Tay Dinh Gio cake (Binh Xuyen) - also known as Nang cake - is more well-known than that in other places in both color and flavor. The secret is selecting ingredients, soaking rice, the time of wrapping the cake, and boiling the cake.
The villagers of Tay Dinh village, Tam Hop commune, Binh Xuyen district, have two big Tet holidays in a year: Lunar New Year and 12/8 of the lunar calendar, often called the village party. On these days, in addition to a number of dishes, every family also makes many kinds of cakes, including square Chung cake and long Nang cake that are two indispensable cakes on the altar. Because in addition to yin and yang harmony, these two types of cakes are also meaningful.

Nang cake or Gio cake of Tay Dinh is delicious and famous. Almost all women in the village know how to make because the ingredients are available at their home garden. The chit (thysanolaena latifolia) leaf bushes in the corner of the garden, the blumea lanceolaria is near the fence... The secret to make this dish is the selection of ingredients, how to soak rice and when to pack, boil cake...
Delicious glutinous rice is sifted thoroughly; remove bad seeds and mixed rice. Rinse the rice carefully, change the water many times until the water is fresh. Let the rice drain and soak it in lime water for about 2 hours. Take out and let it dry before soaking it in the Nang water overnight.
The way to make Gio water there is the same as elsewhere, but raw materials only use the charcoal of three types of plants: mistletoe, dried sesame leaf stems and blumea lanceolaria.
The chit leaves are boiled thoroughly and changed the water many times to fade away the chlorophyll. Each cake only needs 2 or 3 chit leaves. Put the soaked sticky rice in the middle of the rinsed chit leaves, spread the rice evenly and elongate, wrap it up, roll and fold the two heads of the leaves and tie. Each cake is only about a span. It only takes three hours to boil it. Let the cake cool, cut into slices and eat with molasses for the more attraction.
In the process of making Gio cake, do not let any fat stick to any ingredients of tools. Therefore, it is often done some days before the holidays. Only with "a little bit" of grease, the crumb of the cake will not be perfect, so the quality of the cake will decrease.
People in Tay Dinh rarely make this cake for sale but for Tet and for relatives, friends as gifts. Everyone who has been able to eat Tay Dinh Gio cakes will remember forever because they are much better than this kind of cake in other places in both color and flavor
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