Nguyen village's fish cake is a specialty cake originating from Nguyen village (Nguyen Xa commune, Dong Hung district, Thai Binh province). The cake has a sweet taste, the rich aroma of yellow sticky rice mixed with the fatty smell of lard, malt and the spicy taste of ginger.
The name of the cake comes from the yellow sticky rice that is soaked, mixed with red gac fruit, steamed, pressed, diced and dried. It has a yellow color like the eggs of a crab, so the cake is called the cake.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thang, owner of a fish cake establishment in Nguyen Xa commune (Dong Hung district), who has more than 30 years of experience in the profession, said that to make a fragrant and soft fish cake, there are many different steps. The ingredients for this type of cake are taken entirely from nature such as: gac fruit, gardenia fruit or leaves, peanuts, sesame, ginger, carrots.
"After having all the ingredients, I mix them with cane sugar, heat them in a pan with lard (or cooking oil), stir the ingredients well and then pour them into a mold to press them into cakes. The large cake mold will be cut into bite-sized pieces, then bagged and put into a finished product box," said Mr. Thang.
Over time, Nguyen village's Banh Cay has become a specialty, a symbol of the culinary culture of Thai Binh rice land. Simply made from a product of the countryside, Nguyen village's Banh Cay has a strange attraction.
Ms. Dao Thu Quynh (Nam Dinh) shared: "When I mention the rice homeland of Thai Binh, I think of the famous banh cay. I like the fragrant, sticky taste of sticky rice, sugar, sesame, and peanuts, blended together. Every time I stop by Nguyen Bridge (Dong Hung District), I buy banh cay so that on weekend evenings, my family can gather together to chat, enjoy banh cay, and drink a cup of tea."
Nowadays, society is developing, the market has many types of delicious cakes that suit consumers' tastes, making the profession of making fish cakes sometimes encounter many difficulties. However, to meet consumer tastes, many fish cake making establishments have invested in machinery and upgraded their facilities. Currently, a box of fish cake costs from 25,000 - 35,000 VND/box.
