TET STICKY RICE CAKES

Steps:

• The night before, soak the rice and bamboo leaves. Put the rice in a large bowl and add water to cover by 2 inches. Place the bamboo leaves in a large roasting pan and add water to cover. Put a plate on top of the leaves to keep them submerged.
• The next morning, drain the rice in a colander and then return it to the bowl. (It will have swollen to more than 8 cups.) Gradually mix in the salt, sprinkling it over the rice and using your hands to distribute it well.
• Cut the pork into pieces the size of a deck of cards, about 3 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1/2 inch thick. If you are using pork leg, each piece should have some fat and skin. Add the fish sauce, pepper, and pork to a bowl and mix well. Let marinate for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, drain the bamboo leaves. Follow these directions, which will make sense when you assemble the cakes: Take each leaf and fold it lengthwise along the spine (dull side out) and then in half crosswise. Measuring from the center fold, use scissors to cut the leaf to measure 4 3/4 inches; unfolded, the trimmed leaf is 9 1/2 inches long. Use a ruler or one of the inner edges of the wooden mold (which is 5 inches long) as your guide. Rinse the trimmed leaves and set aside with the banana leaves.
• To cook the pork, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the meat in a single layer and all the marinade. Cook, turning once, for about 2 minutes on each side, or until the pork is just cooked through. Transfer to a plate. Divide it into 4 equal portions and set aside.
• Fill a 12-quart stockpot half full with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and cover to keep hot.
• To make each cake, put a 12-by-18-inch piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil on your work surface, with a short side closest to you. Place the mold on the center of the foil. You will need 4 bamboo leaves to form the frame-corners and edges-for the cake. Working on one corner at a time, fold a bamboo leaf lengthwise (dull side out) along the spine and then in half crosswise. Crease the center fold. To form a 90-degree corner, simply unwrap the leaf and bring the lower center crease up to meet the spine. The leaf now looks like an upright corner of a paper box. Place the folded bamboo leaf into one of the corners of the mold, with the ends pointing toward (or touching) two of the walls. Repeat with the remaining 3 bamboo leaves, going in one direction around the mold and overlapping the leaves as you go. When you are done, the leaves will look like a picture frame. Push the leaves down into the corners to make sure they are snug and flush. Straighten any slouching leaf.
• Next, line the mold with banana leaf. Place a piece of banana leaf so that one of its short sides is flush with the inner wall of the mold that is closest to you; the banana leaf should cover the bottom and extend above the mold on the far wall. Place a second piece of leaf in the reverse direction. The 2 pieces will overlap each other on the bottom. Equal lengths of leaf should extend above the mold on the far and near walls. Then arrange a third piece of leaf, with a long side closest to you, evenly across the bottom of the mold, so that short lengths of leaf extend above the right and left walls. All 4 walls of the mold are now lined. Use your fingers to tuck the leaves into the mold.
• To add the edible ingredients, first scoop up 1 cup of the rice and pour it into the mold. Use your fingers to push some rice toward the outer edges. Add 1/2 cup lightly packed mung bean, pouring it into the center. Center a portion of pork on top. (If you are using pork leg, position the fat and skin in the center, so that at serving time, everyone gets an equal amount. You may need to tear or cut some of the fat from the meat to create an equal distribution.) Top with another 1/2 cup lightly packed mung bean. Finish with 1 cup rice. The mold will look very full. Push some of the rice to the sides and corners.
• Cover the top of the cake by folding in the side flaps of banana leaf, then fold the side farthest from you down, and finally fold over the side nearest you. Press down firmly on the cake with your hand to distribute and compact the ingredients. Once the top is relatively flat, put one hand on top of the cake to hold it in place while you gently pull off the mold with the other hand. Temporarily keep the mold on your lower arm while you fold the top flap of foil down, and then fold the bottom flap up and over. This should keep the cake in place enough for you to remove the mold from your arm. Then, as if wrapping a gift , fold in the sides to form a foiled-covered square box. Pick up the cake and gently tap the sides against your work surface to make sure the elements are set. Put the cake aside. Repeat to make the remaining 3 cakes. Save or discard left over rice.
• Tie each cake together with kitchen string. Since the rice expands during cooking, don't tie too tightly. Th e string should not make an impression in the foil. (See illustration, page 264.)
