It is with great joy that I am finally writing blog! Bánh chưng is a must-have during Vietnamese New Year, which is also the Lunar/Chinese New Year. The cakes are typically filled with sticky rice, mashed mung beans and pork belly pieces. As a child, I loved the event surrounding the making of these beautiful rice cakes. It is tradition that families and neighbors would gather in someone’s kitchen to make these. Everyone would be prepping, wrapping, cooking and chatting all night long. Most of the time, they are up through the night as these cakes take 8-10 hours to cook through. Even so, the whole house is constantly filled with laughter and this infectious loving, communal warmth. It is and has always been a time to reflect, give thanks and celebrate together.
I love old traditions. The ones that make sense at least. I find them beautiful, humbling and great reminders of our culture, upbringing and to be grateful for where we are today. Since it is not possible to relive those childhood memories, I figured it would be great to recreate them myself. Below are the bánh chưng recipe and instructions I have put together. I want to mention that this is an adaption of my grandma’s recipe in combination of Trang from RunawayRice’s brilliant(!) folding techniques. You can find her original video linked below.
This recipe seems intimidating and time consuming at first, but I promise you it is not. I had an amazing time making them every year and I am confident you will, too. Wherever you are in the world, I wish you a New Year full of love, great health and happiness. Chúc Mừng Năm Mới, everyone!
Bánh Chưng
makes 8 rice cakes
Ingredients
5 cups glutinous rice (aka sticky rice)
3 tsp salt (1 for mung bean 2 for rice)
2 cup peeled split mung bean
3 cups water for cooking mung bean
2.5 lb pork belly
1/2 cup finely minced shallots
1/4 cup finely minced garlic
3 tsp sugar
5 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2-3 packages banana leaves, cleaned
Wrapping Materials
8x8 inch piece of cardstock
4x4 inch piece of cardstock
2x8 inch piece of card stock
4x4x2 inch mold
8 (7 feet long) string or twine
Scissor
Preparation
Day 1
Prepare and cut the banana leaves using the cardstock templates. You will need:
32 pieces of the 8x8
8 pieces of the 4x4
16 pieces of the 2x8
Soak the mung beans in cold water overnight.
Wash the sticky rice until water runs clear. Soak them in cold water overnight.
Cut the pork belly roughly in ½ inch slices. Combine the pork with shallot, garlic, sugar, fish sauce and pepper. Mix well, cover and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
Day 2
Prepare the mung beans
Rinse and drain the mung beans.
In a medium size pot, combine the mung beans with 1 tsp salt and 3 cups water.
Cover and bring to a boil. Allow the mung bean to boil for 5 mins.
Reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the mung bean is soft and fluffy. Remember to stir occasionally to avoid burning.
Remove the cooked mung beans and smash with a paddle or a spoon.
The mung beans should resemble the consistency of mashed potatoes at this point.
Prepare the glutinous rice
Drain the rice and combine with 2 tsp salt.
Wrap the bánh chưng
I preferred my bánh chưng to have an even amount of sticky rice and pork belly. During the cooking process, the fat from the pork will seeped out and seasoned the rice. Hence, the more pork belly you use for each cake, the more flavorful your sticky rice will be. Of course, this is up to your liking so adjust wherever needed.
For each bánh chưng, I used the following measurement:
1st layer: a heaping ½ cup of sticky rice
2nd layer: 2 tbsp of mashed mung bean
3rd layer: 3-4 pieces of pork belly
4th layer: 2 tbsp of mashed mung bean
5th layer: a heaping ½ cup of sticky rice
For the wrapping instructions, you can check out RunAwayRice’s video for a live demonstration.
Cook the bánh chưng
In a huge pot (and I mean pho-making, turkey brining, 15-quart huge), add the bánh chưng and fill water enough to completely submerged them.
Weight bánh chưng down with a heavy plate.
Bring to a rolling boil and let stand for 15-20 minutes.
Reduce to a simmer for 4 hours.
Remove bánh chưng from the water, keep track of which ones were at the bottom half and top half of the pot.
Add the bánh chưng back into the pot, this time place the ones that were on the top half on the bottom of the pot and vice versa. Don’t forget to weight them down again with a heavy plate.
Since we are making a huge batch, this will ensure that all of the bánh chưng are cooked thoroughly and consistently.
Continue to cook on simmer for another 4 hours.
Remove the bánh chưng from the pot.
Lay a kitchen towel at the bottom of a pan. Place the bánh chưng neatly and tightly next to each other.
Lay another kitchen towel on top of the bánh chưng. Place a large cutting board on top and weight them down with something heavy (bags of sugar, ceramic plates, etc.). This is to remove any excess water while maintaining their square shape.
Let them sit like this for at least 4 hours (or overnight) before serving.
Cut and serve with dưa món củ kiệu.
Good to know
I didn’t wrap the bánh chưng in aluminum foil before cooking them and they turned out fine every year. My guess is the aluminum foil will help retain their square shape better but I haven’t tested that myself. As long as you take the time to press out the water at the end, aluminum or not will not affect the taste of the bánh chưng. My grandma also confirmed that in all her years of making them, she has never wrapped them in aluminum foil before cooking.
I also haven’t tried making them in a pressure cooker. My aunt did and she said the sticky rice was tougher and not as soft as the stove cooked ones. I’m not that surprised, low and slow is always the preferred cooking method in these type of dishes. I’ll have to try the pressure cooker method next year to see for myself.
If you planned on refrigerating them, make sure to wrap them in plastic wrap or place them in an airtight container first.
Since the sticky rice is very, well, sticky once cooked, the easiest way to cut them is using a piece of thread. You just have to wrap the thread around the cake and pull the thread ends across each other. You can of course use a knife, just make sure to rub the knife with some cooking oil first to make clean up a bit easier.
Bánh chưng is typically enjoyed with dưa món củ kiệu, which you can find at most Asian grocery stores.
Also pro-tip, fried bánh chưng or bánh tét (it’s cylinder shaped sister) is the best thing in the world. Fried carb, pork belly and bean- need I say more?
