Banh Tet La Cam – If you ever visit Tay Do (Can Tho), you absolutely can’t miss Banh Tet La Cam. For generations, Banh Tet has been a familiar, rustic dish of the people in the Mekong Delta. It’s a perfect blend of natural ingredients, transformed by skillful hands into a beloved dish, cherished for its delicious, soft, and chewy texture.

>>> My hometown’s Western (Mien Tay) leaf cakes.

Banh Tet La Cam

1. Origins

Banh Tet La Cam can be considered a wonderful improvement on traditional Banh Tet. Unlike its traditional counterpart, Banh Tet La Cam boasts enhanced flavors from salted eggs, meat, dried shrimp, and more. Additionally, the wrapper is a beautiful fusion with La Cam (cam leaf), a type of leaf known for its captivating purple hue, making the cake visually appealing and distinct, while also imparting its unique aroma.

In Can Tho, the most delicious and authentic Banh Tet La Cam, and arguably where this particular type of Banh Tet originated, comes from the Huynh Family’s Banh Tet La Cam by Mrs. Huynh Thi Trong, also known as Mrs. Sau Trong.

She was the visionary who discovered how to use the purple liquid from cam leaves to mix into the sticky rice. She shared that in her youth, in her twenties, she inherited a love for cake-making from her family and continued the tradition. She constantly sought ways to improve and enhance the flavors. Gradually, she learned Western baking techniques from her husband, and one day, by chance, she found a way to use the purple liquid from cam leaves to replace the traditional green color. Thus, Banh Tet La Cam was born. Beyond adding visual appeal and flavor to this Banh Tet, cam leaves also possess various medicinal properties, earning them a place in folk medicine.

2. How to Make Banh Tet La Cam

To create perfect Banh Tet La Cam rolls, Mrs. Sau Trong always dedicates herself to every small step, meticulously selecting the ingredients. First, she chooses high-quality sticky rice, ensuring no regular rice is mixed in. The sticky rice must be premium white sticky rice and soaked for 6 hours. Next, fresh cam leaves are picked, thoroughly washed, boiled, and the liquid is strained to create the cake’s vibrant color. Green beans are soaked and cooked until tender. Grated coconut is squeezed to extract coconut milk. Once these steps are complete, the sticky rice is mixed with the cam leaf liquid and coconut milk, seasoned with salt and sugar, and then placed on the stove. After about an hour, when the cam leaf color and coconut milk have fully absorbed into the sticky rice grains, it’s stir-fried evenly until the sticky rice is about 30% cooked, then removed from the heat.

The banana leaves used for wrapping must not be too young or too old. After being stripped from the stem, the leaves must be wiped clean; however, there’s no need to grease them with oil, as the coconut milk in the sticky rice will naturally release enough oil during cooking to prevent the rice from sticking to the leaves when the cake is done. For the best taste, the cakes are tied with nylon string. Compared to sedge string, nylon string is strong and easy to tie, which increases wrapping efficiency; a roll can be tied in just a few minutes.

The cooking process itself is equally crucial. Mrs. Sau Trong’s Banh Tet is always cooked over firewood for 4 to 5 hours until perfectly done. According to Mrs. Sau, a steady firewood flame allows the cake to cook slowly for the best flavor. Cooking with rice husks, especially with coal, won’t yield the desired results, often leading to mushy cakes and quickly damaging the cooking pot.

During his visit to Vietnam and journey south, “Iron Chef” Martin Yan once ranked Huynh Family’s Banh Tet La Cam among the “Three Wonders” of local rustic dishes, alongside Thanh Giao’s Duck Cooked with Fermented Tofu and Muoi Xiem’s Banh Xeo.

3 Artisan – Huynh Thi Trong

Huynh Family’s Banh Tet La Cam is available in the market at quite affordable prices: Special Mixed Banh Tet: 90,000 VND, Mixed Banh Tet: 70,000 VND, Pork and Bean Banh Tet: 50,000 VND, Vegetarian Bean Banh Tet (sweet): 50,000 VND, Banana-filled Banh Tet: 45,000 VND. The cakes are securely and beautifully wrapped, making everyone eager to try them immediately.

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