Fish cakes of Muong people in Tu Vu

Every holiday season, Muong women in Tu Vu commune, Thanh Thuy district are busy preparing ingredients to make fish cakes - a traditional cake of the Muong ethnic group here.

Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Xuan in zone 6, Tu Vu commune, divides the dough into small portions to make fish cakes.

The ingredients for this dish are carefully selected, and each step of preparation is also extremely meticulous. Glutinous rice must be soaked for 12 hours or more, then ground and fermented for 1-2 hours to meet the standards for making cakes. The fish chosen to make the best cake filling is carp or grass carp weighing 5kg or more. After cleaning, the fish is marinated with spices including seasoning powder, pepper, and anise seeds and grilled over charcoal. When grilling the fish, it is important to ensure even heat, especially grilling it until cooked to keep the softness and sweetness of the fish meat. After grilling, the baker carefully removes each piece of fish meat to remove the bones, then fluffs it up and stir-fries it again to let the fish filling absorb the spices.

Carefully remove the fish to make the filling.

Grilled fish stir-fried with chopped taro leaves to create the flavor of fish cake.

Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Xuan in zone 6 of Tu Vu commune shared: In addition to basic ingredients such as sticky rice flour, fish filling and spices, an indispensable ingredient when making fish cakes is tau leaves. Tau leaves look like betel leaves, have a light fragrance but are very difficult to find because this plant is usually only found in streams and rocky mountains. This is also a special ingredient that creates the unique flavor of fish cakes.

Fish cakes are wrapped by hand by the Muong people in Tu Vu. When wrapping the cakes, the wrapper usually divides the dough into small portions, enough for one cake, flattens it, then adds the filling and shapes it again. After that, the cake will be wrapped in a layer of tau leaves and then wrapped in banana leaves to make the cake shell.

After shaping, the fish cakes are wrapped in tau leaves.

Taro leaves are an indispensable ingredient when making fish cakes.

The process of steaming the cake also requires meticulousness from the stage of preparing enough water to the stage of adjusting the fire. While steaming the cake, you need to keep the fire steady, hot enough and steam for about 1 hour so that the steam can cook the cake. When the time is enough, the cake is cooked, you must take it out to cool, drain the water so that the cake leaves are dry and not moldy.

The cake is wrapped in square, beautiful banana leaves.

...and put in a pot and steam for 1 hour.

According to Mrs. Phung Thi Thin, whether it is a holiday, Tet or any family event, she and many other families choose fish cake as a special dish and gift. The cake has existed since ancient times, through many generations, and until now still retains the traditional features of the Muong people in Tu Vu.

When cooked, the fish cake is chewy and rich, with the characteristic aroma of tau leaves, fish and spices.

Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Xuan and her mother-in-law carefully wrap each fish cake to prepare for Tet.

Enjoy each piece of fish cake, feel the special, fragrant, sticky taste of sticky rice flour mixed with the sweet, rich taste of fish filling with traditional spices and the characteristic light aroma of tau leaves...

Preparing and wrapping each fish cake together is also an opportunity for family members to gather together and strengthen their relationships during each traditional holiday and New Year of the nation.

Plum Blossom

Source: https://baophutho.vn/banh-ca-cua-nguoi-muong-o-tu-vu-226420.htm