Happy Lunar New Year! or as we say in Vietnam, Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
To celebrate this, I wanted to share a Vietnamese specialty with you. Every new year, or Tet, my mom buys banh chung. Banh Chung is a glutinous rice cake filled with mung bean paste and tofu. It is steamed in a banana leaf, and extremely sticky!
This cake is a traditional meal for the new year’s, and it’s generally eaten with some pickled vegetables.
You can eat this as is, but also pan fry it. This is usually how we like to eat it. The sticky rice becomes crunchy and crispy, while the beans soften.
If you are interested in cooking these I suggest checking out Van’s Kitchen tutorial. Simply skip the fish sauce, and switch the meat for some tofu, tempeh or soy proteins, to make it vegan. Harm yourself with a lot of patience, but be ready for some serious deliciousness!
Anyways, happy new year! You get an extra chance to make resolutions and stick to them this time!
My Lighthearted Kitchen 
This is very neat! I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this before. I’ve tried the Chinese brown sugar glutinous rice cakes during the new year, but this sounds really great. Especially with the mung bean and tofu filling. I wonder if I can find that somewhere around Vancouver!
My best advice is to ask in Asian grocery stores where you know the Vietnamese community has a foot. They usually have special orders and deliveries around the new year’s 🙂
I’ll try and look for it. There are so many Asian grocery stores around here but they’re mostly Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, and a bit of Japanese. I’m sure I can find Vietnamese though. I’ll do a Google search hehe
Good luck on your Banh Chung Quest! 😀
I love Asian food and your post has peaked my interest in this seemingly awesome dish! I’ve researched a bit on line and found a recipe, but I’m curious. Is the tofu or mung beans seasoned in any way? The pictures on your blog seem to indicate the tofu may be marinaded or seasoned. I think it makes sense since the added seasonings would add depth of flavor. Do you have any suggestions as to the type of seasonings or marinades to use?
Yes, the mung beans are seasoned with black or white pepper. As for the tofu, finely shopped shallots (or red onions), soy sauce, a bit of sugar, and pepper. Traditionally, fish sauce is used, but if you want to keep it vegan you can use fermented tofu sauce, but this is optional. I hope this helps! 🙂 Let me know if you make some and post some pictures!
Thank you for the suggestions and I certainly will post pictures and comments on how it turns out if I do decide to make it. It will be an interesting adventure! 🙂
Yes! 🙂
Oh! And Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
I’m so fortunate and lucky to have a Vietnamese friend who makes these every year, and a vegan one too (for me!) with just mung bean in the center. They are so good!!
Yes they are really good! Lucky you indeed! 😀