Green square cake is an indispensable dish in the traditional Tet feast of the Vietnamese people. Therefore, wrapping the square cake to be beautiful and naturally green is also more important than ever to harmonize the meaning. If you don’t know how to make the square cake have a beautiful green color, let’s refer to the following tips.
Tips to make the square cake have a beautiful green color
To have a true green square cake that is delicious and long-lasting, all stages must be perfect.
+ Choose dong leaves
You need to know how to differentiate nếp leaves and tẻ leaves. In terms of shape, the nếp leaf is usually slightly bulging at the stem, the stem is small, and the two sides have different shades of green. Meanwhile, the tẻ leaf only has a light green color, flat leaves, long stems, prominent veins, crispy leaves, and easy to tear. If you wrap the cake with this type of leaf, it won’t be fragrant. The best choice is to buy nếp leaves, preferably ones that bulge at the tip. Absolutely avoid buying large dong leaves, such as banana leaves.
The dong leaves need to be washed clean and gently, one leaf at a time, in multiple waters, then use a clean cloth to wipe each leaf. Before wrapping the cake, you should blanch the leaves in boiling water to kill all mold spores, then wipe them again to dry. Normally, the amount of leaves used to wrap each cake will vary depending on the weather. Usually, people use 4 leaves to wrap the cake, but in some places, if the weather is cool, 6 leaves are used, while in hot weather, 10 leaves are used for better preservation.
+ Choose sticky rice
Naturally, the best sticky rice for wrapping square cake will be the golden grain sticky rice. Soak the sticky rice in pandan water for 1 to 3 hours or squeeze the juice of lemons into the rice before wrapping. This way, the cake will cook faster and have a naturally beautiful green color. Soaking for too long will make the rice sour. Especially soaking in warm water for a long time like that will make the rice lose its grains.
In some rural areas in our country today, to make the square cake greener, people still dye the sticky rice by taking clean jackfruit leaves, grinding them into small pieces, and then squeezing out the water. According to tradition, this method will make the sticky rice more fragrant, and the cake will be green from the inside out and can be preserved for half a month without becoming sour.
+ Boil the cake
Before boiling the cake, place a small strainer on the bottom of the pot to prevent burn and limit excessive water absorption into the cake. At the same time, place the residual square cake leaves or cut leaves around the bottom and edges of the pot. The cooking time for the cake should be from 8 to 10 hours. When cooking square cake, add a little baking soda, just as when boiling vegetables, adding a little baking soda will make the green color more beautiful.
Tips for boiling the square cake to make it fragrant, delicious, and tender
Boiling the square cake is the most important step because it takes a lot of time and effort. Pay attention not to break the cake when boiling, so place the leaves tightly to prevent the cake from expanding. Also, put the extra cake leaves or sections into the pot for added aroma and heat retention when cooking. Usually, boiling the cake with firewood will be more fragrant and tender compared to other methods.
Before putting the cake into the pot, remember to line the bottom of the pot with banana leaves or some fresh dong leaves. This action will help prevent the cake from burning at the bottom of the pot, making the cooking water even greener.
The cake pot must have enough fire for the water to always boil, and there should never be a shortage of water, so have a water container nearby. You should not pour cold water when adding water to the cake pot, as cold water will make the cake half-cooked and the rice will remain hard afterwards.
Cook the cake for 12 hours over a wood stove, then it will be fully cooked, ensuring that the rice will not become “hard” or lose its grains. Take the cake out with smoke still lingering, let it cool in the coolness of the changing season, absorb the mist of the night and the taste of the earth and sky. After taking out the cake, layer it, use a heavy object to press it to release excess water. Usually, a flat wooden piece or a round tray is used, and then a moderately heavy object is placed on top to make the cake compact, flat, and smooth.
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