A: Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of VOV 24/7’s“Food delight”. I’m

B: Hello, you guys, I’m… We’re very happy to be on the air with you.

A: Hey B, I’ve just come back from a trip to Hai Duong province, and I have a bunch of gifts for you. Let’s see. A blue shirt, a little sweetie doll, and…

B: Oh my god. I like the color blue and I love dolls so much. It’s so kind of you.

A: Calm down, B, that’s not everything. I bet you’ll love this one. Tada!

B: Oh. Thorn leaf cake, it’s one of my favorite cakes. It smells so good!

A: It’s one of my favorites, too. So, on today’s program, let’s take a closer look at how the sweet cake is made.

B: Great.

The cake is made from high quality rice flour mixed with thorn leaf paste, filled with stirred-in-sugar green beans and wrapped in many layers of banana leaves (Source: monngonmoingay.net)

A: Banh gai or thorn leaf cake is an inexpensive but very delicious food, popular in northern provinces like Hai Duong, and Nam Dinh.The cake has long been an   traditional offering at festivals and a traditional gift at longevity parties.

B: The cake is made from high quality rice flour mixed with thorn leaf paste, filled with stirred-in-sugar green bean and wrapped in many layers of banana leaves. It’s believed that eating the cake frequently improves the quality of one’s sleep, prevents blood clots, relieves headache. Many benefits, right?

A: Yes. The cake also has an amazing flavor in your mouth from the first bite. This beautiful and delicious cake makes me very curious to know how it is made. Uhm, but as far as I know, the cake’s preparation and meticulous cooking steps require a lot of time and skill.

A: I have good news for you. Nguyen Phuong Hai, culinary expert of the Quan An Ngon chain, will tell us how to make it. “The most important thing in making thorn leaf cake is balancing the ratio of thorn leaf and rice flour. If you use too much thorn leaf, the cake takes more time to solidify, causing a dense texture. You should choose “Cai hoa vang” glutinous rice, which has a special fragrance that goes well with the cake.” 

A: Preparing the flour is very important in making any kind of Vietnamese cakes. People commonly use glutinous rice to make those cakes.

B: But for thorn leaf cake, if you use glutinous rice flour only, the cake will be sticky, and lumpy, and will not have the desired form. Hai reveals his secret: “The thorn leaves to make the cake are easy to find in northern provinces like Hai Duong and Nam Dinh. You can use fresh leaves, but the sun dried leaves will give the cake a better color. Remember to remove all the stems before cooking. The dried leaves are boiled until soft and pounded well. The glutinous rice flour and ordinary rice flour are combined in 4:1 ratio before being mixed with the thorn paste. This mixture is used to prepare the cake crust.”

The cake has an amazing flavor in your mouth from the first bite (Source: baohaiquan.vn)

A: The cake crust seems to be ready. How about the filling, B?

B: The ingredients for making the filling are very basic. But the cooking process is not that simple.

A: Unpeeled green beans,  shredded coconut, sugar, white sesame seeds, pork fat, and vanilla extract is everything you need to make the filling. Hai again: “The filling, made of green beans stirred with sugar, should be refined and not sticky because dried filling would ruin the flavor of the cake. When the green bean paste is ready, add a piece of pork fat, coconut shreds, and vanilla extract or pomelo flavoring. The cakes, sprinkled with white sesame seeds, are then wrapped in banana leaves. The leaves should be covered with a little bit of pork grease to avoid sticking. Finally, the cakes are steamed for about 1 hour in boiling water. ” 

The cakes are steamed for one hour until they are done (Source: baohaiquan.vn)

A: In some regions, people may add pumpkin jam, roasted peanuts, yellow ginger, or coated-in-sugar lotus seeds to the filling to impart a different flavor. People always put 5 cakes in one pack and tie them carefully with a dried straw.  The number 5 represents luck, wealth, and happiness.  

B: When you remove the banana wrapping, the cake will have a special dark color and the lovely aroma of thorn leaves. The cake is best when served cold. 

A: The cakes have a characteristic flavor of Vietnam. They’re not easy to make at home, but you can buy them at small shops or restaurants in Nam Dinh or Hai Duong province. For now, good bye. Join us again next week on VOV 24/7’s Food Delight.