Bánh chưng

Bánh chưngorbanh chungis a traditionalVietnamesedish which is made fromglutinous rice,mung beans,pork, and other ingredients.
According to legend, its origin traces back to Lang Liêu, a prince of the lastkingof theSixth Hùng Dynasty. He earned his place as successor by creatingbánh chưngandbánh giầy, which symbolize the earth and the sky, respectively.
Considered an essential element of the family altar on the occasion ofTết, the preparation and consumption ofbánh chưngare cherished traditions deeply rooted in Vietnamese culture. While closely associated withTết,bánh chưngis enjoyed year-round as a staple of Vietnamese cuisine.
According to the bookLĩnh Nam chích quái(Extraordinary stories ofLĩnh Nam) published in the 14th century, the creation ofbánh chưngwas credited to Lang Liêu, a prince of the lastSixth Hùng Dynastyof theHùng 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 ofTết, 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 calledbánh chưngand one in the round form of sky calledbánh giầyfrom these simple ingredients. In tasting the dishes offered by his son, the Hùng king foundbánh chưngandbánh giầynot only delicious but also a fine representation of the respect for ancestors. Therefore, he decided to cede the throne to Lang Liêu andbánh chưng,bánh giầybecame traditional foods duringTết.Lang Liêu founded the Seventh Hùng dynasty (c. 1631 – 1432 BC).
Considered an indispensable dish ofTết,bánh chưngis placed on the family altars to honor the family ancestors and pray to them for support in the new year.Wrapped in a green square package,bánh chưngsymbolizes theearth,the various ingredients ofbánh chưng, which come from all the products of nature, also emphasize the meaning ofbánh chưngwith Vietnamese people.
The required ingredients ofbánh chưng areglutinous rice,mung bean, fattyporkandblack pepper,salt, sometimes greenonion, andnước mắmfor salty taste.In the wrapping stage, one needslá dong, strings split fromgiang(Maclurochloasp.), one type of bamboo which has long node, and sometimes a square mold in wood so thatbánh chưngcan be wrapped in a better shape,lá dong, which is popular only in Southern Asia, can be substituted bybananaleaves or evenlá bàng.Lá dongandgiangstrings have to be washed carefully in order to preserve the taste of the cake,giangstrings may be soaked in water or steamed so that they become flexible enough for wrapping and tying. People often choose high-quality rice and beans for makingbánh chưng. The mung beans are soaked in water for approximately 2 hours and the glutinous rice for 12 to 14 hours. The mung beans are drained, cooked and mashed into a paste.  The fat in the pork is preferred forbánh chưngbecause its fatty flavor associates well with the glutinous rice and mung beans. After being sliced in approx. half-inch thick strips, the pork is mixed with pepper, onion, salt andnước mắm. Sugar can also be added to this mixture of spices.
The cake is wrapped in the following order. First, thegiangstrings and twolá dongleaves are placed as the square base for thebánh chưng. Then glutinous rice is stuffed inlá 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 inlá dongand bound bygiangstrings 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 frommoldor being spoiled,bánh chưngshould be wrapped as tight as possible.
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 oflá dong.Onebánh chưngis often divided into eight (triangular shaped) or nine (square shaped) pieces, usually by using the verygiangstring that bounded the cake.As the cake was formed from several ingredients, the taste ofbánh chưngvaries from part to part with different flavors of glutinous rice, pork, bean and even the wrappinglá dong.Bánh chưngis often served with pickled onions or vegetables,chả lụaandnước mắm. After unwrapping,bánh chưngremains edible for several days when stored in the refrigerator,while an unopened one can be kept for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.Bánh chưngcan also be frozen and thawed again for consumption, though the quality is not as good as a fresh cake.Bánh chưnghas thewater activityvalue awof about 0.95 and itspHis approximately 6.4.
Bánh chưngis always considered an essential element of a traditionalTết, which is described by a popularcouplet:
Women wearáo dàifor their tradition. Traditionally,bánh chưngrequires 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 the twelfth month of theVietnamese calendar(tháng Chạp). In makingbánh chưng, all members of the family gather to perform different tasks, from washing thelá 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 chưngneeds to be carefully boiled for ten to twelve hours during which the adults and children sit together around the boiling cauldron.In the countryside, to ensure thatbánh chưngis available for every family even the poor ones, a fund calledhọ bánh chưngis jointly set up and about one month before theTết, the accumulated capital and benefit are divided between members of the fund so that they can have enough money to preparebánh chưng.
Nowadays, the tradition of self-madebánh chưnggradually declines in Vietnam when the size of a typical family is smaller and people do not have enough time for the preparation and making ofbánh chưng. Instead, they go to thebánh chưngshop or order cakes in advance from families that specialize in making them. Therefore,bánh chưngstill appears in each family during the Tết but they are not a family product anymore.With the shift ofbánh chưngmaking from family to specialized manufacturers, some craft villages became famous for their reputation in makingbánh chưngsuch asTranh Khúcvillage orDuyên Hàvillage both inThanh Trì,Hanoi.
Each year, on the occasion of theDeath anniversary of the Hung Kings, a competition of makingbánh chưngandbánh dàyis often organized inHùng Temple,Phú Thọ. Participants from eight different regions includingLào Cai, Hanoi andCần Thơare provided with 5 kg of glutinous rice, bean, 1 kg of pork so that they can make 10bánh chưngin 10 minutes, the product of the winning team will be present in the official altar of the festival.In 2005, bánh chưng makers inHo Chi Minh Cityoffered Hùng Temple a pair of giantbánh chưngandbánh giầy, the size of thebánh chưngmeasured 1.8m x 1.8m x 0.7m (71 x 71 x 27.5 inches) and weighed 2 tonnes after cooking, it was made in Ho Chi Minh City and subsequently transferred to Phú Thọ.
While being normally eaten warm or at room temperature,bánh chưngalso be fried up and served in the form of a crisp pancake. It is then calledbánh chưng ránorbánh chưng chiên(friedbánh chưng).WriterVũ Bằngin his bookThương nhớ mười hai(Longing of the 12 months) mentionsbánh chưng ránas a delicious dish during the cold winter of Hanoi.
In some regions, instead ofbánh chưng, people makebánh tét: a cylindrical cake with almost the same ingredients asbánh chưng.A similar cake asbánh tétis made in some regions in the North but with the namebánh tày,bánh chưng dài(longbánh chưng) orbánh dài.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 tàycan be cut in slices and fried likebánh chưng rán.
TheSan Diu peoplehas another variation of the longbánh chưngwith a hump in the middle of the cake – hence it is calledbánh chưng "gù"("humped"bánh chưng). Besideslá dong,bánh chưng "gù"is wrapped with an additional type of leaf namedlá chít.
There are also variations ofbánh chưngforvegetariansandBuddhists, such asbánh chưng chay(vegetarianchưngcake) orbánh chưng ngọt(sweetenedchưngcake). Instead of being stuffed with pork these cakes are filled withmolassesorbrown sugar.In these variations sometimes the glutinous rice is mixed withgac, giving the cake a red skin considered more appetizing. In the countrysidebánh chưng chaywas once made by the poor families who could not afford pork for stuffing. They replaced pork withcardamom, black pepper and cooked mung bean. This type ofbánh chưngwas eaten with molasses.