Bánh da lợn is a steamed layer cake made from tapioca flour and coconut milk. Alternate layers are coloured and flavoured differently: green ones with pandan leaf juice, yellow ones with mung bean purée. Besides being eaten as a dessert, it is also placed on the ancestral altar on important days such as death anniversaries. Plan ahead: the mung beans need 3 hours of soaking before you cook them. Ingredients 200 g tapioca flour 50 g rice flour 50 g pandan leaves (don’t pick older leaves, they will be bitter) 200 g sugar 500 g grated coconut 100 g mung beans (green beans) ⅓ teaspoon salt Oil, for the wooden mould How to make bánh da lợn 1. Prepare the pandan juice, mung beans and coconut milk Wash the pandan leaves and chop them small. Blend them with 150 g of water to get 150 g of pandan juice. Soak the mung beans for 3 hours and rinse them. Put them in a pot with ⅓ teaspoon salt and add water to cover, then cook until done. While the beans are still hot, blend them with 100 g of the sugar. Mix the 500 g grated coconut with 300 g warm water and squeeze it to get 350 g of coconut milk. 2. Make the green batter Mix the 200 g tapioca flour with the remaining 100 g sugar, the 150 g pandan juice and 150 g of the coconut milk. Pour it through a sieve. 3. Make the yellow batter Mix the 50 g rice flour with the remaining 200 g coconut milk and pour it through a sieve. Add the mung bean purée and mix well. 4. Steam the layers Get a steamer going with boiling water. Brush the wooden mould with oil and set it in the steamer. Pour in a layer of green batter and steam it until the surface is dry. Pour the yellow batter on top, in a layer twice as thick as the green one, and steam again until the yellow surface is dry. Finish with another layer of green. Keep the heat high throughout. That gives you three layers: green, yellow, green. You can pour five thinner layers instead; each colour band will just be a little thinner. Share:
