A few friends and I first experienced this traditional Vietnamese Tết (Lunar New Year) food while visiting years ago. We loved it, and recently I looked up how to make it myself. It’s not a well known food in the US, so I thought it would still be fun to share.
I followed the recipe from “Enjoy a simple life“, but made a homemade cardboard mold as suggested by “Takes Two Eggs“.
Like a bread, this recipe takes a fair bit of time. I would start in the morning.
- Soak rice and mung beans overnight. Marinate seitan or meat.
- About 30 minutes of cooking. Boil beans and rice.
- About 30 minutes wrapping and packaging.
- Finally, an 8-12 hour boil in a big pot of water.
Ingredients needed:
- Seitan or pork belly (optional), 4-8 oz
- 5 c glutinous rice, lightly rinsed twice and soaked overnight
- 2½ c dried slit mung beans, washed and soaked overnight
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 leeks, use white part, thinly sliced
- 2 t salt
- 3 t black pepper
- 1 t sugar
- 2 t good soy sauce
- 2 T fish sauce or 1 T mushroom powder
- ½ c vegetable or peanut oil
Additional supplies:
- Banana leaves (defrosted)
- Twine, string, etc
- Scissors
- Plastic wrap
- Aluminium foil
- Cardboard and packing tape to make a mold. I used a soda box
Ingredient Prep:
- Cook rice with salt.
- Steam mung beans. Food-process them.
- Fry shallots and leeks in oil. Add seasonings.
- Remove from heat. Add the rest of the oil and mung beans. Mix thoroughly.
Making the cakes:
- Place the square cardboard mold on a sheet of plastic wrap.
- Put two cut banana leaves inside to form a little square pocket.
- In the pocket, layer ½ c rice, ¼ c mung beans mix, strips of meat or seitan, ¼ c mung beans, and ½ c rice.
- Fold the banana leaves over, and remove the mold. Close the plastic wrap to hold everything together.
- Wrap the plastic wrap in a layer of alumnium foil.
- Tie the foil shut with string.
Once you have all your cakes made, boil them at a low simmer for 8-12 hours. Your cakes are done.
They last weeks and stay pretty tasty. You can freeze them if you want them to last even longer.
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