No one knows since when, Banh Beo Cho Chu - a hometown gift named after the market of Chu village (Ngoc Lu commune, Binh Luc district, Ha Nam province) has made Ngoc Lu people when away from home as well as diners in the region when having enjoyed it once... keep remembering, wishing, and waiting for it.
What Ngoc Lu people as well as visitors from near and far remember, look forward to, and wish for is probably the difference, which cannot be found anywhere else in this fragrant, rustic hometown gift.
The difference of Chu market banh beo is first shown in the way and process of making the cake. Unlike leaf cake, gio cake, uoi cake…, Chu market banh beo must have a mold when forming the cake.
The molds for making Banh Beo Cho Chu are usually made of wood or sometimes simply a thin bamboo stick that is smoothed and bent into a closed boat shape. The leaves are usually made from Dong Ta leaves, small, dark green, cut, washed and boiled in boiling water to make the leaves soft, tough, and not easily torn when making the cake.
Making Banh Beo Cho Chu does not require much effort but requires meticulousness and skill. After being boiled, the dong leaves are cut and folded at both ends to form a boat shape and then placed in a mold. The flour used to make the cake is usually selected from the countryside, so that the cake is not too sticky, not too soggy, has a rich flavor and is not boring.
One of the most difficult steps, requiring a lot of experience, sophistication and dexterity of the Chu market rice cake maker, is the mixing of the flour.
The flour must be mixed with warm water, stirring constantly so that the flour is not lumpy, not too thick, or too thin. After the flour is mixed to the right consistency, it will be poured into cake molds lined with dong leaves to form a boat shape and then put into a steamer.
The filling of Chu market banh beo is very simple, sometimes just fried onions and fat, more elegantly you can add a little lean meat and enough spices with onions and fat fried until really fragrant.
The filling is pre-made and skillfully spread evenly on the surface of the cake when it is just steamed. The reason why Banh Beo Cho Chu is always loved and sought after by local people, especially women who go to the market, is because the cake has a moderate chewiness and softness, the pure, rich taste of rice from the delta region mixed with the smell of fresh dong leaves cut in the home garden and the fragrant flavor of the filling makes diners can eat until full without feeling bored.
Banh beo Cho Chu, an indispensable gift of the rural market in the alluvial plains along the Chau Giang River, Binh Luc district, Ha Nam province.
Banh beo Cho Chu is named after the Chu market and is an indispensable gift of the rural market in the alluvial plains along the Chau Giang River: Hung Cong, Bo De, Ngoc Lu. In the past, Cho Chu held twelve main sessions every month: "the second, fifth, seventh, ninth" (2 - 5 - 7 - 9; 12 - 15 - 17 - 19; 22 - 25 - 27 - 29).
In the renovation period, to meet the increasing demand for consumption and trade, local people held a "market wedding" ceremony and opened more sessions, so Chu market is now considered the main session every day, every day is crowded and bustling with goods coming and going.
In the past as well as now, among the myriad of cakes and pastries at the Ngoc Lu village market, the banh beo stall, although modestly tucked away in a corner of the market, is always in high demand and sells out very early.
I don't know if it's the rustic, pure, quintessential countryside flavor, unlike the flavor of any other countryside gift, that makes Chu market's banh beo always attract customers, always sell well both at every market as well as at every festival and celebration.
I don't know if it's because it has become an emotional imprint in the memory of a beloved childhood, waiting for gifts, waiting for grandmother, waiting for mother to come back to the market, memories of a time of hunger, deprivation, a time of chaos, war... but that fragrant hometown gift makes the people of Chu and Ngoc Lu villages, every time they go far away, always remember, always feel moved, long for, and look forward to the day they return.
Source: https://danviet.vn/banh-beo-la-banh-gi-lam-nhu-the-nao-ma-o-mot-cho-que-ha-nam-he-mang-ban-la-het-truoc-tien-20241122145013421.htm
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