By Andrea Nguyen
Vietnamese Tet sticky rice cakes (banh chung) are a must-have for the Lunar New Year. When they’ve just been cooked, refreshed through a one-hour boiling, or warmed in the microwave oven, they are fabulously good. Each mouthful is redolent of the tea-like fragrance imparted by the leaves that the cake is wrapped in.
But if that’s not your cup of tea and/or you have leftovers, fry it up into a pancake! It works miracles on hardened, slightly-over- the-hill banh chung ("baan choong") too.
The recipe below is what I use for homemade banh chung that my family prepares. Ours are roughly 5 inches square and a good 2 inches thick. If you’ve got a bigger one, you’ll make more. Chill the sticky rice cake to make cutting it a little easier. You can certainly do this with the cylindrical banh tet too. I've seen rounds of that deep fried!
RECIPE
Pan-fried Tet Sticky Rice Cake
Banh Chung Chien
Makes 2 pancakes
1 Tet sticky rice cake (banh chung), unwrapped
2 to 4 tablespoons canola oil
Sugar
1. Use a knife to quarter to cut the rice cake into ½ to ¾-inch-thick slices. Set aside.
2. For each pancake, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Arrange half the slices in the skillet as close as possible, breaking them up if you have to. Fry, undisturbed for about 6 minutes, until the rice has softened.
3. Use a spatula to press and mash the chunks to form a pancake. When the underside is crispy and golden, 5 to 6 minutes, flip the pancake with a quick and confident jerk of the skillet handle (or slide the pancake onto a plate and invert into the skillet).
Increase the heat to medium high and fry the other side. If things seem dry, drizzle in more oil from the side. The pancake is done when the other side is crispy and golden, about 4 minutes. Slide it onto a plate, cut into wedges and then serve. Enjoy with a sprinkling of or dip in sugar. The savory sweet combination is divine.
What's your favorite way of eating banh chung? Got an idea for leftovers?
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Reader Interactions
Comments
ravenouscouple
our favorite way to eat banh chung, of course w/ pickled green papaya,leeks, and red chili
Karen Tran
my sister and I have broken several spatulas over the years in the name of bung chung chien!!! so worth it though!
Masako Okamoto
Give me pan-fried banh chung over crack, ANYDAY!
This stuff is HUGELY addicting, and I could easily finish off an entire block of it in this crunchy, snackable incarnation, but not necessarily in its fresher, stickier form. Once I start munching, I simply cannot stop!Lan
It's a good thing something this rich and addictive is usually only eaten during the Lunar New Year.
This is one of those guilty pleasures that is rarely advertised outside of the culture.Anh
What a great way to finish up the leftover banh chung! My dad makes the best banh chung chien. We usually eat it with "dua mon". I am craving for some right now and it's only 5 in the morning!
Andrea Nguyen
Oh yessss, banh chung chien with a salty-garlicky pickled crunchy something is pure pleasure. I'm always so amazed at how simple Vietnamese Tet foods are. Other cuisines have complicated dishes for Lunar New Year. Ours is relatively simple and straightforward.
Simon Bao
"Relatively simple and straightforward?"
Banh Chung Chien may be simple and straightforward, but I will not tell the women who made the actual Banh Chung that those were simple and straightforward. 🙂
OK, Andrea, I'll give you that, our dishes **for family dinners** at Lunar New Year ARE mostly simple and straightforward. Braised pork and eggs, a whole fried fish, etc.
But some of our dishes for PARTIES are anything but simple and straightforward.
I would love for you to investigate and report on the origins of Be Thui. When and under what set of circ*mstances did Viets start roasting whole veal calves on a spit, over coals, roasted IN their hide? I first saw that dish appear at parties here around 2003 or 2004, and at first I refused to believe it could really be what people told me it was. (Few of them are what I'd call "reliable sources.")
Granted, roasting a whole veal calf in its hide is just a very short hop from spit roasting a whole pig in its own skin. Perhaps the calves are simply the young males born to dairy herds, allowed to grow up a bit and then culled.
Andrea, any idea where or how Be Thui originated? Do you know if they roast any of the organs inside the animal, such as the liver, kidneys, heart, etc? And does Vietnam have a tradition of spit-roasting any other other large animals IN their skins? If one can do it to a veal calf, one could certainly do it to a goat.
A video of a Be Thui roasted calf is available here (with a fellow removing one of the loins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKPuDZKcVIYThuy
yyummmmmmmm. I love it almost burnt with soy sauce and sambal.
Lili
I just fry it up. I don't press it into a pancake. My husband loves this and we enjoy it all year.
ravenouscouple
@simon yes, there is goat de thui, look at tan binh be thui http://www.tanbinhbethui.com/ delivers vacuum packed be thui or de thui straight to you door
savuryandsweet
i swear i am just reading this and i posted on banh tet chien yesterday! too funny. i think we have good taste in food 😉 for me cu cieu and cha lua with banh chung are a must. chuc mung nam moi!
chemo
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new malden car
Such a testy Recipe it is.I never go for the rice Cake and this is the first time i want to try for this Recipe.It looks good.Nice job.
vietfoodrecipes
Wow, they stick together just like a huge piece of banh chung. They should be good with "dua mon" - pickled green papaya, carrots, red Thai chilies.
Community Association Institute
Such a wonderful Recipe it is.The name it self Suggest the Recipe.It looks yummy.Great job you have done i will Defiantly go for it.
NereIntew
We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.
Singulair
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Discount Canada Goose
One never loses anything by politeness.
marlon
The pancake is done when the other side is crispy and golden, about 4 minutes.
Kelly @ LifemadeSweeter
Yum, this banh chung looks amaaazing and I was craving for it since it is the New Year once again. Thank you for the great recipe and instructions! I absolutely love your blog and your recipes as I am now able to make food I grew up with for my own family 🙂
