ^ Trần Thanh Hà (2006-03-10). "Xôi đen, bánh chưng "gù" của người Sán Dìu" (in Vietnamese). Vinhphuc.gov.vn. Archived from the original on 2010-04-22.
- ^ Quang Anh (2005-02-07). "Bánh chưng mặn, bánh chưng chay và những chiếc ô tô" (in Vietnamese). Vietnamnet.vn. Archived from the original on 2005-02-08.