Apricot leaf cake, a Western-style folk dish

The West has always been a land famous for its rustic, easy-to-make and attractive cakes such as silkworm cake, worship cake, shield cake, banh tran… In addition, this place also has vegetable leaf cake. strange dreams and associated with the childhood of many people.

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Apricot leaf cake is made from apricot vegetables, an easy-to-grow vines. Although apricot leaves have a bitter and acrid taste, they have cool properties and are often used in folk remedies to treat indigestion, clear heat, etc. Besides, apricot leaves are often used to cook dishes. eaten raw (dipped with braised gravy or braised fish), fried with eggs, fried with tofu… and most especially perhaps for making cakes.

To make apricot leaf cake, often the West used to use wild apricot leaves, a type of light green leaves with an elongated and thin stem. However, because apricot leaves are now increasingly difficult to find, they have replaced them by using hairy apricot leaves, thick round stems, one in front of the leaves is green and the back is purple in color. quite a lot of fluff. Although they have different names and shapes, the taste and smell of these two leaves are quite similar, so the taste of apricot leaf cake usually does not change much.

The ingredients for making apricot leaf cake are quite simple, in addition to apricot leaves, people also use familiar ingredients such as tapioca flour, rice flour, coconut milk. Apricot leaves for making cakes will usually choose leaves that are neither too old nor too young. After picking, apricot leaves will be washed, then cut into small pieces and pureed to get water. When getting the juice of apricots, people add coconut milk, sugar, rice flour, tapioca starch and salt in “heirloom” ratios to create a paste.

A special feature of apricot leaf cake is the unique “cake molds” made from jackfruit leaves. After taking a bit of flour, the baker will put it on the right side of the jackfruit leaf, then squeeze and gently rub the dough to cover the leaf evenly. Next, they will use the stalk of the jackfruit leaf to pierce the tail into a round roll and put it in the steamer for about 15 minutes, until the cake is cooked.

The process of winning the accompanying coconut milk is decisive for whether this batch of cakes is “standard” or not. First, people will put diluted coconut milk in a pot to boil with refined flour and rice flour and then season with salt and sugar to taste. Wait for this mixture to boil for about 5 minutes, then add condensed coconut milk and stir well.

The apricot leaf cake is a harmonious combination between the sweetness of sugar, the fat of coconut milk, the suppleness thanks to the tapioca starch and the characteristic smell of apricot leaves. Although it is just a rustic cake, easy to make and easy to eat, apricot leaf cake has become a part of “childhood memories” in the memory of many people in the West.

In addition to the version of steamed apricot leaf cake with jackfruit leaves, Westerners can also use coconut leaves or banana leaves to make this type of cake. If using banana leaves, the cake will be curled like using jackfruit leaves, but if you use coconut leaves, because of the hard leaves, you just need to put them in the pot randomly. Although very simple and rustic, perhaps because of the unique way of processing, apricot leaf cake has become a specialty dish that attracts many people in the West.

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