Best Vietnamese Rice Cakes In Banana Leaves Recipes

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VIETNAMESE BANH TET RECIPE - STICKY RICE CAKE



Vietnamese Banh Tet Recipe - Sticky Rice Cake image

During the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, bánh tét can usually be found in any house during the months January and February leading into the holiday festivities. I'm going to share with you an easy and delicious recipe for banh tet that you can make right at home any time of year!

Provided by Lane

Categories     Rice

Time P1DT8h

Number Of Ingredients 11

6 cups long-grain sticky rice (soaked overnight)
1 14-ounce cans of coconut juice
1 1/2 tablespoon sea salt
Cold water for soaking
Banana or bamboo leaves
2 2/3 cup dried, hulled, and split yellow mung beans
1 1/4 pounds pork belly
1 tablespoon of pork belly
3 tablespoons of sea salt
1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce
3 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground

Steps:

  • The Night Before: Preparing the IngredientsSoak the rice in coconut juice for 1/2 hour. Then, cover it with three inches of water and let it sit overnight. Place the mung beans in a bowl and rinse under cold water until the water is clear. Drain the beans, then add enough cold water to cover the mung beans by 1 inch. Let soak overnight. Cut the pork belly into 3-inches long, 2-inches wide, and 1/2-inch thick pieces, ensuring that each piece has fat and skin. Add the fish sauce, sea salt, pepper, and pork belly to a bowl and mix well. Let the filling marinate overnight. Soak the tropical leaves, placing them in a large roasting pan and adding water to cover. Put a plate as a weight on top of the leaves to keep them submerged. The Morning Of: Preparing the IngredientsDrain the rice in a colander and return it to the bowl. Gradually mix in the salt, sprinkling it over the rice and using your hands to distribute it well. Drain the mung beans. Using a steamer and a parchment paper as liner, lay the mung beans in the steamer tray and spread it out evenly. Place the tray onto the steamer and cover. Steam for 8 minutes or until the mung beans are tender. Let it cool. Once cool, add the cooled beans into a food processor until it as a whipped consistency. Drain the bamboo leaves, rinse, and set aside. Rinse and pat the tropical leaves dry and cut them into sheets of 5" x 12". Set aside. Assembling the Banh Tet with IngredientsTo make each banh tet cake, put a 12" x 18" inch sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil on your work surface, with the shortest side closest to you. Scoop up 1 cup of the prepared rice and distribute the rice evenly. Next, scoop up the mung beans and add it as a layer. Lastly, add the pork belly on top. Now, roll the banh tet together and tie it with a string. Repeat these steps for the remaining 3 cakes. Boiling Banh TetFill a 12-quart stockpot half full with water. Place the cakes in the pot by stacking or standing them up. Add enough water to cover the cakes. Hint: To keep the cakes from floating, place a heavy ceramic plate on top to gently weigh it down. To maintain a gentle boil, keep a separate kettle of boiling water on the stove to replenish the stockpot as needed. After about 3 hours into cooking, the cakes should no longer float. At this point, remove the ceramic plate. After the seven hours of boiling, use tongs to transfer the cooked cakes to a pot of cold water. Once they are fully cooled, you should be ready to eat and store for 2-3 days.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 165 calories calories, Carbohydrate 30 g grams carbohydrates, Cholesterol 16 mg milligrams cholesterol, Fiber 2 g grams fiber, Protein 8 g grams protein, SaturatedFat 0 grams saturated fat, ServingSize 51 g, Sodium 159 mg milligrams sodium, Sugar 1 g grams sugar, TransFat 0 grams trans fat, UnsaturatedFat 0 grams unsaturated fat

BANH TET



Banh Tet image

Banh Tet and banh chung (the square cake version) are available year long and for the Lunar New Year in Vietnam. It's a sticky rice cake with various fillings, some are sweet and some are savory. Mung beans, pork, and sticky rice are the core ingredients. Raffia string is usually used to tie the cakes but I've used kitchen twine. Also, traditionally these are more elaborately trussed than tied, like I did here to simplify. I wrapped the cakes in foil, that's Andrea Nguyen's move. Once the cakes are cooked you can wrap them in gold or red plastic ribbon for luck in the new year.

Provided by Elizabeth Mervosh

Time P1DT15m

Yield 12

Number Of Ingredients 11

5 cups uncooked glutinous white rice
1 tablespoon fine sea salt, divided
1 pound pork belly, skin removed
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 large shallot, minced
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup dried mung beans
3 cups water
2 (16-ounce packages) frozen banana leaves, thawed
kitchen twine

Steps:

