The months leading up to the Lunar New Year is the busiest time for Tranh Khuc – a village famous for its Chung (square sticky rice cakes) (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)

Just 20 km away from the center of Hanoi, Tranh Khuc village in Thanh Tri district is the capital city’s largest and most popular producer of traditional Chung cakes. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
There are 300 households in Tranh Khuc village, 70% of which still make Chung cakes. Among them, 10 have large facilities dedicated to making the traditional dish. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
The village is particularly bustling and busy during days of the full-moon and the months leading up to the Lunar New year. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
Ms. Nguyen Thi Dap, 63, owns a shop that specializes in making Chung cakes. Ahead of the Lunar New Year, her house is filled with green ‘dong’ leaves (Stachyphrynium placentarium) and steaming pots of wrapped cakes. “My family usually makes 300-500 Chung cakes a day. But ahead of the Lunar New Year, we make 1,000 to 3,000, sometimes tens of thousands of cakes a day” She said. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
(Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
The craft has been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. “We were taught the craft since we were small. There weren’t that many of us who made the Chung cakes during the subsidy period, but eventually, we realized that we can make money with them and encouraged each other to do it. The number of households in this business has increased since then”, a Tranh Khuc villager said. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC)
Each person in a household is responsible for just one step in the making of the Chung cake, from washing the leaves, to making the fillings, to wrapping the cakes. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
Choosing the best ingredients can make or break the taste of the Chung Cakes. Selection of the leaves for wrapping as well as the mung beans and fatty pork for the filling must be meticulous. The outer layer must be made from yellow flower glutinous rice or variants grown in Bac Ninh province for the fluffiest of textures. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
(Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
(Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
The fillings are made from pork belly or pork butt, wrapped inside a layer of mashed mung beans, creating a harmony inside and out. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
Skilled and experienced hands can make hundreds of perfect and near-identical Chung cakes without a mold while spending less than 30 seconds on each one. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
(Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)
The wrapped Chung cakes are ready to be steamed. They will sit in a large steamer for 8-10 hours before transforming into the renowned pastry that Tranh Khuc village is known for. (Photo: Vien Minh/VTC News)