Beansprouts cake is a speciality of Tien Giang. It appears in many regions, yet the best one is in Giong market, Go Cong where the traditional feature of this popular cake remains unchanged. It is considered a gift in many cases or served in luxurious wedding… It has the rich flavor of rice flour, the sweetness of shrimps and fresh beansprouts, the aroma of peanut as well as the appetising fish sauce.
People in Go Cong often transmit the folk-song: “ Once the young sister gets married/ Who will offer me beansprouts in Giong market”.The name of this kind of cake originated from the materials to make it: beansprouts, tapioca starch, rice flour, pork liver, pork, shrimp, roasted peanut. However, it is sometimes called “ladle cake” because it is put into a ladle when being fried.
Beansprouts cake is popular and easy to make. To make a beansprouts cake, mix tapioca starch, rice flour, chicken eggs and water into a thick combination.The more you stir the mixture, the softer the cake will be. The proportion of tapioca starch and rice flour is a matter of taste. The cake will be cripsy if you add more tapioca starch. Otherwise, it will be glutinous. Shrimps are cut away antenna and rostrum; peel off body shell and leave them as a whole or cut it into slices for quicker cooked. Pork liver is sliced and fresh beansprouts are washed. Minced meat, pork liver, shrimps are then aromatized with garlic, salt, seasoning powder.
Frying is the most important step. If you do not fry the cakes skillfully, the shape will not be attractive and appetising. You need a ladle to fry beansprouts cake. Freely put the fresh beansprouts, pork liver, shrimps, minced meat and some roasted peanuts into the ladle, then add in flour till all the ingredients are submerged in the flour. Dip the ladle in the boiling oil for a while, when the ingredients and flour stick together, take the ladle out.
Remember to put the shrimps into the ladle at last before full filling it with flour, so that the golden brown shrimps will rise to the surface attractively. Fry the cakes with low heat to make them done to a turn, crispy but not burned. When the cakes turn golden brown, take them out following their sequence, arrange them on a bamboo or zinc gridiron laying across the fry pan to drain the oil. If there is no gridiron, it is acceptable to use 2 chopsticks or long bamboo stickslaying across the fry pan and put the cakes on.
Beansprouts cakes are served with rice vermicelli, raw vegetable, herbs, fish sauce with garlic and chilly. Raw vegetable, herbs are cut into small pieces, put into a bowl then covered with a handful of rice vermicelli. After that, beansprouts cakes are torn or cut and put on the bowl. Souse the fish sauce with garlic and chilly until it is pleasant to taste. Mix up beansprouts cakes, rice vermicelli, raw vegetable, herbs to absorb the fish sauce.
Beside the traditional beansprouts cake, people also create a kind of beansprouts for vegan which is stuffed with tofu, straw-mushroom, wood ear… Soya sauce is used instead of fish sauce. The crunchy layer of flour covers the tasty stuffing with minced meat, very white beansprouts and outstanding whole shrimps on the surface. The cripsy, delicious, eye-catching golden cakes are worth craving for!
/// Written by, HIẾU THẢO TRẦN, Vietnam
