Banh Tet Recipes

STICKY RICE AND MUNG BEAN CAKES / BANH TET

Steps:

• Cut the pork belly into 4 (1 inch) wide strips and then trim so each strip to 5 inches long. Optionally, remove the pork skin and discard.
• Combine the pork with ground black pepper, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, minced shallots and fish sauce. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the work surface. Take 3/4 cup mashed mung beans and divide in half. Spread out each mung bean half into 5 inch long sections.
• Place a piece of marinated pork on top of one of the mung bean strips. Place the other mung bean strip on top. Using your hands, press the mashed mung bean around the pork. Roll and shape into a log.
• Wrap the log in plastic wrap.
• Repeat the above steps, making a total of 4 logs.
• Measure the logs and make sure they're approximately 5 inches long.
• Freeze the filling logs overnight.
• Tape together the 2 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper to form an 11 inch square paper template.
• Thaw the banana leaves at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Gently unfold and separate the banana leaves. Using the paper template, cut out 12 sheets of banana leaves. (You'll need 3 sheets of banana leaves per cake). Cut a few extra sheets just in case some tear while washing.
• Clean the banana leaves by washing both sides in hot water. Wipe both sides of the leaves dry with paper towels.
• Moisten 2 large sheets of paper towels and place the cleaned banana leaves between the towels. Place the cleaned banana leaves back into the original plastic bag and then seal with tape.
• Refrigerate the banana leaves until they're ready to use.
• Wash the glutinous rice by rinsing with cool water until the water is mostly clear. Fill the basin with cold water and let the rice soak overnight.
• Remove the filling logs from the freezer.
• Rinse the glutinous rice with cold water one more time. Drain in a large colander. Toss the rice in the colander to remove any excess water. Add the remaining 2 tsp salt and combine with the rice.
• Place a 16 inch string vertically on the work surface.
• Place the first banana leaf on the work surface with the shiny side down and veins running horizontally. Place the second banana leaf on top of the first in the same way. Place the third banana leaf on top of the other 2 leaves with the shiny side up and veins running vertically.
• Place 1/2 cup glutinous rice on the center of the banana leaves. Spread out the rice so it's 1/4 inch high and just a bit bigger than the filling log. Place the filling log on top of the rice.
• Bring the banana leaves up and hold together with one hand. Add another 1/2 cup glutinous rice on top of the filling log. Using a spoon, add more rice to the sides of the cake. Smooth out the top, encasing the filling with an even amount of rice.
• While holding the top portion of banana leaves, wrap the bottom portion securely around the log. Bring the top portion of the leaves down and wrap firmly around the cake. Tie the string around the middle of the cake to secure in place.
• Fold the leaves over on the one end and stand the cake up. Pat the cake with your palms to settle the rice. Add 4 heaping tablespoons rice to the end, cover the filling. Fold the banana leaves (like you would a present) covering the end completely.
• Flip the cake over, standing it on the folded end now. Repeat the same process of adding rice and folding the banana leaves for the remaining end.
• Tie the cakes securely with a 9 feet section of cooking string. (Please see video for this part.)
• Continue with these same steps until all 4 cakes are made.
• Wrap the cakes with a generous amount of aluminum foil.
• Transfer the cakes into a 20 quart stockpot standing each cake on its end.
• Fill the pot with water until it almost covers the cakes. Place a heavy lid or plate on top of the cakes. Add more water until the cakes are completely immersed in water.
• Cover the pot and bring to a boil using High heat.
• Reduce heat to Low and cook for 4 hours.
• Check the water level every 1 hour and add boiling water as needed. (Do not add cold water. This will halt the cooking process and ruin the cakes.)
• After boiling for 2 hours, flip the cakes.
• After 4 hours, carefully remove the cakes from the pot using tongs.
• Remove the foil and rinse each cake with cold water.
• Dry the cakes with a kitchen towel.
• Wrap each cake in plastic wrap and allow to cool for 4 hours.
• To Serve: Cut off the string. Unwrap the cake by removing the banana leaves and discarding. Cut the cake into thick slices using a sharp knife or with cooking twine. (See the video for a demonstration.)
• Enjoy the Sticky Rice and Mung Bean Cakes with savory Dried Carrot and Radish Pickles.
• Store the Sticky Rice and Mung Bean Cakes at room temperature for up to 2 days. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Freeze the whole cakes for up to 6 months.

