‘Bánh chưng’ is a traditional Vietnamese rice cake which is made from very simple and basic ingredients such as glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork. This traditional cake is an important part to make a perfect Tet holiday in the heart of Vietnamese people, and has the oldest history in traditional Vietnamese cuisine.
Bánh Chưng (Vietnamese Sticky Rice Cake)
'Bánh chưng' is a traditional Vietnamese rice cake which is made from very simple and basic ingredients such as glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork. This traditional cake is an important part to make a perfect Tet holiday in the heart of Vietnamese people, and has the oldest history in traditional Vietnamese cuisine.
Ingredients
Sticky Rice
- 3 cups (687 g) dry sticky rice
- 2 teaspoon salt
Pork Belly
- ½ lb pork belly sliced 1 cm thick
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Pinch sugar
- ¼ teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 5 shallots sliced
Mung Beans
- 1 cup (240 g) peeled split mung beans
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt divided (1/4 teaspoon for soaking and 1 for cooking)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon chicken powder
- 6 shallots sliced
Assembly Materials
- 2 packs of banana leaves 1 for assembly and 1 for the pot
- 4 x4x2 inch molds
- Tape
- String
Instructions
Day Before
- Make a square mold out of cardboard: Create a mold out of cardboard. I made mine about 4×4 inches wide and 2 inches high.
- Soak sticky rice. Wash the sticky rice until the water turns clear. Soak the sweet rice with salt and enough water to cover the rice over night.
- Marinate the pork belly. Slice the pork belly into about 1/4 inch thick slices. Marinate the pork with salt, sugar, chicken powder, pepper, fish sauce and shallots in the refrigerator overnight.
- Soak the mung beans. Wash the mung beans until the water turns clear. Soak the mung beans with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and enough water to cover the rice in the refrigerator overnight.
Day Of
- Strain the rice. Strain the water from the rice. Set aside.
- Boil the mung beans. Strain the mung beans. In a medium pot, fill halfway with water, add 1 teaspoon of salt and mung beans. Heat on high until it boils. When the water boils, turn the heat down to simmer. Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes or until softened. Then strain the water and mash the mung beans.
- Saute the shallots. In a large skillet or wok, heat 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable on high heat. Add the shallots and saute for 2 minutes on high and then reduce the heat to low and continue cooking until caramelized and tender about 10-15 minutes.
- Mix together. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the salt, sugar, pepper, chicken powder, caramelized shallots and mashed mung beans. Set aside.
Assembly
- Line the mold with banana leaves. Line the mold with at least 4-6 strips of banana leaves (~4x 12 inches) layering them in alternative directions like a cross. Make sure to leave 2 inches of banana leaf above the mold to seal the banh chung later. Then using 4 thinner strips (~2×10 inches) line the inside of the mold to seal the corners.
- Add the rice. Add an even layer of sticky rice, about 1/2 of an inch.
- Layer the mung beans and meat. Layer an even 1/4 inch layer of mung beans. Make sure to leave 1/4 inch of space around the edges for the rice. Layer the pork belly on top of the mung bean layer. Lastly, layer another even 1/4 inch layer of mung beans.
- Fill with rice. Fill in the edges and the top 1/2 inch with sticky rice.
- Fold the leaves over and wrap with string. Using alternating strips, fold the leaves over tightly. Seal with a piece of tape and tightly wrap the 'Bánh Chưng' with string like a present. Make sure to wrap the string along the edges as well to keep it all together.
Cook the 'Bánh Chưng'
- In a large pot, if possible, place a small wire rack at the bottom of the pot, then line 3-4 layers of banana leaves on top of the wire rack covering the entire rack. Add the banh chung and fill the pot with enough water to cover. Cover the pot with a lid and bring the pot to a boil on high heat. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium low heat and simmer for about 7 hours. Every two hours add boiling water in the pot to make sure the water level is always covering the 'Bánh Chưng'.
- Serve after 30 minutes. Take the 'Bánh Chưng' out of the pot and let it cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then serve with 'Chả lụa' (Vietnamese cold cuts) and pickled vegetables. If you are not serving it right away, dry the banana leaves and wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store the bánh chưng in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. To re-heat simply place them in the microwave with the banana leaf still wrapped on. It may take up to 5-6 minutes depending on the heat of your microwave to thoroughly heat and soften the 'Bánh Chưng'.
Notes
Notes
Alternatively, you can place the ‘Bánh Chưng’ in a pot and add enough water to cover it by about 1-2 inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes. If it floats to the top, flip the ‘Bánh Chưng’ over halfway for even cooking.
- Plan ahead. This recipe takes a bit of time so it is important that you plan ahead. Remember to soak the rice and mung beans and marinate the pork the night before. This is so that the rice and mung beans will be evenly cooked when they are boiled. Moreover, the pork belly needs time for the flavors to soak into the meat.
- You can make a square mold out of cardboard and tape. The mold does not have to be fancy it just needs to be functional. The molds are necessary to shape the banana leaves and stuff the filling inside.
- Make sure to saute the shallots slowly and with enough oil to prevent them from burning. When you saute the shallots for the mung bean mixture it is important that you coat the shallots with enough oil to prevent them from burning. Sauteeing low and slow will yield beautifully caramelized and full-flavored shallots.
- Cut out the banana leaves in advance before assembling the ‘Bánh Chưng’. You may need a ruler and scissors to precisely cut the banana leaves to fit your mold. It helps to cut out all the strips you will need before you begin assembling them.
- When boiling the ‘Bánh Chưng’, make sure it stays under the water and does not float to the surface. You may need to periodically press out all the air using a wooden spoon inside the ‘Bánh Chưng’ so that they stop floating to the surface. They need to be submerged to cook evenly throughout.
Equipment
-
1 7 Quart Pot
-
1 Round Wire Rack
