Coming to “white rice clean water” Can Tho land, what makes visitors remember is not only small canals hiding under green coconut tree but also the taste of the green rice flake cakes – the specialties here.

Between so many specialties of the western region, who once tasted the Cong cake can hard to forget the crispness of the golden bread bark, the sweet and rich taste that is well balanced by a bowl of dipping sauce with all vegetables. The name of the cake sounds strange, one of the unique dishes of Can Tho cuisine. The reason for this is because the cake mold is shaped like a tubular sewer with deep, shaped like coffee filter. In the past, the mold was often cut from bamboo stalks, now often using aluminum molds that are durable and easy to use.

The main ingredients for baking are rice flour, green beans, minced meat and shrimp. A shop owner of the Western region told me that to make the cake delicious depends on how to mix the flour, the kernels, so that the crust is crispy and the kernel is delicious.

The cake is fried in oil

Baking flour consists of three parts rice, one part glutinous, soaked with diluted salt water overnight for soft rice seeds and then grinded. The flour is then grated and drained, then mixed with a third of the flour, add water and chopped green onions. The kernels consist of green beans cooked with whole grain, minced pork mixed with green beans. The cake can’t be tasty without the shrimp. Shrimp is chosen must be fresh, washed and left whisker.

Wash shrimp, remove the whisker, do not remove the shell because it makes the cake les scrunchy

After preparing all the ingredients, the frying process is quite attractive. The guests can both enjoy the cakes and also watch the shop owners fry them. With a pan of boiling oil, take the spoon of flour into the sewer mold and then add the green beans and minced meat, pour on the surface a little more flour, finally put some shrimp on it. Dip the cake filled with boiling oil, the smaller the fire, the crunchy the cake from inside to outside.

The drain cake has a slightly inflated tube outside and is soft and spongy, has a light yellow color of eggs, dark yellow of fried shrimp, and the green of green onion and taste is very attractive.

Cong cake is served with raw vegetables and dipping sauce

The cake is served with sauces and raw vegetables. The sauce is both sweet and sour, with red chili, green lemon and yellow papaya, eat with basil, lettuce. Cong cake can also be eaten with vermicelli and can be considered as a main meal instead of rice. This idyllic and rustic dish captivated many tourists when they came to Can Tho.

Some addresses to eat Cong cake in Can Tho:

Co Ut Cong Cake – Ly Tu Trong

Address: 86/38 Ly Tu Trong, An Cu Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho

Ba Ut Lu Cong Cake

Address: 18 Tran Van Hoai, Xua Khanh Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho