Bánh Tét
A cylindrical sticky rice cake genuinely distinct from northern Vietnam's square bánh chưng, not a lesser regional copy of it: the most commonly cited scholarly account, from historian Trần Quốc Vượng, holds that bánh tét developed as a real regional reshaping of bánh chưng as Vietnam expanded southward in the 17th century, keeping the same core rice, mung bean, and pork filling but wrapped in banana leaf into a cylinder rather than dong leaf into a square. A popular legend crediting Emperor Quang Trung with inventing it for his troops during Tet is worth treating as folklore rather than confirmed history. Real bánh tét is wrapped tightly and boiled for eight to ten hours or more, traditionally a long, communal family activity ahead of the Tet holiday.
Ingredients
- 4 cups glutinous rice, soaked overnight
- 1.5 cups mung beans, soaked and cooked
- 500g fatty pork belly, cut into strips
- Banana leaves, softened
- Kitchen string
- Salt and pepper
Steps
- Season the pork belly with salt and pepper.
- Lay out the banana leaves and spread a layer of soaked rice, then mung bean paste, then pork, then more mung bean and rice on top.
- Roll tightly into a cylinder using the banana leaves, and tie securely with string.
- Boil the wrapped cylinders in a large pot of water for 8-10 hours, topping up water as needed.
- Let cool before unwrapping and slicing into rounds.