YummY Vietnam

In Tet holidays and the death anniversary, “Banh It” are used as offerings for the gifts. “Banh It” is not only a homely gift, but also a delicious cake that is flavored by many people.

Why it called Little Cake? According to a folk tale about the origin of “Banh It”, the youngest princess of the 6th Hung King, who is meek and skillful, has created a new cake based on “Banh Chung” and “Banh Day”. She took the crust of “Banh Day” to wrap the filling of “Banh Chung” and wrapped it in banana leaves then creating a recipe with exquisite taste. People favor this cake because of the distinctive flavor, so they named the cake after her name “Banh It”

“Banh It” can be reserved for 2 to 3 days. Depending on your taste, you can make “Banh It’ with sweet filling (coconut, green beans) or salted filling (shrimp, meat). Many different places in Vietnam use thorn leaves or baby jackfruit’s leaves to create the crust more beautiful and getting fragrant . Moreover, leaves to warp cake can be fresh or dried banana leaves. Each type of cake has its own flavor, which makes “Banh It” become a favorite dish of many people.

Therefore today we discover how to make “Banh It” with mung beans.

Ingredients for making Banh it with mung beans:

• For the crust
• 300g of glutinous flour
• 300g of water
• 150g of sugar
• For the filling
• 300g mung beans
• 150g of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Steps to make Banh it with mung beans

Step 1: Making crust

Put into sugar into a pot of water then cook to dissolve and keep warm about 30%, put it into sticky flour until the dough is smooth and easy to knead.

Step 2: Making filling

Soak mung beans then cook.

Add sugar and salt then mash and mix the combination till it really smooth.

Step 3: Making cake

Take a bit of the filling and use palm to make a small ball. And then warp it with the dough, which is pressed flat to cover every inch of the ball.

Next, banana leaves are cut into about 20 x 30 cm pieces and get steam a little bit.

Use 2 pieces of banana leaves to roll into a funnel shape and put the dough into the middle

Finally, cook the cakes by steaming them for bout 30-45 minutes and take it out for them to cool down. “Banh It” taste better when they are cool.