How to make "Banh Chung" - traditional Vietnamese sticky rice cake!

“Banh Chung” is one of the traditional foods in Viet Nam that symbolizes the Earth. It is used to show people gratitude for their parents as well as the world.

People do not eat “Banh Chung” on a regular basis. However, on most special events in Viet Nam, they would include this cake in the party meals.

One of the reasons that people do not eat “Banh Chung” often is because it takes long time to prepared and normally people make many of it at one time. So in this blog, I would be introduce the ingredients of “banh Chung” and how to make it.

For the ingredients, you would need to have: banana leaves, sticky rice, pork belly meat, green beans, onions, pepper, salt, and sugar.

Preparation:

-       Put green bean in water and leave it there for 2 hours. After that, you mix it with 1 tablespoon of salt then steam it.  Then you mix it with pepper and sugar and crush it.

-       Slice the pork belly (1x7cm) then mix it with pepper, fish sauce and a little sugar then put it in refrigerator 

-       Put sticky rice in water for 2 hours. Then mix it with salt and spices.

-       After all the above steps are done, you put rice, then green bean, meat then green bean and sticky rice in to the banana leaves. Take a long string and tight it.

Finally, you put water and “banh chung” in a big pot, cook it for at least 8 hours. (Yes! I meant 8 Hours)

It takes a whole day to make this cake but it tastes wonderful.  I haven’t had it for so long and I miss it so much. The cake has all the nutrition you need. It’s healthy and it’s tasty! I just basically love it!!

Hope you enjoy reading this post!! Follow me on Twitter and like me on my Facebook Page!! You could make comments and request about anything related to Vietnamese foods and I will response as soon as I can!!! Enjoy!