"Banh Phu The" is a Vietnamese sweet with a jelly-like texture made of tapioca flour, pandan, mung bean paste, sugar, sesame seeds and coconut milk. It is very unique with a leaf covering that looks like a tiny square box, made from coconut leaves. The reason it is called Banh "Phu The" is because of how it is wrapped: a box on the top fits perfectly with the box on the bottom. If you would like ton know how to make this special cake, you can visit Dinh Bang - a famous Vietnamese village in Bac Ninh Province, then you can view the method to prepare this husband and wife cake, as follows:
Ingredients
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1kg kudzu powder, refined
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800g refined sugar
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200g coconut flesh, scraped in thin threads
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300g green beans
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50 coconut leaves
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15 pineapple leave
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To prepare
Filling
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Cut green beans in halves; soak in warm water for five hours. Strain and remove skin of green beans. Rinse.
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Steam green beans and grind into a paste.
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Mix green bean paste with 200g sugar, then cook over a low flame and stir until the mixture loses its sticky texture.
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Spread the mixture 3cm thick on a large tray, cool and cut into 6x6cm square pieces.
Cover
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Wash and clean pineapple leaves and cut into 60cm strips so that only the middle remains.
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Arrange the coconut leaves into a square or hexagonal shape to form a box roughly 25x30cm wide and place a pineapple leaf on top.
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Dissolve the kudzu powder and remaining sugar in water. Use two and a half time as much water to the amount of powder.
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Cook over a low flame, stirring until the mixture becomes a paste. Extinguish flame, add threads of coconut flesh and mix well.
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Fill the coconut leaf boxes with the coconut flesh mixture and place the green bean filling in the centre.
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Put the boxes in the steamer and cook for 20 minutes, until the cake becomes clear.
"Banh Phu The" is a lot more interesting in texture and flavor. In the real one, the cake has it green color and flavor by being steamed inside its box...