Lunar New Year aka "Tet" or "Chinese New Year" is Feb 14 2010; The Year of the Tiger....Another chance to begin a new!... and to eat wonderful things! In the tradition of our four fold sangha, one of the special foods for the celebration are "Earth Cake/Sky Cake"..."Banh chung"
Please check out this lovely video made by our monastic brothers and sisters.
"During the New Year of 2009, we felt the need to explain the meaning of wrapping earth cakes, because practitioners that come to visit Plum Village each year during the Lunar New Year are quite surprised to see the four-fold sangha spending one whole day wrapping earth cakes and staying up the whole night to cook them. So please enjoy this video performance made by the monks and nuns of Plum Village…"
http://www.www.plumvillage.org/performance-a-skits.html
vegetarian banh chung
usually eaten at Tet (Vietnamese new year)
Ingredients
3 lbs sticky rice, uncooked, soaked 1 night and drained
3 c mung beans, raw
6T oil
banana leaves
Directions
Cook mung beans according to package instructions. After mung beans are cooked, mash until smooth, then make into 8 square patties, .75 inches thick.
Add oil to uncooked sticky rice and mix well.
On a big piece of banana leaf, put .5 cup sticky rice. Put 1 mung bean patty on top. Pour .75 cup sticky rice on top and wrap tightly in banana leaf. Tie with twine to hold leaf in place. After all 8 have been wrapped, boil submerged in water for 6 hours until cooked.
Makes 8 banh chung, each having 8 servings for a total of 64.
Number of Servings: 64
* if you go onto Youtube there are hundreds of videos of families gathering to make this treat. There are many videos showing how to wrap these delicacies, unfortunately they all show the use of animal products. Traditionally meat is used, but the Vegetarian ones are so much more yummy and better for you!
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