“Nodding” cake looks quite similar to rolls, pho cakes, but the way is more unique. Cake without filling, when eating with special distilled fish sauce, customers also have to “nod” excitedly.
Tien Yen is a district preserving many ancient cultural values of Quang Ninh province. Coming to Tien Yen, visitors not only can admire the beautiful natural landscape, explore the ancient houses of the Dao, Tay and San Diu ethnic people, but also enjoy a diverse and attractive cuisine. .
In addition to the famous dishes such as stitching, chicken, … there is a specialty in Tien Yen that cannot be ignored – that is the nodding cake.
According to Ms. Tuyet – a long-time nodding baker in Tien Yen district, the reason why the cake has a funny name is because of its unique “swaying” appearance.
Previously, the people of Tien Yen used to eat breakfast with pho bread but did not like to have the filling, but preferred to keep the rich taste of the typical rice in the region. The cake is curled up, long, flexible, nodding up and down when holding it in hand.
The cake is served with fish sauce that makes diners praise it so it’s named “nodding” from there.
To make a delicious batch of cake, the rice needs to be soaked from the night before, and picked up the next morning, wait for the water to drain before grinding into water powder.
Tien Yen people often grind rice with stone mill instead of using modern machines. This crafting method keeps both the legality of the traditional cake and helps the rice grain to be milled and smoother so that the cake retains its inherent richness.
In particular, during the flour grinding process, people often add cold rice so that when coated, the cake has a soft, fluffy, and soft, but the cakes of the same type cannot match.
The quality of the cake coating is also very successful. The baker must measure the amount of the dough so that it does not become thick or too thin. Pour a moderately thick layer of cake dough over the mold, not as thin as a rolled cake or too thick like a rice cake.
Rinse the dough evenly into a circle, cover for the cake to cook. The fire must be evenly heated, not too hot, otherwise the cake will not cook evenly and easily tear pieces.
When the ripe cake swells up, people use cork sticks, skillfully skew them from the bottom of the cake and then continue to rinse. When not rolled, the cake nodding is like rolls, Hanoi noodle cake, but without filling. After being rolled up evenly, the cake is flexible, placed on the banana leaf layer so as not to stick together.
In addition to the elaborate processing process, the secret of making delicious humpback cakes depends on the “divine” sauce.
Although the sauce that makes the specialty of nodding cake is quite diverse, depending on the taste of the region, it is mainly fish sauce with chicken fat (using naturally free hill chickens in Tien Yen). People add scallions and minced meat to make the sauce richer and more delicious.
Although the shape of the cake seems monotonous, the deliciousness is enough to make diners want to enjoy a second time. In Tien Yen, people often buy nodding cakes by weight. People 2kg, people 5kg cakes are nothing strange.
Not only delicious, nutritious, and cheap, but nodding cake is also an effective antidote to local people. The hot cake has just been coated and still smoked, dotted with fish sauce with the greasy taste of chicken fat and meat, the spicy taste of chili, making this indispensable dish, especially in winter in the Fairy region. Yen.
In Tien Yen town, visitors coming to Hoa Binh street find it difficult to find billboards about nodding cakes, but this is a famous place for families making delicious cakes, famous for their land.
Not only attracting tourists inside and outside the province, the nodding cake is also enjoyed by many distant diners, looking forward to enjoying it even once.
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