Try ‘Banh Tet La Cam’ – Purple Sticky Rice Cake
If you are well-acquainted with Vietnamese cuisine, then you are no stranger to ‘Banh Tet’ – Vietnamese traditional sticky rice cake. The usual assemblage includes a sticky rice outer layer, the mung bean filling with either fatty pork as the savory element or bananas for vegetarian eating, and banana leaves encapsulating everything. The wrapped package is trussed like a roast before being boiled for hours. However, what sets this type cake apart from the conventional counterpart is the addition of the Magenta Plant – La Cam. Since the plant is non-toxic and has a beautiful shade of purple, the ingenious locals came up with the idea of extracting the pigments and coloring the glutinous rice with it. The end result is amethyst-like shine of the grain and the mild sweet fragrant. ‘Banh Tet La Cam’, a delicacy of ‘The West’, is a much sought-after gift to bring home. You can get your hands on one of these at markets in Can Tho such as Xuan Khanh, An Thoi, Mit Nai. Prices depend and the weight of each one and the filling, but you can expect from 3 – 5 USD for one cake. Your Mekong Delta tour may not be fulfilling if you don’t get a bite of this unique specialty.
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