Gourds are traditionally used to make soups, stir-fries, stews or steamed dishes. However, in the past, in the countryside of Vinh Chau and Chau Thanh towns, people also used gourds to make cakes when there were not many different types of cakes and fruits.
After a period of being lost, over the past 5 years, this type of cake has been restored by artisan Huynh Ngoc Lan (Soc Trang City). And from here, Soc Trang's gourd cake has become famous on the culinary map of Southern folk cakes.
Artisan Huynh Ngoc Lan shared that there are two types of banh bau: sweet and savory, made from the main ingredients of young gourd, rice flour, shrimp, coconut milk, green onions...
For sweet squash cake, peel the squash, shred the squash and remove the seeds. Then, mix the flour with coconut milk, season with a little salt, sugar, etc., then mix this flour with the shredded squash and steam for 20-30 minutes.
After 10 minutes, open the lid to release some steam, then continue steaming. When the cake is almost done, add some green onions on top for decoration. Sweet gourd cake is served with coconut milk.
As for salty banh gourd, the preparation is similar but without adding sugar. When the cake is cooked, add the minced shrimp filling. The dipping sauce for salty banh gourd not only has coconut milk but also a little sweet and sour fish sauce, to increase the deliciousness and reduce the fat of the cake.
At the 7th Southern Traditional Cake Festival in 2018 held in Can Tho City, artisan Huynh Ngoc Lan's Bau cake won a gold medal.
