‘Da’ cake: A savoury dish of Ha Giang Province

BHG - Ha Giang is known for many delicious dishes, such as ‘men men’ (steamed corn flour), ‘thang co’ (hot pot with a mixture of horse meat and internal organs), ‘banh chunggu’ (hunchback glutinous rice cake), and Shan Tuyet tea. Many of them have won the hearts of visitors, and receive positive reviews on TikTok, thanks to their savoury taste. One of them is ‘da’ (rock) cake.

- ‘Da’ cake has a long shape and various flavours, such as Asian pigeonwings flowers, turmeric, or ‘gac’ (momordicacochinchinensis) fruit.

‘Da’ cake is a traditional dish of the highlanders. It is often served on holidays and Tet (New Year) Festival. To make the cake, after harvesting rice, people select delicious rice grains and mix regular rice with sticky rice in a certain ratio, then soak the rice in water for 4-5 hours.

After that, the rice is left to dry and grind. Next, it is steamed until it is soft and then pounded. When the flour becomes sticky, it is shaped into smaller portions. The cake’s colours are made from natural ingredients, such as pandan leaves, Asian pigeonwings flowers, turmeric or ‘gac’(momordicacochinchinensis) fruit. These natural ingredients add more flavour to the cake.

Voong Thi Thao, a tourist from TuyenQuang Province shared that when watching online reviews, she was very curious about the taste of ‘da’ cake. People told me that the cake was literally “hard as rock”. Even if you hit two cakes together, they would make a “bang” sound like two rocks.

However, after tasting ‘da’ cake, our family became addicted to it. The cake has a rich, fragrant taste, and moderate chewiness, and is suitable for all ages in the family.

Made from indigenous ingredients, ‘da’ cake can be cooked in many ways. Young people have foundmany ways to enjoy the cake, such as dipping it in hot pots, frying, or serving it with chilli sauce, white sugar or condensed milk, depending on each person’s taste.

‘Da’ cake has become an attractive product of Ha Giang and one of the most-wanted dishes for visitors to the locality, thanks to its eye-catching appearance, light sweetness, aroma, and combined chewiness.