Warm and cozy reunion with a pot of banh chung on Tet holiday
Huy Thu - February 9, 2024 09:12
(Baonghean.vn) - Every Tet holiday, families in Nghe An are busy wrapping and cooking banh chung to celebrate Tet, spreading the Lunar New Year atmosphere everywhere.
To wrap banh chung, families must carefully prepare ingredients such as sticky rice, mung beans, dong leaves, giang vines, pork, etc. Before wrapping the cake, mothers and sisters meticulously classify, wash, and neatly arrange each dong leaf. Photo: Huy ThuThe work of cutting dong leaves also requires skillful and careful hands of mothers. In some localities, banana leaves are used to wrap banh chung, which means the banana leaves must be dried over a fire, the leaves must be slit... Photo: Huy ThuSince December 28, many families have started wrapping the cakes. Any household that wraps and cooks the cakes must finish by the morning of the 30th of Tet at the latest. Usually, when wrapping the cakes, the whole family joins in, creating a lot of fun. Photo: Huy Thu Life has changed, people no longer wrap banh chung as much as before, each Tet holiday, each family only wraps a few kilos of sticky rice. Depending on the type of cake, there is a different way of wrapping, banh tet is wrapped by hand everywhere, while banh chung can be wrapped in plastic or wooden molds. To wrap the cake beautifully, the maker must have the skill "practice makes perfect". Photo: Huy Thu Many rural areas use green beans, pork or ripe bananas to make the filling, however, green beans are still the most popular filling ingredient. Mr. Nguyen Van Truc in Khanh Son commune (Nam Dan) said: Every year near Tet, his family wraps banh chung and cooks it all night. In his hometown of "Nam Nam", people pay a lot of attention when making the filling to wrap the cake, the filling often includes beans, meat, pickled onions. Photo: Huy ThuMs. Tran Thi My Duyen (24 years old), in Vo Liet commune (Thanh Chuong) shared: She is working in Hue, every time she returns home to celebrate Tet, she joins in wrapping Tet cakes with her family. For her, wrapping Tet cakes brings her an interesting experience and especially the warmth and reunion with her parents and relatives. Photo: Huy ThuEvery Tet holiday, people from the mountainous to the lowland districts in Nghe An are busy wrapping Chung cakes and Tet cakes. Wrapping Tet Chung cakes is not only a typical activity of Tet, preparing offerings to ancestors, making food for Tet holidays..., but also brings a joyful and exciting atmosphere of Spring, welcoming Tet. Photo: Huy ThuNot only do they wrap cakes for their own families, many people also enthusiastically and happily wrap cakes to help their brothers, relatives, and neighbors. Good cake wrappers are often "reliant" on by many people, and must schedule their cake wrapping from the 28th to the 30th of Tet. Photo: Huy ThuIn the past, cooking banh chung was quite difficult because the whole village only had a few large pots. Near Tet, the family with a pot would make a list of nearby families to borrow the pot, and after cooking, they would give it to another family. Now, almost every family has a pot, which is very convenient, but it makes it easier to wrap the cake, so many families often share one pot to cook. When cooking the cake, adults light the stove, children gather around waiting for the cake to cook, listening to stories about the old Tet is really fun. Photo: Huy Thu Depending on the conditions of each family, the cakes are cooked during the day or at night. During the cold days at the end of the year, staying up all night to cook Tet cakes has become an unforgettable memory for many people. This year, on the afternoon of December 29, the weather turned rainy and cold, many households stayed up all night to cook cakes by the fire. Photo: Huy Thu After 8-10 hours of continuous cooking, the pot of Tet cakes will be soft and fragrant. The whole family will join hands to wash the cakes and knead them until smooth before storing them. Wrapping Tet cakes has become a beautiful part of the traditional culture of Nghe An people. Although life has changed, green Chung cakes and red parallel sentences still carry the rich Vietnamese flavor of the traditional Tet holiday. Photo: Huy Thu
Next to the pot of banh chung on Tet holiday. Video: Huy Thu
Share your opinion
Your comment has been submitted and will be displayed after being approved by the editorial team. The editorial board reserves the right to edit comments to comply with the Newspaper's content regulations.
.jpg "Chữ hiếu ngày nay – giá trị chưa bao giờ cũ")
.jpg "Tiến sĩ, bác sĩ Nguyễn Khánh Toàn - người được bệnh nhân ung thư gửi gắm tin yêu")
