Many people say that visiting the ‘peaceful land’ without having tasted radish cake (White Radish Pies) can be considered as having never known Bac Lieu cuisine. In the past, this type of cake often appeared in Chinese families on the occasion of the anniversary of the death or celebration of the Lunar New Year.
By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | All Best Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu
1. Better to Know as a Food Lover
Find them: Bac Lieu city.
Best time: Dusk-Dawn
Don’t miss: White Radish Pies
Local’s pick: White Radish Pies restaurant on Bac Lieu streets
Tourist’s pick: White Radish Pies restaurant
Blog: https://vemekong.com/white-radish-pies-bac-lieu/
Facts: Over the generations, radish cake has become a specialty dish that makes Bac Lieu people proud of their friends from all over the world.
2. Better to Know White Radish Pies
However, when coming to Bac Lieu, it is not easy for visitors to find radish cake, because this dish is often sold on trolleys or street vendors. Many people still joke that: “Eating cake is also dependent on fate”.
At a glance, radish cake looks like a giant dumpling, but its taste is completely different. The radish crust is made from flour mixed with pureed white radish powder. The crust is rolled thinner than the wet cake, the thinner the crust, the more delicious and beautiful the cake. The ingredients to make the cake are not painted with any flavor, simply white radish, cassava root, dried shrimp and meat. However, the baking process is complicated and labor-intensive.
3. White Radish Pies in Bac Lieu
The baker shows his ingenuity when slicing ingredients such as cassava roots, white radishes into neat threads. The longer and thinner the white radish and cassava roots are, the more seasoning will absorb. In addition to the above ingredients, the baker must soak the dried shrimp with water from the previous day to soften the shrimp and filter out the salt. Dried shrimp, after soaking, drained and minced, mixed with thinly sliced bacon and then marinated with onion, salt, pepper, and sesame oil. Then stir-fry this mixture before mixing it with radishes and cassava roots that have been sliced before.
The process of cooking radish cakes is similar to making rolls. We use a non-stick pan, spread a little cooking oil on the surface of the pan and then pour in the rice flour. Remember to keep the heat low and tilt the pan immediately to coat the cake very thin. Put the cake filling in the center of the four-sided package, cover the lid for a few minutes to cook. Bac Lieu radish cake is served with sweet and sour fish sauce.
The white color in the “penetrating” of the crust reveals the attractive red color of the filling, and the green color of the onion makes diners unable to take their eyes off. The sweetness of shrimp, the fatty taste of meat, the characteristic pungent smell of radishes, and the sweet taste of cassava … create a unique flavor only found in radish cake from the prince of Bac Lieu.
4. How to Make White Radish Pies
Ingredients for Bac Lieu radish cake:
1 piece of dried shrimp.
1 kg of white radish.
2 sausages.
2 dried onions.
350 grams of rice flour.
Cooking oil, sugar, salt, seasoning.
How to make Bac Lieu radish cake:
Step 1:
White radish peeled, washed with water, then cut or shredded.
Continue to put the shredded radish in a bowl, add a little salt, mix well and soak.
Step 2:
Peel the dried onion and chop finely.
Sausage cut into small pieces.
Dried shrimp is washed with water first, then put in a bowl of water to soak until soft, then taken out to drain.
You soak for about 20 to 30 minutes for the radish to absorb the salt and soften, then squeeze out the water. (Note that we squeeze the water into a small bowl and keep this water.)
Continue to add rice flour into this bowl of radish juice, stir to dissolve, then add this bowl of water to the cabbage and mix well.
Step 3:
North pan with a little cooking oil on the stove until the oil is hot, then pour the dried shrimp into the island for about 3 minutes and then add the sausages + chopped dried onions to the island. Add salt + seasoning to taste, continue to stir until the seasoning is absorbed, then turn off the stove.
Step 4:
Put the sautéed dried shrimp mixture into the cabbage bowl, add the sugar and a little more water and mix well.
Next, put this mixture into the cake mold, cover with foil and put in a steamer, steam with high heat.
Steamed radish cake is about 1 hour.