• Return the stockpot of water to a boil. Add the cakes, stacking and/or standing them up. To keep the cakes from floating, place an empty saucepan on top to weight them down gently. Return the water to a boil and cook, uncovered, for 7 hours. To maintain the boil, keep a kettle of boiled water on the stove to replenish the water as needed; it is okay if the water occasionally simmers. As the cakes cook, they will expand and gain weight. Every 2 hours, rotate the cakes so they will cook evenly. When the cakes no longer float, about midway through the full cooking time, remove the saucepan and continue boiling.
• Use tongs to transfer the cooked cakes to a baking sheet, placing the best-looking square side down. Put another baking sheet on top and center a 14- or 15-ounce food can on each cake to weight it down. (Eager people let the cakes cool for only 1 to 2 hours before unwrapping and eating.)
• The next morning, remove the foil, wipe off stray bits of rice, and then wrap each cake in plastic wrap. For display purposes, you may tie colorful ribbon (red symbolizes good luck) around each cake. The cakes may be kept at room temperature for 3 days, beyond which they should be stored in the refrigerator, where they will last for a week. They may also be frozen for up to 3 months (see Note for information on how to refresh frozen cakes).
• There are two ways to enjoy bánh chung: soft , which allows you to appreciate fully the pale green color and ethereal flavor of the banana leaf, or fried into a delicious crispy pancake. Regardless of which method you use, serve the cake with sugar for lightly dipping the pieces. It sounds odd but is quite nice.
• To cut and serve a cake soft: Cut the cake into 8 equal triangular wedges (think of an asterisk). Because it is hard to cut through the sticky rice with a knife, Vietnamese cooks use a type of fibrous string. I substitute unflavored dental floss or linen kitchen string. (If the cake is firm from refrigeration, unwrap and cut with a knife. Reheat the pieces in a microwave oven until soft before serving.) To cut with floss or twine: Undo the plastic wrap, keeping it spread out underneath the cake. Remove and discard the bamboo leaves. Return the cake to the plastic wrap, open side up (as it was when you were assembling the cake). Peel off the top and side flaps of banana leaf, leaving them on the plastic wrap. Cut 4 lengths of floss or string each about 20 inches long and arrange them on the cake in the pattern of an 8-spoked asterisk: position 2 strands on the diagonals, 1 strand horizontally across the middle, and 1 strand vertically down the middle. One at a time, grab the ends of each strand and pull the strand down about 1/4 inch into the cake to secure it in place. Invert the cake onto a serving plate. (Use the plastic wrap to pick up the cake.) Peel off the plastic wrap and banana leaves. One at a time, grab each strand by its ends and pull it up through the cake toward the center, crossing in the middle and lifting it out of the cake. (You may have to pause midway to pull on other strands as you make the cuts.) When all the strands are removed, the cake will be cut into perfect wedges.
• To fry and serve a cake: Nicely cut wedges are not necessary if you are frying the cake. Use a knife to quarter the cake and then cut each quarter into 1/2-inch-thick slices. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add half of the slices and fry, undisturbed, for about 6 minutes, or until the rice has softened. Use a spatula to press and mash the chunks to form a pancake and continue to fry for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the underside is crispy and golden. Flip the pancake with a quick and confident jerk of the skillet handle (or slide the pancake onto a plate and then invert it into the skillet). Increase the heat to medium-high and fry the second side for about 4 minutes, or until crispy and golden. Slide the pancake onto a plate, cut into wedges, and serve. Repeat with the remaining slices to make a second pancake.
• The wooden mold for these cakes is not commercially produced because people typically make the molds themselves. If you are not good at woodworking, do as I did and ask someone for help. The mold should have a 5-inch-square opening and stand 1 1/2 inches high. (For my mold, I bought a 30-inch-long piece of 3/4-inch-thick unfinished oak from a spare wood bin at a lumberyard.) My friend Mike Crane cut the wood into 4 pieces, 2 pieces that were 5 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide and 2 pieces that were 6 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Although nails would have held the pieces together, he used screws, drilling 2 holes at the end of each of the longer pieces. When he screwed the pieces together, he added a little glue for extra security. To finish the mold, he lightly sanded the edges.
• To refresh a thawed bánh chung, bring it to room temperature. Rewrap it in foil and tie it with cotton string as you originally did. Boil the cake in a large pot of water for 1 hour, adding water as needed to keep the cake submerged. Remove the cake and let cool for 1 to 2 hours before eating.