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)
Hi there would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with? I’m looking to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a tough time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!
1Rattling clean web site, regards for this post.
2I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thx again
3Regards for this post, I am a big big fan of this internet site would like to proceed updated.
4This web page is really a stroll-by means of for all of the information you wished about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and also you’ll definitely uncover it.
5Very nice article and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is in fact the best place to ask but do you folks have any ideea where to employ some professional writers? Thanks in advance 🙂
6I was looking at some of your content on this internet site and I conceive this web site is really informative ! Keep on posting.
7Hello my loved one! I want to say that this article is amazing, great written and include approximately all vital infos. I would like to peer extra posts like this.
8I don’t even understand how I ended up right here, however I believed this post used to be good. I do not recognize who you might be however definitely you’re going to a well-known blogger for those who are not already 😉 Cheers!
9I believe other website owners should take this website as an model, very clean and good user genial layout.
10hi!,I like your writing so much! share we communicate more about your post on AOL? I require a specialist on this area to solve my problem. May be that’s you! Looking forward to see you.
11Your style is so unique compared to many other people. Thank you for publishing when you have the opportunity,Guess I will just make this bookmarked.
12Lovely site! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am taking your feeds also
13I am glad to be one of the visitors on this outstanding internet site (:, appreciate it for putting up.
14Good day! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
15Definitely, what a magnificent website and illuminating posts, I will bookmark your blog.All the Best!
16Some really nice and useful information on this site, as well I believe the design has got great features.
17This site can be a stroll-via for all of the info you needed about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely uncover it.
18I really like your writing style, superb info, regards for posting :D. “If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk” by Laurence J. Peter.
19I conceive other website proprietors should take this internet site as an model, very clean and excellent user pleasant style and design.
20Hi! I’ve been following your blog for some time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Porter Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the great job!
21There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain nice points in features also.
22Hello There. I discovered your blog the usage of msn. That is an extremely neatly written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.
23It is appropriate time to make a few plans for the long run and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this submit and if I could I desire to suggest you some fascinating issues or advice. Maybe you could write subsequent articles referring to this article. I desire to learn even more issues approximately it!
24Its superb as your other content : D, appreciate it for putting up.
25I not to mention my guys have already been checking the great advice found on your site then immediately I got a terrible suspicion I never expressed respect to the website owner for them. Those boys are actually consequently glad to study them and have now definitely been taking advantage of those things. Many thanks for simply being simply accommodating and then for utilizing some exceptional areas millions of individuals are really needing to discover. My personal sincere regret for not expressing appreciation to sooner.
26I haven’t checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
27I like this web blog its a master peace ! Glad I observed this on google .
28As I website owner I believe the subject matter here is very excellent, appreciate it for your efforts.
29Hello, Neat post. There is a problem with your website in internet explorer, could test this… IE nonetheless is the marketplace leader and a good element of people will omit your magnificent writing due to this problem.
30Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive learn something like this before. So nice to seek out someone with some authentic ideas on this subject. realy thanks for starting this up. this web site is one thing that is needed on the internet, someone with somewhat originality. useful job for bringing one thing new to the internet!
31Exactly what I was looking for, thankyou for posting.
32Thank you, I have just been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered till now. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?
33You have mentioned very interesting points! ps nice web site.
34Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch as I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
35I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. thanks
36I regard something really interesting about your web site so I saved to bookmarks.
37You should take part in a contest for one of the best blogs on the web. I will recommend this site!
38There are some attention-grabbing closing dates on this article but I don’t know if I see all of them heart to heart. There’s some validity however I’ll take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as properly
39This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.
40of course like your website however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the reality then again I will certainly come again again.
41Great work! This is the kind of info that should be shared across the web. Disgrace on Google for no longer positioning this submit upper! Come on over and discuss with my site . Thanks =)
42As soon as I observed this internet site I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.
43Very interesting subject, thanks for posting. “Stranger in a strange country.” by Sophocles.
44Greetings from Colorado! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the knowledge you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how quick your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, superb site!
45Hello, you used to write great, but the last few posts have been kinda boringK I miss your super writings. Past few posts are just a little out of track! come on!
46Fantastic website. Plenty of useful information here. I am sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks for your sweat!
47You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
48I have been surfing online more than three hours lately, yet I by no means discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the internet can be a lot more helpful than ever before. “When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object.” by Milan Kundera.
49Keep working ,splendid job!
50