"Chả sắn" - from an unknown dish to a specialty in Ban Lien
- 24 thg 7, 2025
- 3 phút đọc
Appearing on a trending reality TV show, the cassava cake (chả sắn) of the Tày people in Bản Liền has gained widespread recognition, sparking curiosity and inspiring many to try making it.
Thanks to the widespread appeal of a reality TV show featuring many celebrities, Bản Liền, located over 20 km from Bắc Hà's center, has become a community tourism destination attracting significant interest. Ms. Vàng Thị Thông, owner of Bản Liền Pine Homestay, shared that after six years in the tourism business, her homestay was fully booked for the first time for three consecutive months, from July to September.
Tourists visiting Bản Liền can experience local life firsthand, participating in activities like foraging for wild vegetables, gathering bamboo shoots, picking tea, fishing in streams, making conical hats, weaving straw mats and chairs, and trying their hand at preparing traditional Tày dishes, including chả sắn (cassava cake).
The Tày people created chả sắn to ensure everyone in the family, especially large families with many children and limited resources, could share food. "Many families had five or six children, and one egg couldn't be divided equally among them, so mothers thought of making chả sắn so everyone could eat," Ms. Thông explained.
Making chả sắn is simple. Cassava, primarily grown in home gardens, is chosen when it's neither too old nor too young. After harvesting, it's peeled, washed thoroughly, and then grated into a fine powder using a thorny rattan vine peel. This powder is then mixed with chicken eggs, black pepper, and seasoning powder before being formed into patties and fried until golden brown in hot oil. If a grater isn't available, the cassava can be steamed until cooked and then mashed into a powder.
The dish boasts the fragrant aroma of cooked cassava and the rich taste of egg, and it can be dipped in soy sauce for added flavor. Chả sắn is served as a savory dish during everyday meals or wrapped in dong or banana leaves by the Tày people to take with them when working in the fields. It's also a featured dish during special village occasions, served as a local culinary specialty.
Dr. Ma Ngoc Dung, former Deputy Director of the Museum of Cultures of Vietnam's Ethnic Groups, who has spent many years researching Tày culture, stated that cassava has been a vital staple food for the Tày people since ancient times. It supplemented meals during times of scarcity or served as a daily snack. Cassava was prepared in various ways, such as mixed with rice or made into separate dishes, with the most common being bánh dày (sticky rice cake), bánh chưng (traditional Vietnamese sticky rice cake), and soups.
According to Dr. Dung, chả sắn (also known as bánh sắn) is gaining popularity within the tourism community and among younger generations, unlike the more traditional dishes mentioned above, as evidenced by its preparation with eggs. "The dish may have originated from cultural exchanges between regions, primarily from the lowlands, or it might have only existed within small, specific communities," he noted.
On TikTok and other social media platforms, many people have tried making chả sắn after watching the show, describing it as "easy to make" and "delicious." Some TikTokers even added onions and chili to give the cake a spicy kick, similar to the flavor of cassava cakes in the South, and advised soaking the cassava in water to remove sap and toxins.
Hà Nhi from Hanoi also made the dish, saying it had a lightly crispy exterior and a soft, fragrant interior. "It's a fun snack, but it's delicious and you don't get tired of eating it," Nhi shared.
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