Annually, before Tet Holiday, Tranh Khuc, located in the outskirt of Hanoi, in Duyen Ha commune, Thanh Tri district, draws enormous influxes of people around Hanoi those want to buy square glutinous rice cakes of the village.
Tranh Khuc village has a long – standing craft of making chung cake. Products of the village fulfill all requirements of aesthetic and quality and its distinctive flavor. To make a chung cake, makers have to do many steps from choosing Dong leaves which must be large, green and untorn; choosing materials for making the cake such as pork, onion, …
To make a cake, four or five layers of Dong leaves are used as the wrapping of the dumpling, with the green blade of the outside leave turned outward. The dumpling is made of a layer of glutinous rice, a layer of green bean topped by pork and then another layer of green bean topped by another layer of glutinous rice. The dumpling must be wrapped tightly to maintain a uniform shape. The cakes are placed into a big pot and boiled for about eight hours.
The trademark of chung cake made in Tranh Khuc has become the pride of the villagers.
