Vegan Mung Beans, Coconut & Sticky Rice Cake --Bánh tét chay

From ancient times immemorial, every family in Vietnam has to have prepared banh chung and banh tet every time when the Vietnamese New Year, Tet, comes.. This is not just a traditional ritual, but it also shows a nuance of the Vietnamese Nation through this unique cuisine. Banh Chung is known by the North, and the banh Tet that I want to introduce to you today is a cake of the South Vietnam. However, if you follow the traditional method to make this cake, it is very complicated because it needs banana leaves, and string ties made of young bamboo, and the way to wrap the cake is also quite sophisticated and requires a certain technique. In this recipe, I want to use the simplest way that people living far from home like us can still enjoy the taste of the Lunar New Year. That is to use the things of Western baking, such as the parchment sheet, foil, or food wrap. In the past, cooking this cake took a lot of time. Today, we will use a pressure cooker to finish this cake. With this recipe, you probably won't have to wait until the Lunar New Year to enjoy, but because it's so easy, you can make this cake more often.

Ingredients:

2 cups sticky rice soaked for 6 hours or overnight

1 cup dried skinless split mung beans soaked for a few hours

1/2 cup dried black beans soaked for a few hours

1 cup sweet coconut flakes

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup water

Salt & sugar to taste

1 tsp pandan paste or green food color (optional)

Supplies:

Parchment paper, foil, and string to tie the cake

Directions:

1-Drain the soaked sticky rice, and both of the beans

2-Place the black beans’s like in the pressure cooker. Pour in enough water to cover the beans. Cook for 8 minutes then drain.

3- In the rice cooker, add mung beans and add water just enough to cover the beans and turn the function cook-rice on. When the cooking time is done, remove.

4- When the mung beans are still warm, mash the mung beans using the blender or mashed potato stick. Put the mashed mung beans in a sauté pan. Cook the mashed mung beans over medium high heat. Add 2 tbs coconut oil to the beans and some sugar for your taste and salt.

5- In a large sauté pan, add the soaked sticky rice, coconut milk, and salt and cook until all the rice absorbs the coconut milk. Add sweet coconut flakes and drain cooked black beans. Mix well. Adjust the seasoning with salt and sugar for your taste.

6- Divide the mung beans paste equally and shape the beans paste into the cylindrical tubula, about 2 inches long. You can cut a piece of the food wrap to guide you for making this tubula.

To wrap the cake:

1-Cut the parchment paper into a square or rectangular shape about 5 x 11 inches for each piece, and the foil each piece the same size as the parchment paper, the length as follow the size of your parchment paper. Spread the sticky rice on the parchment paper, then arrange the mung beans paste now is the tubular on the center of the sticky rice.

2-You fold the two edges of the parchment paper together and then roll it tightly and evenly.  Now use the foil to finish wrapping around the cake. Use one piece of string to tie the middle of the cake and another string to tie in the long side of the cake. You do not have tie the cake because the foil is good enough. I still tie the cake to make sure the cake after cooking is in the good shape.

To steam the cake:

In the pressure cooker, add water (about 1 cup). Place all the cake into the cooker. Follow the cooking method for the pressure cooker. Steam the cake for 40 minutes.

The taste of vegetarian bean cake is very delicious with a soft sticky skin with coconut flakes, black beans, the fleshy taste of green beans inside. Definitely, this traditional cake will be a dish that makes your traditional New Year more meaningful.

You can enjoy this cake a few days left outside on the countertop or in the refrigerator for weeks. So many Youtubers have this recipe with more handy ways to wrap the cake. I suggest that you can learn the technique from them to make this cake turn out beautiful.