Banh Ong La Dua (Steamed Pandan Rice Cakes) Recipe
Sweets and drinksSteamed CakesVietnamabout 35 minutes
These come out of the mold bright green, light and full of grated coconut. The tricky part is that the rice flour clumps easily, and a heavy hand packing the mold gives a dense cake.
Once mixed, the flour goes through a sieve into a second bowl, pressed gently so it falls through, and it is only nudged into the mold with a chopstick rather than packed. The mold needs to be hot enough to give off a little steam before the flour goes in.
This batch weighs about 491g, at roughly 198 calories per 100g. They are at their best eaten hot on the spot.
Method
Wash the pandan leaves, cut them into short pieces and blend them with 100 to 120ml water, then strain through a sieve or squeeze through a clean cloth to get about 100ml of strong pandan extract.
Put 200g rice flour in a bowl, add 90g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon thick coconut milk, and mix well.
Pour the pandan extract in slowly, rubbing the flour between your fingers as you go so it takes up the liquid gradually without clumping, until the mixture is even and pliable.
Sieve the mixture into a second bowl, pressing it through gently with a spoon so the cakes turn out fine and light.
Add 50g grated coconut to the sieved flour and mix again.
Heat the tube mold until it gives off a little steam. Set the funnel over each hole, add the flour and nudge it in with a small chopstick to fill the mold, without packing it tight.
Cover and steam for 3 to 5 minutes. Plenty of rising steam means the cakes are done. Pull out the center pin, lift the cakes onto a banana leaf and carry on until the mixture is used up.
Tips
The mixture should feel just moist enough to hold together in your hand while staying loose.
They taste best hot from the steamer, and an extra scattering of grated coconut adds more fragrance.
Squeeze the pandan leaves for a really concentrated juice, since a weak one leaves the cakes pale and the mixture wet.
Sieving the mixture into a second bowl is what makes the cakes light, so do not skip it.
Do not pack the mixture too tightly into the mold, or the cake turns dense.
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The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.