Trang’s Sticky Rice and Banana Cakes Recipe

By: RunAwayRice

Trang is a recipe developer, home cook, food stylist, and blogger with a passion for healthy eating and simple cooking. She takes traditional Vietnamese dishes and gives them a modern twist!

This Sticky Rice and Banana Cakes (Banh Tet Chuoi) recipe makes a wonderful sweet treat for Lunar New Year / Tet. Sweet ripened bananas are encased in a layer of sticky rice and black beans and then wrapped in banana leaves. The results are a deliciously, glutinous sweet cake with an intriguing pop of color and heavenly aroma. Something magical happens to the bananas during the cooking process and they turn a beautiful shade of pinkish red. If you’re not prepared for it, the rosy color may surprise you but that’s the intended result and a mark of success. I hope you give this fun recipe a try. It’s a quintessential recipe for enjoying Lunar New Year and a treat your family and friends will love!

Ingredients

Cake
2 1/2 cups long-grain glutinous/sweet rice
8 ripe Thai bananas
1 Tbsp rum
2 Tbsp sugar, divided
2 lbs banana leaves, cleaned
3 Tbsp canned black beans
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt

Other Materials
ruler
12-inch string used as a temporary tie
8 (5 feet) lengths of cooking string or twine
aluminum foil
plastic wrap