Banh Chung Slows Down the Lunar New Year Kitchen
Soak glutinous rice for something close to a whole night, steam yellow mung beans, tuck in fatty pork, and wrap it all in leaves into a square. Banh chung is not a dish for a day when you want dinner fast. But there is a pleasure in the hours when the leaf-wrapped cakes sway slowly in the pot and a green aroma slips out around the lid that ordinary rice cooked with ingredients does not have.
Banh chung (Bánh chưng) is a square glutinous rice dish deeply tied to Tet (Tết), the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork are wrapped in dong leaves (lá dong), tied crosswise with string, and boiled for a long time. It is often spoken of as a pair with the round banh giay (Bánh giầy), and the square shape of banh chung is explained as a symbol of the earth. In pieces by VietnamPlus and the Vietnam tourism authority too, it is treated as a cultural dish: families gather, wash the leaves, pack the rice, and wait beside the pot for the new year.
The difficult parts of a home kitchen are the dong leaves and a big pot. In Vietnamese homes, large leaf-wrapped cakes are boiled for hours, but if you make the same size in a household pot, the rice can absorb too much water before the center is cooked, and it is hard to check whether the pork is done. This article divides the batch into two smaller cakes about 12 cm square, using frozen banana leaves, a steamer, and an instant-read thermometer. If you have no square wooden frame, line a 12 cm square storage container with plastic wrap as a temporary mold, then transfer to the leaves.
It is a different character from com lam (in Japanese), another Vietnamese glutinous rice dish, which carries only a light bamboo and leaf fragrance. In banh chung rice is the star, but the mung bean and pork in the center give real substance. It is a rich leaf-wrapped cake that suits breakfast, the Tet table, and make-ahead cooking.
Bánh is a Vietnamese word widely used for cake-like things, flour dishes, and rice dishes. It is natural to remember chưng as part of this dish's name. This article writes the dish as Bánh chưng.
Ingredients (two 12 cm square cakes, 8 slices)
This quantity makes two banh chung, each about 12 cm square and 4–5 cm thick. Cutting each into 4 gives 8 slices. As a main dish it serves 4 people; as a breakfast or side dish, 8.
Dong leaves are hard to find, so frozen banana leaves stand in. The aroma is not identical, but they transfer a green leaf fragrance to the rice and hold the wrap together. Without banana leaves, the result will not reach the quality of this article. With only parchment paper you can make the shape, but the banh chung aroma is much weaker.
Main ingredients
Equipment
| Equipment | Amount / size | Substitutes & notes |
|---|---|---|
| 12 cm square mold | 1 | A wooden frame, a square mold with a removable bottom, or a storage container as a temporary mold |
| Kitchen twine or food-safe string | 8 lengths of 140 cm | 4 for each cake, lengthwise and crosswise. Use a material that does not loosen |
| Bamboo skewers | 4 | To keep the cakes under water and to help check doneness |
| Large pot | 26 cm or wider | Deep enough to submerge both cakes |
| Steamer | 1 | For steaming the mung beans. A pot with a steaming rack also works |
| Instant-read thermometer | 1 | To check that the pork is cooked. Open one cake and measure |
| Cutting boards and a weight | 2 boards, about 2 kg | To press and shape after simmering |
This recipe uses pork and fish sauce. Fish sauce comes from fish, so if you have a fish allergy replace it with 1 tbsp soy sauce and a pinch of salt. The pork sits in the center of the wrapped cake, so at the end of simmering open one cake and check that the center has reached 75 degrees C or more. Without a thermometer, check that the pork is grayish-white with no red parts or clear juices, and if not, simmer for 30 minutes more.
What Is Worth Looking for When Shopping
Banh chung is not a dish where you hunt for pork or salt online. What is worth looking for is sticky glutinous rice, a steamer to soften the mung beans first, and a thermometer to confirm that heat has safely reached the center of the wrapped cake. Look for banana leaves at a store that handles frozen imported foods. If you cannot find them, it is better to wait until you can get them and make it then, for a result you are satisfied with.
Start with the glutinous rice. Made only with ordinary rice, the layers come apart when cut, and no amount of simmering gives the dense texture of banh chung. Choose rice whose grains absorb water plumply and hold together even when cold.
Softening the mung beans first in a steamer keeps the center from turning chalky even after a long simmer. The banh chung itself is boiled submerged in water, but a pot with steady steam makes the mung bean preparation easier.
