Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Hanoi’s winter is said to be incomplete without savouring banh khucor xoi khuc.

The dish is a ball of glutinous rice mixed withcudweed and filled with mung bean paste and seasoned greasy pork. It is besttasted when served steaming hot, which is why it is a must-have dish during thecold winter months.

Another reason why the dish is popular duringwinter is because the most important ingredient - cudweed - grows abundantlyduring late winter. In the first two months of the year, when an early springdrizzle envelops the villages and farms, cudweed is also harvested.

The plant grows naturally along river banks andon the edges of fields.

There are two kinds of cudweed - te (non-sticky)and nep (sticky). Of these, te is preferred to make banh khuc as it is moreflexible and fragrant.

On cold winter nights in Hanoi, street vendorsare often heard shouting, “Ai banh khuc day?” (Who wants banh khuc?) on nearlyevery street. This is a familiar call for anyone who has lived in the capitalfor a long time. However, there are only two popular places serving the mostauthentic and delicious banh khuc in the city: Banh khuc Quan and Banh khuc coLan.

Banh khuc Quan

“I have tried banh khuc in many places, butnowhere have I found as soft and sweet-smelling layer of steamed glutinous riceas sold in Banh khuc Quan shop,” says Bui Tuyet Loan, a resident on Hang BongStreet.

Shop owner Nguyen Van Quan revealed that thesecret to their dish, beside the right cudweed, was the Nhung glutinous ricethat was grown in Vietnam’s northern provinces. The special rice, with its biggrains, keeps the dish sticky even when it has cooled down. The grains do notharden even when they are refrigerated or heated in a microwave.

“The rice is then soaked in water according to atechnique devised by my family, like at a particular temperature and for aparticular duration. If the rice is soaked for too long, it can get crushed,and if it is not soaked enough, it might become too hard,” Quan said.


To make the dish, the cudweed is well brayed toobtain the mash liquor, which is then mixed with the glutinous powder. This isthen kneaded well to create the covering layer. The filling of the dish is madewith well-kneaded ground mung beans, which wraps the well-seasoned lean and fatpork.

The final product is steamed in a clay pot toensure its taste and temperature.

Each portion is wrapped in a banana leaf beforebeing handed over to customers. A pack of sesame and salt is givencomplimentary. One portion costs 13,000 VND (60 US cents).

Banh khuc co Lan

Small shops located along the streets of Hanoihave hanging signboards that read Banh khuc co Lan, another popular brand nameof banh khuc in the city.

The recipe of banh khuc co Lan might be similarto that served in Banh khuc Quan, but each shop has a different method ofchoosing the ingredients.

According to Nguyen Thi Lan, owner of the brandname Banh khuc co Lan, the glutinous rice and mung beans are thoroughlyselected, and the filling of the rice ball contains a lot of well-kneadedground mung bean mixed with cudweed.

“The technique of cooking the mung bean iscrucial,” she says. “If the mung bean is too crushed, the whole dish willbecome crushed and if the mung bean is hard, the whole rice ball will becomefriable.”

Customers who prefer a greasy taste might findtheir favourite banh khuc in Lan’s shop, as the fillings there contain moregreasy lean and fat pork, wrapped in layers of steamed glutinous rice, mungbeans and brayed cudweed. Each portion costs 13,000 VND, the same as Banh khucQuan.

Though the cudweed grows only during winter, itcan be collected and dried and stored for use in banh khuc throughout the year.But it’s only in winter that the dish tastes the best, for its ingredients havebeen freshly harvested.

“A serving of banh khuc seems to be small, butit’s actually filling. The colours and flavours of its ingredients mix well tocreate its unique taste,” says Lan. – VNA