Making Banh Tet

Banh Tet is a traditional, staple food prepared specifically for Tet. The process is painstaking, but artful, with the wrapping technique skillful, so that in the cooking process, no water and only the moisture and flavour of the banana leaves permeates the rice and bean filling.

This food is favoured because it lasts for many days after being boiled for 20 hours in a large cauldron.

At Vuon Trau, this is a fun family event, with "specialists" brought in to make the banh Tet and sweet rice flour and bean cookies. Check the slide show (upper right corner of the blog) for more pictures of Bruce and Elaine pounding the sweet honey and orange into the rice flour and best of all the smiles on the faces of our Vietnamese friends. Our fumbling attempts are the entertainment!