My pops usually makes a traditional Vietnamese cake for Chinese New Year, but he decided to make it out of the blue today. It’s called “banh chung,” and is made from layering sticky rice, mung bean, and seasoned pork. It’s a very lengthy process, taking just over twelve hours to assemble and cook. My dad decided to document the whole process this time, so I thought I’d share with all of you his hard work!
Here are all of the ingredients lined up, after the mung bean and rice have had plenty of time soaking in water.
First, use your wooden square mold (which my dad built) as a guide to start lining your banana leaves.
Layer the rice, then beans, then meat, then beans and rice again.
Fold the banana leaves back over to secure everything together.
and wrap with plenty of strings!
Like this!:
This is how they look prior to cooking:
Wrap them in saran wrap and layer them in a huge pot.
Fill the pot with water and cook for 6ish hours, making sure to keep the water level above the cakes!
Take them out and let them cool for an hour or so.
Cut and eat! Yum! (oh heyyyy Halloween candy on the counter)
Dump the water out and clean the pot.