What are Vietnamese New Year rice cakes? They are essentially a sticky-rice loaf stuffed with green beans and fatty pieces of pork that are then wrapped in bamboo leaves and boiled overnight. Traditionally, they are eaten at the onset of New Year’s by families everywhere. They can also be rolled in banana leaves think a log-like cylinder, utilizing a mung bean and/or pork filling. After cooking, the leaves are removed and the rice cake is sliced into wheel-shaped portions.
Vietnamese rice cake preparation evidently begins the day before New Year’s celebrations as the cakes must be boiled overnight. All ingredients are prepared well beforehand. The cooking that takes place is a minimum a six-hour boil. The ingredients seem pretty basic but the result is delicious, healthy, and is another he ingredients seem pretty basic but the result is delicious, healthy, and is another balanced Vietnamese dish that pulls from the balance philosophies of cultural chefs in this part of the world." balanced Vietnamese dish that pulls from the balance philosophies of cultural chefs in this part of the world.
It almost doesn’t make sense to have a Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration without banh tet. It’s a very important piece to the day’s festivities. There’s a historical value that does not go forgotten. Throughout the festivities, family members gather and feast on these rice cakes. They are the central food of this Vietnamese holiday which celebrates the incoming spring. Though Vietnamese New Year rice cakes are time-consuming to make, they are also available in supermarkets premade which can help families still enjoy the meal without having to prep it themselves.
For those that choose to forego buying it from a grocery store, it may be because the act of making Vietnamese New Year rice cakes or banh tet is very important to some families. It’s considered a bonding experience, where elders meet the young. A lot of connection and communication in Vietnamese culture happens around food and/or food prep. Then, in the process of eating the dish, it continues patterns of bonding as each family member reaps the rewards of the labor.
How to eat Vietnamese New Year rice cakes is plain, dipped, or eaten with pickled scallions. Completely up to the person eating it, when it’s eaten plain, it does not necessarily have the immense taste you may want to have for such a celebration. To combat this lack of festive flavoring, banh tet is often dipped in fish sauce with or without chili. In recent years, some have started frying the rice cakes to add some oils or fats. It is most common to see rice cakes eaten across the south and central regions of Vietnam. In the north, they have a similar cake as Banh tet known as banh chung. There are also different customizations and modifications made to traditional recipes.
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