Hue is the old capital of Vietnam and most of the dishes originated from royal cuisine. One of them is Bánh in – an exotic desert people offered for the King and served with green tea. Gradually, this Hue local food has become the typical offer for the ancestors and Tet Holiday of Hue people.
Bánh in – A desert of the King
Legend has it that Banh In originated from Kim Long village. On Tet holiday, the King felt so insipid beside the green tea. He commanded for the old villagers of Kim Long to find out a desert that was accompanied by green tea.
The old villagers decided to make green bean cake because Kim Long is famous for planting green beans. That is a nutritious cheap and easy ingredient. They made Longevity print on the face of the cake with the long-live meaning. This small desert would bring Kim Long’s specialty and best wishes of Kim Long people to the King. After savoring this delicacy, the King was so satisfied. He ordered people to maintain this traditional cake recipe as a Hue local food ever after.
How to make this exotic Hue local food?
The main ingredient to make Banh in is cereal flour such as mung bean, lotus seed, sticky rice flour, etc. It is a complicated process and needs the handicraft man to be patient and skillful. First, people need to choose the best round shape mung bean seed. Carefully wash mung beans without breaking. Second, stew mung bean during twelve hours by little fire and stir the flour steadily to make sure that the flour is not so dense or so fluid.
Third, dry this cake for ten hours by wood coal in order to store the cake as long as possible without being musty. The fourth step is to mix the flour with sugar at an approximate rate. The handicraft man needs to make sure of the harmony between flour and sugar. The best flavor of this Hue local food is lightly sweet.
Longevity shaped – a wish for the King
After making the sweeten mung bean, the craftsmen shape and cast the cake. There are many types of shapes like lotus, Happiness, Longevity to decorate the cake. It depends on the purpose of use that people choose the symbol. This is the reason why people called this cake Bánh in. “In” in Vietnamese means shape or cast.
People wrap these cakes with five-color papers. The five colors represent five orient philosophies: Wood, Metal, Earth, Water, Fire. That why mung bean cake or Bánh In has another name five-color cake. The desert to offer for the King is usually in square form, colorful, and with longevity symbol upon the surface. It represented the long-live wish from the commoners to their leader and become famous Hue local food.
Bánh In has become one of the famous traditional handicraft in Hue. If you are fond of this special Hue local food, join our Kim Long green treasure. Follow our local guide to call by one of the handicrafts and taste this upper-class desert. It is an amazing way to immerse into Vietnamese local life as a local.
