Unique and Simple Multicolored Banh Chung Recipe for the Tet Feast

How to make Five-color Banh Chung

• 1

  Coloring the sticky rice

  Wash the pandan leaves, grind them finely, and then strain through a sieve to extract the green coloring water.

  For the purple cabbage, remove any spoiled or bruised leaves and wash thoroughly. Cook the cabbage with about 400ml of water for about 10 – 15 minutes until the water turns purple-red; when the water reduces, add another 200ml of filtered water and continue cooking for another 10 – 15 minutes on medium heat. Wait until the water in the pot boils, then turn off the heat. Pour the cabbage water through a strainer to collect the purple coloring water.

  Scrape the gac fruit to obtain the seeds inside, add 1 teaspoon of white wine to the gac seeds, then scrape the flesh off the seeds until only the black seeds remain, yielding the red pulp.

  Soak the gardenia seeds in water to soften them, then pound them, adding 3 tablespoons of filtered water and straining to obtain the yellow coloring water.

  See details: How to safely dye natural colors.

  

  

  

  
• 2

  Soak sticky rice and mung beans

  Gently rinse the sticky rice with water about 5 – 6 times until clean. Then, divide the sticky rice into 5 equal parts, adding the 4 prepared colors of green, red, purple, and yellow to 4 parts of the rice, while keeping the remaining part plain white. Pour water just enough to cover the rice and let it soak for 6 – 8 hours.

  For the peeled mung beans, rinse them thoroughly with water, then pour water to cover the beans and soak for 4 – 6 hours.

  

  

  

  
• 3

  Prepare the cake filling

  First, peel 10 shallots, wash them clean, and slice them thinly. Then, fry the shallots in 150ml of cooking oil until golden and fragrant.

  Soaked sticky rice that has expanded and absorbed color should have the water drained from each bowl, add a little salt to each bowl and mix well so that the sticky rice has a slight salty taste when cooked.

  Soaked mung beans should have the water drained, then add the fried shallots, 4 tablespoons of fried shallot oil, a little salt, and a little pepper, and mix well to combine the mung bean mixture.

  Wash the pork belly with water mixed with a little salt, rinse with cold water, and then cut into 6 equal pieces for 6 cakes. Next, marinate the pork belly with a little salt, pepper, monosodium glutamate, and sugar.

  

  

  

  
• 4

  Preparation of leaves and arranging the mold

  4 dong leaves are washed clean, dried with a warm towel, then you use a knife to cut off the hard stem part after the leaf.

  To wrap the cake, you fold the dong leaves in half horizontally, then fold them in half again vertically. You measure the dong leaves against the width of the mold and cut the tail of the leaves so that they fit the mold and have enough leaves to wrap the cake tightly. For the remaining 3 leaves, you do the same steps.

  Then you flip each leaf to create right angles and arrange them into the corresponding 4 sides of the mold. Be careful to place the leaves so that the bottom part is sealed so that when wrapping the filling, it does not burst out.

  

  

  

  
• 5

  Wrapping the cake

  To make the colorful square cake, you arrange the sticky rice so that the red color is in the middle, while the other colors including green, yellow, purple, and white surround it. Then you place the following layers on the sticky rice in order: mung beans, pork belly, mung beans, then cover with a layer of sticky rice arranged in the same colors as the previous layer.

  You compress the filling tightly and spread the sticky rice evenly to be flat with the surface of the mold to shape and secure the cake.

  Tip: Besides arranging as just instructed, you can also arrange the sticky rice horizontally into 5 rows corresponding to the 5 colors of sticky rice; this way of arranging is also easier.

  Then, you place a piece of dong leaf over the filling of the cake and wrap it up. You gather both sides of the leaf and fold them down to the center of the cake to create two triangular leaf wings, next you fold these two wings and press them tightly to form creases.

  At this point, you remove the mold from the cake, and finally, you use 6 strands of string to tie and twist tightly around the cake shell in a checkerboard pattern to finish.

  Tip: You should not tie the cake too tightly because when boiling, the cake will expand and may tear the leaf and burst the filling out.

  

  

  

  
• 6

  Boiling the Cake

  You prepare a large pot, place the dong leaves at the bottom of the pot, then add the chung cake and pour water up to 2/3 of the pot, cover it and boil the cake for about 2 – 3 hours from the time the water starts boiling. When the water in the pot decreases, remember to add more boiling water to continue cooking until it is done.

  Tips for naturally boiling green chung cake:

  • To keep the boiled chung cake bright and beautiful green, you can use a large tin pot for boiling.
  • Additionally, while boiling the cake, when the water decreases, quickly replace the old water and pour in boiling water to continue cooking.

  See details: Tips for naturally boiling green chung cake, delicious and safe

  

  
• 7

  Completion

  After boiling, rinse the Ngũ Sắc Cake with water to remove any stickiness, then dry it thoroughly. Next, use a moderate weight to press down on the cake to allow excess water to drain out. Once the cake has cooled completely, it is ready to be served.

  

  
• 8

  Final Product

  The Ngũ Sắc Cake looks very appealing with a harmonious blend of vibrant colors. When eaten, the sticky deliciousness of the glutinous rice combines with the subtle fragrance of pandan leaves and red gấc, while the filling offers a rich, fragrant taste of mung beans, fried onions, and the fatty juiciness of the pork belly fat.

  There’s nothing better than a Ngũ Sắc Cake that can satisfy both your visual and taste senses, right?