Step 5:
When the cake is done, wait for it to cool and then cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Continue to boil the cooking oil and then add the steamed slices of cake and fry until golden brown.
Crispy golden fried radish cake will be much more attractive.
When the cake is cooked, put it on a plate lined with greaseproof paper and enjoy
When eating, it can be dipped with chili sauce for more flavor.
5. Pro tips:
Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.
Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.
Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.
Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.
If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.
Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho: Co Ut’s Cong cake, Ut Dzach Fine Rice Vermicelli, Thanh Van Grilled Pork Sausage, Crab Noodle Soup At Floating Market, Scorched Rice with Caramelized Fish Sauce, 7-Toi’s Duck Meat Pancake, Banh Mi Thuy, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Fetal duck egg (balut), Honeycomb Cake, Mini Sticky Rice Cake, Cassava Silkworm Cake, Grilled Banana Wrapped in Sticky Rice, Khmer-style Bun Goi Da Soup, Egg Coffee, Con Son Grilled Snakehead Fish, Bun Mam – Fermented Fish Noodle Soup, Lau Mam – Fermented Fish Hotpot, Grilled Snails with Pepper, Magenta Sticky Rice Cake, Duck cooked with Fermented Tofu, Rice Noodle Pizza, Vegetarian Noodle Soup, Snails Stuffed With Pork…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc: Chau Doc Fish Noodle Soup, Sugar Palm Fruit, Basa Fish Hot Pot, Mam (Fermented fish), Phu Huong Beef Noodle Soup, Broken Rice with Pork Chop, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Sweet & Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Caramelized & Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Soc Trang: Pia Cake, Cong Cake (Banh Cong), Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup, Soc Trang’s Bun Goi Da Soup, Duck Noodle Soup with black Pepper, Curry Noodle Soup, Grilled Beef on Tile, Khmer-style Tube Cake, Khmer-style Mung Bean Cake (Banh In), Dried Radish (Xa Bau), Stir-Fried Noodles with Seafood (Mi Sua), Soc Trang’s Green Rice Flakes…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ben Tre: Phu Le Rice Wine, Ben Tre’s Coconut Candy, Flat Banana, Coconut Rice, Snail Pancake, Sea Snail with Coconut Milk, Coconut Worm, Young Coconut Salad with Shrimp & Pork, Son Doc Puff Rice Paper…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Cai Be: Puffed Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Vinh Long: Elephant Ear Fish (fried giant gourami)…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in My Tho: Fried Sticky Rice, Snakehead Fish Rice Porridge, Hu Tieu My Tho (Noodle Soup), Coconut Banana Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Tra Vinh: Macapuno Coconut, Bun Nuoc Leo Tra Vinh’s Noodle Soup, Tra Cuon’s Sticky Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Sadec: Sa Dec Noodle Soup, Sadec Crab Hotpot, Lai Vung Spring Rolls, Sa Giang Shrimp Puff Pastry, Lai Vung Tangerine…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu: Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, Bac Lieu’s Three-striped Crab, White Radish Pies, Bac Lieu Thick Noodles & Creamy Coconut Milk, Bon Bon Pickles…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau: Banh tam ga cay (Silkworm rice cake with curried chicken), Grilled Vop clams with salt and pepper, Grilled Mudskipper Fish, Stone Crab Roast With Salt, Young Bee Salad, Nam Can’s Crab, U Minh Forest’s Honey, U Minh’s Fermented Fish Hotpot…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang: Cau Duc Pineapple, Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge, Hau Giang’s Bronze Featherback Fish Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ha Tien: Herring Fish Salad, Spider crab cake soup, Ken Noodle soup, Xoi Xiem (Siamese sticky rice), Steamed Noodle soup, Ha Tien Oyster porridge…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Rach Gia: Stir Noodle Soup, Kien Giang Fish Noodle Soup…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Con Dao: Bang nut jam, Vu Nang Snail, Roasted Pork Bread (Banh Mi), Coconut Ice Cream…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Phu Quoc: Phu Quoc Sim Wine, Phu Quoc Pepper, Phu Quoc fish sauce…
Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!
“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.
Thank you