  • Place rice in a colander; rinse under cold water, stirring rice with your fingers, until water runs clear, about 2 minutes. Transfer rice to a large bowl or container; add water to cover by 2 inches. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.
  • While rice refrigerates, cut pork into four 1 1/4x5-inch strips. Place pork strips, fish sauce, shallot, sugar, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag. Seal bag, removing as much air as you can. Gently massage pork to distribute marinade. Refrigerate for 12 hours.
  • Place mung beans in a colander; rinse under cold water, stirring with your fingers, until water runs clear, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer mung beans to a small saucepan; add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mung beans are creamy, no longer hold their shape, and begin to stick to bottom of pot, 16 to 18 minutes.
  • Scrape beans into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth, about 10 seconds. Spread pureed mung beans onto a baking sheet. Chill until cold, about 45 minutes. You'll have about 2 cups mung bean puree.
  • While mung beans cool, gently rub banana leaves with a damp cloth to remove dirt. Using kitchen shears, cut fibrous strings off each banana leaf. You only need 12 banana leaves, but you cannot use torn leaves, and you'll want to set aside wider banana leaves for wrapping, so you'll need extras.
  • Remove pork from marinade; discard marinade. Moisten a work surface with a damp paper towel. Lay a 14-inch long piece of plastic wrap on moistened work surface, with the long edge facing you. Using a small offset spatula, spread 1/4 cup mung bean puree in center of plastic wrap to form a 6x4-inch rectangle. Center 1 pork strip on top of the mung bean rectangle. Spoon 1/4 cup mung bean puree over the pork, and using moistened hands, spread puree all over pork to mostly enclose. Lift bottom edge of plastic wrap to begin wrapping pork mixture; continue to roll into a log. Once roll is complete, hold the ends of the plastic wrap and roll pork mixture on counter towards you to form a tight cylinder, about 5 inches long; set pork roll aside. Repeat wrapping procedure with remaining 1 1/2 cups mung bean puree and remaining 3 pork strips.
  • Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in 2 1/4 teaspoons salt. You'll have about 9 cups drained rice.
  • Cut 36 (14-inch) lengths and 8 (28-inch) lengths of kitchen twine; set aside.
  • Stack 3 wide banana leaves (dull-side down with lines on the leaf running running parallel to edge of work surface) on top of each other to cover an 11-inch wide area. You will probably need to overlap some of the smaller leaves in order to form the desired shape. Using kitchen shears, cut banana leaf stack to form a 11x14-inch rectangle, with the 11-inch side facing you; discard trimmed leaves and restack leaves if needed. Spoon 3/4 cup of rice onto center of banana leaf stack and spread into a 6x4-inch rectangle.
  • Unwrap 1 of the pork rolls and center on top of rice rectangle. Spoon 3/4 cup rice over pork roll. Slowly wrap short edge of banana stack closest to you over pork roll, stopping to redistribute rice enclosing the pork, until it is snug and completely wrapped. Tie banana leaf cylinder in center with 1 (14-inch) piece of kitchen twine to secure. Working with 1 end of cylinder only, fold banana leaf ends over cylinder. Hold ends in place and then stand cylinder up on the folded end. Spoon 1/4 cup of rice into open end, and gently tap sides of banana cylinder and tap back and forth to settle rice. Seal open end of banana cylinder by tucking sides of banana leaves against rice mixture like you are wrapping a present and folding flaps down. Center 1 (28-inch) string over folded end and hold sides of string snuggly against cylinder. Hold folded end in place and flip cylinder. Open folded end.
  • Spoon 1/4 cup of rice into open end, and gently tap sides of banana cylinder and tap back and forth to settle rice. Seal open end of banana cylinder, tucks sides of banana leaves against rice mixture like you are wrapping a present, then fold flaps down. Bring edges of string up together and tie against folded flaps; don't tie too tightly. Center 1 (28-inch) string on 1 folded end perpendicular to first string, and hold sides of string snuggly against cylinder. With your other hand, hold bottom end in place and flip cylinder. Bring edges of string up together and tie against folded flaps; don't tie too tightly. Lay banana cylinder on work surface and cut off center string (the first string we tied) with kitchen shears; discard. Using 5 (14-inch) pieces of kitchen twine, tie banana cylinder working from center out at 1 1/2-inch intervals until you reach the ends. Wrap banana cylinder tightly in a 18-inch long piece of aluminum foil. Secure center and folded ends of foil with 3 (14-inch) pieces of kitchen twine. Repeat wrapping procedure with remaining banana leaves, rice, pork rolls, and kitchen twine.
  • Place cylinders in a large stockpot (you may need to stand cylinders on their ends.) Fill pot with water to 2 inches below the rim. Place a heat-proof lid on top of cylinders to keep submerged. Cover, and bring to boil over high heat. Uncover and continue to gently boil at medium heat, turning every 2 hours, until the internal temperature is at least 200 degrees F (92 degrees C), about 6 hours. Add additional boiling water as needed throughout cook time to keep water level 2 inches below the pot rim. Using tongs, transfer cooked banh tet to a baking sheet and let cool for at least 3 hours, or chill overnight. Remove and discard foil and banana leaves. Slice into rounds and serve. For clean slices, dip knife into warm water, and wipe clean often.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 424.1 calories, Carbohydrate 76.3 g, Cholesterol 13.7 mg, Fat 5.9 g, Fiber 5.4 g, Protein 14.6 g, SaturatedFat 1.8 g, Sodium 1015.4 mg, Sugar 1.5 g

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