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Banh Phu The, Vietnamese Conjugal Cakes

"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

  • 1kg kudzu powder, refined
  • 800g refined sugar
  • 200g coconut flesh, scraped in thin threads 
  • 300g green beans 
  • 50 coconut leaves 
  • 15 pineapple leave

To prepare

Filling

  • Cut green beans in halves; soak in warm water for five hours. Strain and remove skin of green beans. Rinse.
  • Steam green beans and grind into a paste.
  • Mix green bean paste with 200g sugar, then cook over a low flame and stir until the mixture loses its sticky texture.
  • Spread the mixture 3cm thick on a large tray, cool and cut into 6x6cm square pieces.

Cover

  • Wash and clean pineapple leaves and cut into 60cm strips so that only the middle remains.
  • Arrange the coconut leaves into a square or hexagonal shape to form a box roughly 25x30cm wide and place a pineapple leaf on top.
  • Dissolve the kudzu powder and remaining sugar in water. Use two and a half time as much water to the amount of powder.
  • Cook over a low flame, stirring until the mixture becomes a paste. Extinguish flame, add threads of coconut flesh and mix well.
  • Fill the coconut leaf boxes with the coconut flesh mixture and place the green bean filling in the centre.
  • 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...

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