Over recent weeks, traditional craft families in Da Nang’s Hoa Vang District have been very busy making Tet specialities to meet the increasing demand of customers during the upcoming festival.

‘Banh la gai’ (thorn leaf sticky rice cake) is one of the district’s popular specialities.  Making this type of cake developed long ago, and the traditional craft has been maintained by the family of Mrs Le Thi Nhan in the district’s Phong Nam Village.

Mrs Nhan said that she produces several thousand cakes every day and they are often sold out by 7.00am.  She added that customers often buy these products directly from her home and each cake costs between 1,500 and 2,000 VND.     

A rice paper-making in Tuy Loan village

She said that her ‘banh la gai’ is made from 5 ingredients: sticky rice, ‘la gai’ (a type of thorn leaf popular in the central region), sugar, green beans and a banana leaf.  The ‘la gai’ is boiled and then ground in a stone mortar to take water, and the sticky rice is ground into flour.  The sugar is dissolved in water and then boiled down to make syrup.  These 3 ingredients are then mixed together to make the dough.  Meanwhile, the green beans are soaked in water for several hours before steaming.  After that, the well-done beans are ground and rolled into balls and used as stuffing for the dough.  Banana leaves are used to wrap the cake into the shape of a pyramid before it is put into a pot for steaming.

The district’s other popular food at Tet is rice paper made in Tuy Loan village in the district’s Hoa Phong Commune.  This type of rice paper has become very popular with local residents and both domestic and overseas visitors. 

Currently, there are over 10 rice paper-making families in the village.  Mrs Dang Thi Tuy Phong and Mrs Dang Thi Tung have many years’ experience in making this type of rice paper.  In these days leading up to Tet, each of their families uses between 1.6 and 2 tons of rice in order to produce thousands of rice papers.

In order to make the tasty rice paper, deliciously scented rice from the winter-spring crop is used.  Tuy Loan’s rice paper tastes very different from similar products produced elsewhere thanks to its special recipe which includes various spice mixes such as dipping sauce, salt, sugar, garlic and sesame.  It is dried on charcoal fires instead of being dried in the sun, which prevents any formation of mould.