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Preparation
2 hours 40 minutes
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Processing
5 hours
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Difficulty
Medium
Gấc sticky rice cake is one of the extremely popular dishes during the Tet holidays that everyone loves. Let’s get into the kitchen with TasteVN to refer to the recipe for making gấc sticky rice cake and prepare it to treat the family right away.
Ingredients for Gấc Sticky Rice Cake For 4 people
Pork belly 300 gr Thai sticky rice 1 kg White beans 100 gr Mung beans without skin 200 gr Gấc flesh 150 gr Salted eggs 10 pieces Coconut milk 450 ml Oyster sauce 1 tablespoon Fried garlic and onion oil 1 tablespoon Chopped green onion a little Banana leaves a little Chopped green onion roots a little Common spices a little (Sugar/salt/pepper/seasoning)
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to choose fresh meat
- Fresh meat usually has a light pink or light red color, with firm, dry pork. The layer of fat will be slightly ivory white.
- Choose meat with good elasticity; when lightly pressing a finger on the piece of meat, it should leave a dent that quickly returns to its original state.
- Avoid buying meat with a slimy texture or bruising, as this indicates it is from sick pigs, which is very harmful to health.
How to choose good sticky rice for making cakes
- You should choose sticky rice with large, round grains, opaque white color, and not broken or crushed. It is best to buy freshly milled sticky rice, which has a light, pleasant natural aroma of sticky rice when smelled.
- You should avoid buying sticky rice that has been milled too finely as it has lost a lot of nutrients.
- Avoid buying sticky rice with unusual colors or musty smells due to being stored for a long time.
How to choose good mung beans for making cakes
- You can use both peeled and unpeeled mung beans.
- If you choose unpeeled mung beans, be sure to select beans with shiny, plump skins that are uniform in size, and not infested or shriveled.
- If choosing peeled mung beans, select those with a nice yellow color, semi-firm beans, free from pests, and with the fragrant smell of mung beans.
How to choose good salted eggs
- It is advisable to choose eggs that do not have cracks on the outside; gently shake the egg, and you should feel a little water inside, with a thin, clear egg white, and a slightly sticky, pinkish yolk, indicating good quality eggs.
- To buy quality salted eggs, you should choose to buy from reputable stores or supermarkets. When buying, you should carefully check the production place, expiration date, and production date printed on the packaging.
- Additionally, to ensure safety, you can also make salted eggs right at home according to the recipe shared below by TasteVN.
How to Make Gac Sticky Rice Cake
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Preparation and Marinating Pork
First, wash the pork belly and cut it into long pieces of moderate thickness. Place the pork in a large bowl and marinate with a mixture of seasonings including 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, a little chopped green onion, 1 teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Mix well to allow the seasonings to evenly soak into the meat for about 30 minutes, then place in the refrigerator for 1 day before wrapping the sticky rice cake.
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Preparing Glutinous Rice and Beans
First, rinse the glutinous rice and beans to remove dirt. Then, place the glutinous rice and beans into separate bowls and add water, then soak for about 2 hours.
Tip: Soaking the beans and glutinous rice beforehand will help the cake cook faster and become softer.
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Cook the beans
You put the mung beans into the pot and then pour in water so that the water level is about one finger joint above the surface of the beans. After that, cook the mung beans on high heat until the water boils, then reduce to medium heat and cook until the beans are soft and expanded.
Next, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt into the pot with the mung beans and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve completely. After that, turn off the stove to let the mung beans cool down a bit before putting them into the blender to blend. Note that you shouldn’t blend the beans too finely.
For the white beans, you also put them into a pot, add water, and cook until the beans are tender, not mushy.
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Cook the bean filling
Add the blended mung beans into the pan along with 1 tablespoon of fried garlic oil and a little chopped green onion, then cook on medium heat until the beans are just dry enough.
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Sauté Sticky Rice
First, add 450ml of coconut milk, 45gr of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt into the pan and stir well over medium heat for about 2 minutes.
Next, add 150gr of pumpkin flesh and the soaked sticky rice into the pan and gently sauté over low heat to prevent the rice from breaking until it is just dry. Then, add the white beans to the sticky rice and sauté for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat to cool.
Tip: Sautéing the sticky rice first will make it easier to wrap the cake and will cook faster when steaming.
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Wrap the Filling
First, place a layer of banana leaves at the bottom, then add the mung bean filling and spread it evenly. Next, place the marinated pork belly and salted egg in the middle of the mung bean layer.
Then, hold the two edges of the banana leaves on either side and wrap the filling to form a cylindrical shape for the cake.
Tip: Wrapping the filling first will make the cake easier to wrap and more visually appealing.
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Wrapping the Cake
You place a layer of banana leaves underneath, then spread the sticky rice on top, add the filling in the middle, and roll the banana leaves tightly and roundly so that the rice and filling stick together well.
Next, you use a string to temporarily tie it in the middle. Then you stand the cake up and use a spoon to press the ends of the cake tightly.
Fold both ends of the cake, using scissors to cut if there are excess leaves at both ends. Finally, you tie horizontal and vertical strings around the cake and use scissors to cut off the excess string.
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Boiling the Cake
You add water to the steamer and then place the cake on top. You steam the cake for about 4 – 5 hours until it is cooked. During the steaming process, you can flip the cake every 2 hours to ensure even cooking.
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Finished Product
After completion, you will have a delicious and fragrant gấc cake right away. The sticky rice has a beautiful red color, and when you eat it, you will feel the sticky and fragrant grains along with the tasty filling that enhances the richness of the gấc cake.
The above is a sharing on how to make gấc cake delicious and simple that you can make right at home. Let’s join TasteVN in the kitchen and get started right away. Wish you all success!
