White radish cake has become the pride of southern Bạc Liêu Province and its people for its special taste and characteristics.

Thanks to cultural interactions, Kinh, Hoa and Khmer ethic groups have created three extremely attractive cakes with the ingredients of white radish, wheat flour, rice flour, pork and shrimp.

A local woman named Nguyễn Thị Sự said one of the cakes called bánh củ cải tiều originated from the Hoa and is made from white radish (cut into threads), dried shrimp and sausage (cut into pieces) and groundnuts.

These ingredients are mixed with quality fish sauce and broth mix and are fried before being mixed with white wheat flour then balled into pieces as small as a chicken egg. They are all steamed in 30 minutes, said Sự.

The second kind of cake with its proper name as bánh củ cải xếp is sourced from the Kinh. It is made from rice flour, and an important element for the cake’s taste is how to girdle it to make the cake tough, not too thin or too thick, said Sự, adding that the dumpling is made from minced lean pork, tiny field shrimp, green beans and white radish cut into threads. These ingredients are also fried and put in the middle of the girdle cake and then arranged in a half round shape.

Sự said the third kind of the cake called bánh củ cải xửng is sourced from the Khmer ethnic group. Ingredients are nearly the same as the Kinh’s but it adds coconut juice. All of the ingredients are mixed well and spread on a steaming basket topping with steamed green bean seeds and steamed for 25-30 minutes. It is cut into pieces before being displayed on a plate.

All these cakes are very enjoyable when accompanied with fresh cucumbers, fresh herbs and basil and dipped in sour and sweet chili and garlic fish sauce, Sự said, noting that the cake is rich with vitamins B, C and fiber that helps to prevent cancer and detox poison from inside the human body.

According to her experiences, the cake also helps to improve women's skin, while reduce sore throats and other ailments.

Tour guide Trương Thu Thủy said leading guests to enjoy bánh củ cải is one of the important aspects among her traveling tours.

“Many of my tourists and travelers told me that they were so impressed about the cake. I myself also enjoy the cake very much for its sweet fragrant and buttery fat from shrimp and pork, grease from the cake dough and particularly the comfortable fishy odor from white radish that diners can feel and recognise its difference from others,” Thủy said.

Apart from being steamed, many cake sellers also make it há cảo (a small piece of dough or pastry wrapped around fish, meat, or vegetables and cooked in oil, steam, or boiling water) or cut it into thin slices, roast it and wrap it up in fresh herbs before dipping it in an aromatic sauce, she added.

She said that the cake is available at shops along Hoàng Văn Thụ and Hoàng Diệu roads as well as Road 23/8. The cakes are also sold by vendors along Bạc Liêu’s streets.

Source: VNS