Poor Man's Cakes

I know what food looks like because I've really been exposed to it. I take note of what goes in my piehole. I examine food flavours on my palate and savor them, mostly. In some lobe of my brain, a complicated classification process occurs, recording smells, textures and tastes. One category becomes the realm of my gag activator, where nasties are noted. These nasties are divided into two sub-categories: those I can get down, if I don't think too hard, in a one-chew, one-swallow manoeuvre and those I have to spit out or I'll park the tiger.

What I'm trying to say is that I've developed, as have you, prejudices and pre-conceived ideas about food. These can evolve into lifetime barriers; for many years an olive was a salty rubber bullet to me and I'm still not convinced about oysters au naturale. The Vietnamese, in general, think that cheese is stinking rancid crud.

So, in a similar vein, I've had my suspicions about these peanut-studded discs for some time. Dense white spongy looking stuff, while not posing much of a threat to the gag activator, does not promise the tastebuds much in my experience. The preconception here is bloody bland and boring. But in the interests of research I'm willing to give these cakes, called banh duc, a try.

They are made from rice flour which has been soaked in water (and lime, as in the mineral, according to the vendor). Boiled while being stirred constantly to remove lumps, the mixture is poured into moulds or shaped into rounds, some of which contain peanuts. When prepared by this vendor in the Old Quarter, the rounds are cut into pie pieces and served with tuong, a fermented brown sauce made from beancurd and peanuts. The fermentation gives the sauce a mild hint of alcohol. The fresh chili clipped in gives it heat. The sauce appears to hold all the potential with this dish.

And the verdict?

While I can't say "I told you so", I can say "I told myself so!" There's an element of silky nothing to it, I'm afraid. The sauce makes banh duc palatable. As a culinary episode, it gets the thumbs down. I will defend its importance in this still developing country's foodscape, however. Not everyone can afford to eat like me. The shoeshiners, coal-carters, fruit-vendors and less fortunates of this city have to eat, too. 
Banh duc is traditionally poor man's food. It also has its own proverb:

                    "May doi banh duc co suong, may doi di ghe lai thuong con chong"

...which is difficult to translate into English.

Loose Change

One serve of banh duc - 8,000-10,000VND (USD45-56c, AUD57-72c)

Banh Duc
Ta Hien St
(near the corner with Hang Bac St)
Old Quarter

Comments

[Michelle]

It's "May doi banh duc co xuong, may doi di ghe lai thuong con chong". It's "xuong" (bone) not "suong" (dew).

Since banh duc is a thick and soft cake, the Vietnamese compares it to something that has no "backbone". So this proverb is losely translated to "banh duc never has backbone, the same as stepmom never loves her husband's children". Why banh duc? I have no idea =)

Yeah, this is a pretty bland cake. For some odd reason, my Mom only craves for it when she was pregnant =)

[Nguyen Thanh Huong]

Regarding your wondering, why bank duc? It is possible this type of cake made by rice flour and served poor men. Thousand years ago, most Vietnamese people were poor and knew quite well banh duc as it is soft and popular to the agricultural culture. They never observe a backbone in banh duc as they never see a stepmon loves her husband's own children.

[Tram]

aaaah, good ol' vietnamese proverbs. What a lovely post on this, though. I always have a great read on here :)

[Green]

Very interesting cake I may say.

-Green
www.ahacook.com

[RecipeOfTheWeek]

I love banh duc!!

[Sticky]

Thanks Michelle for the correction on the Vietnamese - I need that! Also, for the translation

Yes the VN proverbs sometimes don't translate well or easily into Englsih, Tram. Glad you enjoy the blog content!

Can't say I'm much of a fan, RotW!