Last weekend we hosted a party to welcome in the Lunar New Year (Vi\u1ec7t New Year = T\u1ebft; Chinese New Year = \u65b0\u5e74)! We made b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y and they turned out beautifully. We want to share the recipe with you! You will see that the ingredients are few (things you would find in any typical Vi\u1ec7t <\/em>kitchen), the process is straightforward, and these are easy-to-make.<\/p>\n

B\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y (pronounced “ban yay,” sometimes incorrectly written as “b\u00e1nh d\u1ea7y” or even “b\u00e1nh d\u00e0y”) is a yummy and simple Vi\u1ec7t snack. It is a glutinous rice patty steamed on banana leaf, usually served sandwiched with gi\u00f2 l\u1ef1a (also known as ch\u1ea3 l\u1ef1a, which my family calls “Vietnamese ham,” probably better characterized as “Vi\u1ec7t sausage”). My mom (M\u1eb9) used to make a batch or two of b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y and a log of gi\u00f2, stick them in the fridge, and we would take them out to microwave as a snack. When we traveled through Vietnam, my grandma (Ngo\u1ea1i), my aunt (M\u00e1 B\u00e9), and the rest of my family brought these along for the road trip.<\/p>\n

Nguy\u00ean li\u1ec7u (Ingredients)<\/span>: This recipe should yield 16 patties (or 8 b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y gi\u00f2 sandwiches).<\/p>\n

\n
• 1 cup b\u1ed9t n\u1ebfp (glutinous rice flour)<\/li>\n
• 2 tbsp b\u1ed9t t\u1ebb tinh khi\u1ec7t (regular rice flour)<\/li>\n
• 1-3\/4 cup n\u01b0\u1edbc l\u1ea1nh (water)<\/li>\n
• 2 tbsp d\u1ea7u n\u1ea5u (vegetable oil)<\/li>\n
• 1\/2 tsp mu\u1ed1i (salt)<\/li>\n
• L\u00e1 chu\u1ed1i (banana leaves)<\/li>\n
• Gi\u00f2 (Vietnamese ham)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  <\/p>\n

  Combine the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, water, vegetable oil, and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix by hand or machine until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Your mixture will appear crumbly but should become a smooth consistency when squeezed into a ball. <\/p>\n

  Knead the crumbly mixture into a dough. Add additional water, a tablespoon at a time, if needed.
  \n<\/p>\n

  Your dough should be ready when it feels moist but does not stick to your fingers. Make sure that it can stretch smoothly and easily without breaking. If you do not knead enough, your b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y will not be chewy the way it should be. If you knead your dough too much, your b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y will be unappetizingly rubbery and elastic. <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  Once you have achieved the correct texture for your dough, then cover it and set aside to rest at room temperature for approximately 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

  In the meantime, defrost, clean, and dry the banana leaves. Cut into squares approximately 8cm x 8cm. Brush a small amount of vegetable oil onto the outside of the leaf, which is dark green and shiny. This will be the side that contacts the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y.
  \n<\/p>\n

  Divide your dough into 16 portions. Roll each portion into a ball and place onto a square of banana leaf. Flatten into a disc, approximately 1cm in thickness.<\/p>\n

  Prepare your steamer. I use a steamer set given to me by my mom (M\u1eb9). The bottom layer contains boiling water; the middle 1-2 layer(s) are perforated for steaming; and, of course, the top is a lid. Any steamer will do – even many rice cookers can double as a steamer!
  \n<\/p>\n

  Arrange the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y with a little room between them. They do spread but just a tiny bit.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  Place a towel over the steamer then close the lid. This is to prevent condensation dripping onto the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y. Take precautions to wrap the towel around the lid or tie it upwards to prevent contact with the burner; otherwise, this could be a fire hazard.
  \n<\/p>\n

  Steam for 3 minutes; remove the lid to release steam. Repeat for 3 more minutes; remove the lid again. Then repeat for the final 3 minutes. The total cooking time is 9-10 minutes. The opacity of the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y will change from a solid bright white to a slightly translucent but still opaque cream-white color.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  Transfer the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y onto a drying rack to cool.<\/p>\n

  That’s it – you’re done! Your b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y should be beautifully round, nicely chewy, with the very slightest hint of salt, and a hint of banana leaf (different essence than banana fruit itself). Deliciously simple.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  By the way, for our Lunar New Year party, we did not make our own gi\u00f2 l\u1ef1a. Instead we bought gi\u00f2 hu\u1ebf (a variation  of gi\u00f2), which is sole pre-steamed. We sliced it to go into our b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y sandwich. A blog post on how to make gi\u00f2 will be a future post…
  \nLeave the banana leaf on the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y as you assemble your b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y k\u1eb9p gi\u00f2 (b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y and gi\u00f2 sandwich). The leaf will also serve to keep your b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y moist and prevent your fingers from getting sticky when you handle the b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y! Peel the leaf off sections at a time as you munch.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  Here’s half of our edible spread from our Lunar New Year party. Thanks to our fantastic friends – Jenny, Evan, Caroline, Jackie, Peter – who generously helped us consume our feast and welcome in the new year. Thanks to you for learning about b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y! We would love to see and hear about how your b\u00e1nh turn out in the Comments section below. Also, please share your tips and tricks, ideas to improve our recipe by sharing in the Comments section below!
  \nHappy Lunar New Year!
  \nCh\u1ee9c m\u1eebng n\u0103m m\u1edbi!
  \n\u65b0\u5e74\u5feb\u6a02!<\/p>\n

  Until next time,
  \nKathy May and Silas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Last weekend we hosted a party to welcome in the Lunar New Year (Vi\u1ec7t New Year = T\u1ebft; Chinese New Year = \u65b0\u5e74)! We made b\u00e1nh gi\u1ea7y and they turned out beautifully. We want to share the recipe with you! You will see that the ingredients are few (things you would find in any typical Vi\u1ec7t kitchen), the process … Continue reading B\u00e1nh Gi\u1ea7y (Steamed Glutinous Rice Cakes)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":["default"],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,11,70,71,72],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_7346-1200xx.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2819,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions\/2819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}