This dish is hard to judge by appearance alone. Even after a long simmer the center of the wrap warms last, so a thermometer lets you decide calmly whether to simmer a little more.
Method: Simmer Long, Press, and Cut
Most failures with banh chung come from one of these: making it too large, not soaking the rice and beans enough, wrapping so loosely that water gets in, or simmering at too strong a temperature. At home, make it smaller, keep the water gently bubbling, and press at the end to settle moisture and shape.
Common Problems and How to Recover
With few ingredients, small differences in the steps show in the cross section. If a white core remains, the cause is too little soaking or too little simmering. Next time, soak the rice and beans for at least 6 hours, and for this batch return the cake to the pot and simmer 30–60 minutes more over medium-low heat. If you have already cut it, warming it for about 15 minutes in a steamer over medium heat makes it easier to eat.
If it is watery and collapsing, the water boiled too hard or the string was loose and water got in through the gaps in the leaves. It will not fully recover, but pan-frying slices in a thin layer of rice bran oil over low heat for 4 minutes per side crisps the surface and makes them easier to eat. This is a rescue by browning, so do not fry fast over high heat; turn once the surface of the rice has dried.
If the pork in the center is red, do not eat it. Rewrap and return it to the pot. Keep the water gently bubbling, simmer for 30 minutes more, and check again. Banh chung is cooked long, but heat does not reach the center of the wrap at the same speed. The larger you make it, the harder it is to check doneness, so for the first time it is safe to divide it into two smaller cakes.
In the south, banh tet (Bánh tét), wrapped in a cylinder, is also eaten often. The ingredients are close to banh chung, but the shape, the way it is cut, and regional memory differ. Once you are used to Vietnamese leaf-wrapped dishes, moving on to banh beo (in Japanese), which also uses rice flour, or banh bao (in Japanese), suited to breakfast, shows the range of Vietnamese flour and rice dishes.
Storage and FAQ
On the day you make it, cool it at room temperature without opening the leaves. It spoils easily at the room temperature of a humid or hot season, so do not leave it out for more than 2 hours. Once cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap with the leaves, put it in a storage container, and keep it for about 2 days in the refrigerator or 3 weeks in the freezer. If you freeze, wrap one slice at a time so you can thaw just what you want to eat.
Reheating in a steamer is the most natural way. Steam a refrigerated slice over medium heat for 10–12 minutes, and a frozen one for 15 minutes over medium heat after thawing overnight in the refrigerator. To pan-fry, use a pan with a thin layer of rice bran oil over low heat for 4 minutes, turn, then 3 minutes. Stop when the surface turns light golden and it is hot to the center. Too much frying dries out the mung bean layer, so just add some toastiness.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Can I make it without banana leaves? A. You can make the shape with parchment paper, but you lose the leaf aroma. If you want it to taste like banh chung, make it on a day when you can get frozen banana leaves. If you can find dong leaves, soften and use them the same way.
Q. Can I make it without pork? A. You can, but it is more natural to think of it as a different dish. If leaving out the pork, increase the mung beans to 260 g and coarsely chop 40 g dried shiitake, seasoned with salt and soy sauce. The savory center is weaker, so serve with fish sauce or pickles.
Q. Can I shorten it with a pressure cooker? A. We do not recommend it for this recipe. If a wrap breaks, rice and mung beans flow easily into the pot, and checking doneness is harder. In a home version, it is easier to read what is happening if you make it smaller and simmer 4 hours in gently bubbling water.
Q. What goes well with it as a menu? A. Banh chung is heavy with glutinous rice and pork, so add sourness and fragrance. Pickled scallions or onions, cucumber, herbs, fish sauce, and a light soup go well. In a Vietnamese menu, the clear broth of pho ga or the sweet-and-sour dipping sauce of bun cha (in Japanese) is a good relief.
Local sources consulted
VietnamPlus introduces making banh chung as a family event before Tet and sets out the basics: glutinous rice, mung beans, pork, leaf wrapping, and a long simmer. In the Vietnam tourism authority's introduction, banh chung and banh giay are described as symbols of the Lunar New Year. The English Wikipedia entry for Bánh chưng was also used as an aid to confirm the square shape, glutinous rice, mung beans, pork, leaves, and the relation to Tet.
