Every year within a month before the new Lunar New Year, I make a point of taking a weekend off from everyone else I know on the planet to be with my mom to make Banh Chung… a rice cake that we only make for the Lunar New Year… not only that, but we make a massive number of them (anywhere from sixteen to twenty cakes total… but usually eighteen cakes) and we give some to my maternal grandparents… I take a cake or two back with me and she takes the rest.
INGREDIENTS:
– approximately 10 pounds of glutinous (or sweet rice)
– approximately 6 pounds of mungbeans
– approximately 6 pounds of pork loins (the more lean the better I always say)
– cleaned banana leaves
– salt (approximately 2 tablespoons)
– pepper
– olive oil (if using lean pork)
(creates 16 rice cakes)
Variation: If you are vegetarian then subtract pork and mix mungbeans with sugar. It is tastier with light brown sugar.
Since we make a massive batch… we went with an eight pound hulk of pork loins from Costco (we ended up using up to seven pounds of it though). If you don’t want to go all out with so many rice cakes for yourself the below are approximations of the above for just one rice cake:
– 2/3 pound (though according to the above it is closer to 1/2 + 1/9) of glutinous (or sweet) rice
– 1/3 pound of mungbeans
– 1/3 pound of pork loins
PREPARATION for MUNGBEANS
Day One
1: Soak the mungbeans in water overnight
Day Two
1: Rinse the mungbeans and toss a little salt
2: Put mungbeans into the steamer until it is just cooked through (how to test: take a small portion in hand and smash, if you have to put pressure then it is good, if falls apart easily then it is bad)
3: Ground mungbeans when completely cooled down
PREPARATION for EVERYTHING ELSE
As with all Vietnamese cooking I don’t really have set directions, so here is what I know:
1: Cut the pork in 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick slices. Marinate with salt and pepper. Add olive oil if using lean pork. Set aside
2: Clean the banana leaves and wipe reasonably dry
3: Rinse the glutinous rice, drain, toss with a little salt… set aside
Now here comes the fun part… you will need four sheets of aluminum foil approximately 12 inches by 12 inches square and then fold in accordance to the video below:
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