VIETNAMESE BANH TET RECIPE - STICKY RICE CAKE

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.

BANH TET

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.

BáNH CHưNG

Steps:

• Day 1: Soak the sweet rice and mung beans. Marinate the pork belly. Saute the shallots.
• Put the sweet rice in a large mixing bowl and add 4 quarts of water. Soak, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight.
• Put the mung beans in a mixing bowl and add 1 quart of water. Soak, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight.
• Cut the pork belly into 1/2-inch-thick slices, then cut the slices into 2-inch segments. Combine the sliced pork, fish sauce and 2 teaspoons of the black pepper in a mixing bowl. Toss to coat the pork in the marinade. Cover the pork and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
• Add the coconut oil to a saute pan over medium heat. Add the shallots to the oil. Saute the shallots, stirring continuously, until aromatic and softened, 3 to 6 minutes. Transfer the shallots to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper on the shallots and stir to combine. Cover the shallots and refrigerate until it's time to wrap the bánh chưng.
• Day 2: Steam the mung beans. Prepare the banana leaves. Build and fill the banana leaf box. Cook the bánh chưng.
• To steam the mung beans: Drain the mung beans in a colander. Add them back to the bowl, cover with clean water, rinse and drain again. Repeat once more.
• Transfer the beans to a steamer lined with cheesecloth. Steam the beans over medium-high heat until tender, at least 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, test the doneness of the beans by removing a single bean and pressing it between your fingers. If the bean mashes easily, it's done. If not, continue steaming until done.
• Transfer the beans to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the remaining 1 3/4 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper onto the hot beans. Stir to equally disburse the salt and pepper. Cover the beans and refrigerate until it's time to assemble the bánh chưng.
• Drain the sweet rice in a colander. Add it back to the bowl, cover with clean water, rinse and drain again. Repeat once more. Set aside to drain further.
• To prepare the banana leaves: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Wash the banana leaves. Along the grain, cut the banana leaves into 4-inch-wide strips. Working in batches, quickly dunk the banana strips into the boiling water, then immediately plunge them into the ice water. Remove the strips from the water, dry and set them aside.
• To build a banana leaf box: Make a fold 4 inches into a banana strip. Place the strip inside a 3.75-by-3.75-by-2-inch bánh chưng mold (see Cook's Note), with the folded edge flush against the left wall of the mold. Make a corresponding fold that lays flush against the right wall of the mold. Fold another banana strip 4 inches into the strip. Place the fold inside the mold, with the folded edge flushed against the top wall of the mold. Make a corresponding fold that lays flush against the bottom wall of the mold. Repeat with 4 more banana strips, alternating the direction of the banana strips. Insert 2 leaves along the interior perimeter of the mold. The resulting banana leaf box is ready for filling.
• To add the bánh chưng filling: Spoon 1 cup of the rice into the box. Tamp the rice down to create a level bottom and build the rice up the sides of the box. Place 2 slices of the pork belly in the center of the box, avoiding the sides of the box. Add 2 tablespoons of the mung beans and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the shallots to the center of the box, again avoiding the sides of the box. Add 1/3 cup of the rice to the box and tamp the rice down so that it's level with the lip of the box. Fold down the leaves to enclose the box. Trim off any overhang.
• Lay a 3-foot-long piece of kitchen twine across the top of the box. Carefully flip the box. Remove the mold. Wrap the twine around the box to bind the leaves into a tight parcel, like you would a birthday present. Set the bánh chưng aside and repeat with the remaining banana strips, filling and twine. The bánh chưng can now be pressure cooked or steamed on the stovetop.
• To pressure cook the bánh chưng: Place the bánh chưng parcels in a 6-quart Instant Pot® and add water to cover them by 1 inch. Follow the manufacturer's guide for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to pressure cook on high for 45 minutes (see Cook's Note).
• After the pressure-cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release and wait until the quick-release cycle is complete. Being careful of any remaining steam, unlock and remove the lid.
• Or to cook the bánh chưng on the stovetop: Place a wire rack inside a tall stockpot with a tight-fitting lid. Place the bánh chưng in the pot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the bánh chưng by 12 inches. Bring the water to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 8 hours.
• Transfer the bánh chưng to a baking sheet. If not serving immediately, rest the bánh chưng until they're cool enough to handle. Wipe down the bánh chưng and store in the refrigerator. To reheat, steam the bánh chưng until warmed through, 10 to 15 minutes.