Sandwich Shop Goodies 2 – Bánh bía (Suzhou mooncake)
In the middle of bright yellow paste lies a crimson orange ball. The egg yolk. Salted and dried up to the size of a cherry. Or should we say it is the moon, at its fullest on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month each year.
Roughly 650 years ago, it was a bright moon for the Ming Dynasty, but not so bright for the Yuan Dynasty. The Mongolian rulers’ defeats started from a full moon day of August 1368, when the capital Dadu (present day Beijing) was captured by Zhu Yuanzhang and his Han Chinese insurrection armies. Zhu Yuanzhang then rose to the throne as the first king of the Ming dynasty, and he made sure that the Mid-Autumn Festival, which coincides with the end of the harvesting season, was celebrated throughout the country. As the story goes, such revolutionary victory could not have happened without them little mooncakes.
They were secret means of distributing messages among the resisting forces. Words were printed on each mooncake as a simple puzzle. Each mooncake in a package of four was then cut into four pieces, and the sixteen parts were arranged in a particular way to form the entire message. Afterwards, the cakes were eaten and the trace erased. I don’t know what they would do if a hungry kid got hold of a piece.
Although people aren’t sharing secret information anymore (as if anything could remain secretive under the communist watch), the mooncakes still have imprinted words on top and still come in packages of four.
The most popular kind of mooncakes have elaborate designs with golden brown crust, originating from Guangzhou. Other kinds more or less are spin-off versions of the Suzhou-style mooncake with a simple round shape, no design, flaky skin which can be peeled off by the layers, and no need for a mooncake mold.
When the Chinese immigrants settled in the Mekong delta, they introduced the round, flaky mooncakes, referred to as “pía” in Teochew dialect, to the southern Vietnamese, who quickly adopted the recipe and the trade to make it a regional specialty, the Soc Trang‘s pía. “Pía” means “bánh”, things made with flour, but the innocuous southerners took it as a name, and started calling the flaky mooncakes bánh bía. Unlike the Cantonese mooncake that is only eaten during the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, bánh bía gets served year round, bought as gifts from travelers to Soc Trang, featured in the Khmers’ moon festival Oc Om Boc in October, and individually packaged for sale at $1.50 a piece in Vietnamese sandwich shops in San Jose.
The recipe, too, has slightly departed from its Suzhou originals. If the Chinese counterparts often contain lotus seed, red bean paste, nuts, and sometimes pork for savoriness, the Soc Trang version stays homogeneous with either mung bean paste or taro paste, which can be flavored with lard and durian to the likings. But whatever goes inside, the doughy, flaky skin of bánh bía is the unchangeable feature, distinguishing it from all other pastries.
Each pía needs two kinds of dough: the “skin dough” and the inner layer dough. The skin dough on the outside, made of flour, water and canola oil, gains its elasticity and smoothness from a little kneading, while the inner layer dough has only flour and oil and is left unkneaded to keep it thick and chewy. Later the two kinds are flattened together to make the crust, but with the inner layer dough always contained inside the skin dough, otherwise the banh bia would have a coarse surface. After baked half way, the pía is taken out and glossed some egg wash over its upper side. When fully baked, they shine a ripe yellow invitation, ready to be stamped “longevity”, “harmony”, or some other character in red.
The whole process, from making the filling paste to baking, can take up a whole day. Buying it at the store takes two minutes. If you don’t count driving time.
Address: Huong Lan Sandwiches #4
41 Serra Way, Suite 108 (across the parking lot from New East Lake Seafood)
Milpitas, CA 95035
(408) 942-7777
Monnday – Sunday: 6am – 9pm
Click here for a recipe of bánh bía (Vietnamese-adpated Suzhou mooncake)
Previously on Sandwich Shop Goodies: bánh gai (thorn leaf sticky rice bun)
Next on Sandwich Shop Goodies: bánh ú tro (Vietnamese-adapted jianshui zong)
Along with everything that appears to be developing inside this area, a significant percentage of opinions tend to be fairly stimulating. Nonetheless, I appologize, but I can not subscribe to your entire plan, all be it refreshing none the less. It would seem to everyone that your opinions are not totally justified and in fact you are generally your self not even entirely convinced of your assertion. In any event I did appreciate looking at it.
