Vietnamese Banh Tet in Banana Leaves
Note: You can also choose to wrap the banh tet with foil, then cook for 2 hours at high pressure and do a full natural pressure release. Again, ensure that you completely submerge them in water! Source: https://cookingwithlane.com/vietnamese-banh-tet-recipe/
Ingredients
| 6 cups | 1.4 l | long-grain sticky rice (soaked overnight) |
| 1 14-ounce can | coconut juice | |
| 1 1/2 tablespoon | 23 ml | sea salt |
| — | cold water for soaking | |
| — | banana or bamboo leaves | |
| 2 2/3 cup | 640 ml | dried, hulled and split yellow mung beans |
| 1 1/4 pounds | 565 g | pork belly |
| 1 tablespoon | 15 ml | pork belly |
| 3 tablespoons | 45 ml | sea salt |
| 1/2 tablespoon | 7.5 ml | fish sauce |
| 3 teaspoons | 15 ml | black pepper, freshly ground |
Instructions
The Night Before — Preparing the Ingredients:
- Soak 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-inch long, 2-inch 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 Ingredients: 5. Drain 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. 6. Drain the mung beans. Using a steamer and parchment paper as liner, lay the mung beans in the steamer tray and spread evenly. Place the tray onto the steamer and cover. Steam for 8 minutes or until the mung beans are tender. Let cool. Once cool, add the cooled beans into a food processor until it has a whipped consistency. 7. Drain the bamboo leaves, rinse and set aside. 8. Rinse and pat the tropical leaves dry and cut them into sheets of 5" x 12". Set aside.
Assembling the Banh Tet: 9. To make each banh tet cake, put a 12" x 18" sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil on your work surface, with the shortest side closest to you. 10. Scoop up 1 cup of the prepared rice and distribute it evenly. 11. Next, scoop up the mung beans and add as a layer. 12. Lastly, add the pork belly on top. 13. Now, roll the banh tet together and tie it with a string. Repeat for the remaining 3 cakes.
Boiling Banh Tet: 14. Fill 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 them down. To maintain a gentle boil, keep a separate kettle of boiling water on the stove to replenish the stockpot as needed. 15. After about 3 hours into cooking, the cakes should no longer float. At this point, remove the ceramic plate. 16. After seven hours of boiling, use tongs to transfer the cooked cakes to a pot of cold water. Once fully cooled, they are ready to eat and store for 2-3 days.