To prepare for Tet, the northern people often make Banh Chung (Chung Cake) while the southern people prepare Banh Tet (Tet Cake) as a special traditional dish to offer their ancestors and express their desire for a good life in the New Year.

To make Banh Tet which has a thick, log-like cylindrical shape, it needs the ingredients of banana leaves, glutinous rice, green beans, pork and bamboo strings which must be carefully prepared. Banana leaves must be dried or put into boiling water for some minutes to help the leaves become soft. Glutinous rice is cleaned and soaked in water with a dash of salt for several hours. Clean and cut the pork into match box shaped pieces and mix with a dash of seasoning. Clean the green beans then crush them or steam them until well done.

Spread a banana leaf on a flat tray and layer glutinous rice, steamed green beans and pork respectively. Roll the ingredients into a cylindrical shaped cake which is tightened with bamboo strings. Bring the cakes to a boil and cook for 6-8 hours. While cooking, it is necessary to add water into the pot that helps make the cakes delicious. 

Preparing banana leaves to make Banh Tet. Making pineapple leaf juice. Mixing glutinous rice with pineapple leaf juice. Wrapping the cakes.  Weighing ingredients to make Banh Tet. Carefully wrapping the cake.  Cylinder shaped cakes.  Banh Tet is cooked for some hours.   Cooked Banh Tet . Delicious slices of Banh Tet.

Banh Tet has now become popular and each locality has its own recipe with different ingredients, such as Banh Tet made from glutinous rice with peanuts (Binh Duong, Tay Ninh), Banh Tet with cashew nut stuffing (Dong Nai) and Banh Tet made from green rice flakes (Soc Trang).

It is best to serve Banh Tet with salad or pickled onions.

Story: Son Nghia - Photos: Kha Phai

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