1Some truly nice stuff on this website , I enjoy it.
2I truly treasure your piece of work, Great post.
3Perfectly composed articles, regards for entropy. “He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.” by Michel de Montaigne.
4Currently it looks like BlogEngine is the top blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
5Wow, fantastic blog structure! How long have you ever been running a blog for? you made running a blog look easy. The whole glance of your web site is excellent, as neatly as the content!
6Its wonderful as your other posts : D, thankyou for posting. “For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe.” by Larry Eisenberg.
7Hello, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Opera, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
8You made some nice points there. I did a search on the subject and found most persons will approve with your site.
9I don’t normally comment but I gotta state appreciate it for the post on this amazing one :D.
10What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution & help different users like its helped me. Good job.
11You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
12I’m also writing to let you understand what a notable experience my wife’s princess developed studying your web site. She noticed a good number of issues, which include what it is like to have a wonderful teaching nature to make others just learn selected tortuous topics. You truly surpassed our own expected results. Many thanks for displaying these invaluable, dependable, informative as well as easy tips on the topic to Kate.
13A lot of of the things you assert is astonishingly appropriate and that makes me ponder why I hadn’t looked at this in this light before. This particular piece really did switch the light on for me as far as this subject goes. However there is 1 issue I am not too comfortable with and while I attempt to reconcile that with the main idea of your point, let me see exactly what the rest of the subscribers have to say.Nicely done.
14Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
15Spot on with this write-up, I really assume this web site wants rather more consideration. I’ll most likely be once more to learn rather more, thanks for that info.
16Wow, amazing blog structure! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The entire glance of your web site is magnificent, let alone the content!
17I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this site. Thanks, I will try and check back more often. How frequently you update your website?
18Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed! Extremely useful info specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was seeking this particular information for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.
19Hey very cool site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds also…I’m happy to find so many useful information here in the post, we need work out more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
20Wow! This could be one particular of the most helpful blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Great. I’m also a specialist in this topic therefore I can understand your effort.
21I have been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this site. Thank you, I’ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?
22Good write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s web site, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
23There is apparently a bundle to identify about this. I assume you made various nice points in features also.
24Great line up. We will be linking to this great article on our site. Keep up the good writing.
25I’ll right away snatch your rss as I can’t to find your email subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
26I simply needed to thank you very much all over again. I’m not certain the things that I might have gone through in the absence of the actual ways discussed by you over such a theme. It became an absolute horrifying circumstance in my view, but noticing this specialized avenue you treated it took me to cry over joy. Extremely happy for the advice and sincerely hope you find out what an amazing job you have been accomplishing instructing some other people by way of a site. I am certain you have never encountered all of us.
27I think this website has some rattling fantastic information for everyone. “There is nothing so disagreeable, that a patient mind cannot find some solace for it.” by Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
28I like this site so much, saved to my bookmarks. “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” by Peter De Vries.
29Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
30you have a great blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
31I went over this internet site and I think you have a lot of wonderful info, saved to my bookmarks (:.
32Aavant produces the best photography, event and theatre backdrops in the world and works for almost all the biggest players in the world. Being in backdrops industry for last two decades it is the largest player in the world, providing highest quality backdrops to every buyer from USA to Australia.
33I haven’t checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
34You are my inspiration, I own few web logs and occasionally run out from brand :). “‘Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive.” by John Sheffield.
35I will immediately clutch your rss feed as I can’t in finding your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please let me recognise in order that I may subscribe. Thanks.
36Hi , I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbled upon it on Yahoo , i will come back once again. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and help other people.
37You made some first rate factors there. I regarded on the web for the problem and found most people will go along with with your website.
38Simply wanna remark on few general things, The website style is perfect, the content material is very good : D.
39