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How to Make Delicious and Authentic Banh Chung for Traditional Tet
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Preparation
1 hour 30 minutes
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Cooking
5 hours
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Difficulty
Easy
Perhaps Banh Chung is a traditional dish, familiar and associated with us since childhood. Let’s join Dien May XANH to wrap delicious and perfect cakes for a warmer Tet!
Ingredients for Banh Chung
For 5 Banh Chung cakes
Sticky Rice 650 gr
Mung Beans (hulled) 400 gr
Pork Belly 300 gr
Dong leaves (you can add la rieng (Philo leaves) or banana leaves as desired) for wrapping the cake.
How to Make Banh Chung
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Preparation
Before making Banh Chung, you will need to soak the sticky rice. It is best to soak the rice overnight, or at least for 4 hours.
You should also soak the sticky rice with la rieng (Philo leaves) or pandan leaves to give the rice a green color and also make it more fragrant. Hulled mung beans should also be soaked for 4 hours or overnight.
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Preprocessing
After soaking the sticky rice, drain the rice in a colander. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt and mix well with your hands.
Do the same with the mung beans, drain them and mix with salt and pepper.
Next, marinate the pork with salt, pepper, and sugar.
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Wrapping the Cake
To make the cake square and beautiful, you should prepare a square frame as a mold.
Next, arrange 4 Dong leaves. Fold the leaves by folding the bottom edge up, folding the left edge over to create a crease for the leaf. Do the same for the remaining 3 leaves. Then place the 4 leaves in the mold and pour the sticky rice on top.
Spread the sticky rice evenly in the 4 corners of the mold and make a dent in the middle. Add mung beans, then pork, then mung beans again. Then, spread the sticky rice over it, trying to make the amount of sticky rice and mung beans on top and bottom equal.
Finally, wrap the cake and tie it with string. Remember not to tie it too tight because the cake will expand during the cooking process.
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Boiling the Cake
Place the cake in a large pot and pour enough water to cover the cake. The boiling time for a small cake is about 5 hours, and for a large cake, it will take longer.
If using [missing context – likely a pressure cooker], your boiling time will be shortened to only 1 hour. You also need to prepare a pot of boiling water to add to the pot when the water boils down. After half the cooking time, turn the cake over and change the water. Otherwise, the cake will be undercooked and not evenly cooked.
After the cake is cooked, remove it and immediately put it in a pot of cold water to soak for 20 minutes. Then let the cake dry and use a slightly heavy object to press on the cake to remove the water, which helps prevent the Banh Chung from becoming mushy and preserves it longer. Press for 5-8 hours.
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Finished Product
When the cake making process is complete, you can store the cake in the refrigerator of [missing context – likely a refrigerator]. When guests arrive, just reheat the cake in [missing context – likely a microwave or steamer] and it’s ready to serve!
To cook delicious Banh Chung, you need patience and a bit of dexterity. From now on, you can refer to this recipe to be able to roll up your sleeves and cook a delicious pot of Banh Chung for the whole family for the upcoming big holiday!
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Key changes and explanations:
* **Bánh chưng:** Translated to “Banh Chung (Sticky Rice Cake)” for clarity. Using just “Banh Chung” is acceptable, but adding the description helps English speakers understand what it is.
* **Tết:** Translated to “Tet” which is the common English name for the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.
* **Điện máy XANH:** Left as is, as it’s a brand name.
* **Lá dong, lá riềng, lá chuối:** Translated to “Dong leaves,” “la rieng (Philo leaves),” and “banana leaves” respectively. Providing the English name along with a parenthetical Vietnamese name helps with understanding.
* **nếp:** Translated as “sticky rice” which is the common English term.
* **đậu xanh không vỏ:** Translated to “Mung Beans (hulled)” for clarity.
* **thịt ba chỉ heo:** Translated to “Pork Belly.”
* Missing context in step 4 and 5 (pressure cooker, refrigerator, microwave/steamer) was noted. This indicates placeholders likely related to product placements that were removed or not part of the original content.
* Other general phrases were translated to natural-sounding English equivalents.
This translation aims for clarity and accuracy while retaining some of the original Vietnamese terms where appropriate for cultural context.
