Banh tet, sweet and savory
Bánh chưng and bánh tét to the Vietnamese Tết are like turkey and ham to the American Thanksgiving. The holiday feast just wouldn’t feel right without them. Although I have blogged about these sticky rice squares and logs before, the lunar new year has come back, and so are they. Sticky rice can be uberfilling in large quantity, and like all festive food, it’s not recommended that you feast on these dense beasts day after day, as satisfaction would turn into tiresomeness. But once a year, or maybe twice, a couple slices of banh tet sound so much more interesting than cereal, rice, even noodle soup.
Banh chung and banh tet have rather similar ingredients, especially when they’re made by Vietnamese Southerners. Both are wrapped in leaves (although slightly different kinds of leaves), and boiled for hours in water that is sometimes spiced with lemongrass. After cooking, a heavy weight is put on banh chung to drain the water, while banh tet are rolled around to perfect the cylindrical shape. I remember we used to hang pairs of banh tet in my grandfather’s kitchen, taking one down everyday during the week of Tet to whip out a nice settling meal with thịt kho trứng (pork and egg stew), dưa giá (pickled bean sprout), and spring rolls. There are the savory kind with meat and mung bean paste, and the vegan kind for those who want to practice self-control on the first day of Tet. In Houston, my mom usually gets the savory kind from Giò Chả Đức Hương, where we also get our cha lua supply, and the vegan kind from Linh Son pagoda. I branched out this year and tried a meaty log from Huong Lan Sandwiches 4 in Milpitas.
Their banh tet measures about 7 inches long, making eight thick nice slices, each has a chunk of fatty pork in the middle, pink and spiced with pepper. The sticky rice coat here gave its leaf wrapping a bit insecure sliminess when we first unraveled, but all was well. The banh tet smelled great, the sticky rice has a tight but soft texture. The seasoned bean paste is just salty enough to intrigue. In some way, banh tet is better than banh chung because every bite guarantees a bit of everything. No piece will miss the meat completely and no bite will get all the meat, the stuffing is even throughout the whole banh. It was honestly good by itself without condiments. Huong Lan Sandwiches had not failed me.
And neither did Thao Tien. When we got there last week in our quail quest, Thao Tien’s employees were busy running a small table pyramidized with banh chung and banh tet. They locate nicely in front of the Grand Century mall, passed by hundreds of people Tet shopping that day. Seeing the sale went like hot cakes (the sticky rice cakes were actually still warm), we were too eager to snatch one home that we forgot to check the tiny white sticker on the side. Surprise, we had grabbed a bánh tét chuối (banana banh tet).
It’s solely vegan. The sticky rice coat is made interesting with dots of black beans on shiny green background. The core is sweet, mushy banana in a reddish purple hue. This is just the usual ivory banana that always ripe too soon, but somehow slow cooking in a compact block of sticky rice wrapped by banana leaves makes the fruit change color. Chemical reactions? It still tastes sweet, with a hint of bitter (for lack of a better word) like a guava skin. And it looks beautiful to me.
The banana banh tet also goes well with my rotisserie chicken from Safeway, minus the guilt of defeating the whole vegan purpose thing. Thao Tien’s logs are also shamelessly long, almost two times bigger than Huong Lan’s. I will be eating banh tet every day for the rest of the week. Happy Tết to bánh tét and me!
Address: Hương Lan Sandwiches 4
41 Serra Way, Ste. 108
Milpitas, CA 95035
1 bánh tét with meat: $6
Thảo Tiên restaurant
Grand Century Mall
1111 Story Road #1080
San Jose, CA 95122
1 vegan banana bánh tét: $10
Its like you read my thoughts! You appear to grasp a lot about this, such as you wrote the guide in it or something. I believe that you just can do with some p.c. to drive the message house a bit, however instead of that, that is great blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.
1Oh my goodness! a tremendous article dude. Thanks Nevertheless I’m experiencing difficulty with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone getting similar rss drawback? Anyone who knows kindly respond. Thnkx
2Would you be concerned about exchanging links?
3Real great information can be found on blog. “There used to be a real me, but I had it surgically removed.” by Peter Sellers.
4You actually make it seem really easy along with your presentation but I in finding this matter to be really something that I believe I might by no means understand. It sort of feels too complicated and very huge for me. I am having a look forward on your next post, I’ll try to get the hold of it!
5I’ll right away seize your rss as I can not to find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please let me recognize in order that I may subscribe. Thanks.
6I am happy that I detected this weblog, exactly the right information that I was looking for! .
7This actually answered my downside, thanks!
8Thank you for another magnificent article. Where else could anybody get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such info.
9I always was concerned in this topic and stock still am, thanks for posting.
10I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
11We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable information to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our whole community will be grateful to you.
12I truly enjoy looking at on this web site, it holds wonderful blog posts.
13There is apparently a lot to identify about this. I believe you made some good points in features also.
14Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital to assert that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.
15Excellent post. I was checking constantly this blog and I am impressed! Extremely useful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info a lot. I was seeking this particular information for a long time. Thank you and good luck.
16Thank you for sharing with us, I believe this website genuinely stands out :D.
17Hello! I simply wish to give an enormous thumbs up for the great info you have right here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for extra soon.
18Perfect piece of work you have done, this website is really cool with great information.
19I really like looking through and I think this website got some really utilitarian stuff on it! .
20Hello! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I truly enjoy reading through your articles. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thank you!
21Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your site. You have some really good articles and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please send me an email if interested. Kudos!
22excellent post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector don’t notice this. You should continue your writing. I’m confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
23I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the accidental misinformation that’s at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
24Hi my loved one! I want to say that this article is amazing, great written and come with almost all vital infos. I would like to look extra posts like this .
25I was just looking for this information for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your web site. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Usually the top websites are full of garbage.
26Outstanding post, I conceive website owners should acquire a lot from this site its real user pleasant.
27Only wanna remark on few general things, The website design is perfect, the subject matter is rattling good : D.
28You made some decent points there. I looked on the internet for the difficulty and located most individuals will go together with along with your website.
29You are a very intelligent person!
30I’ve recently started a web site, the info you offer on this web site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work.
31Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and appearance. I must say you’ve done a fantastic job with this. Additionally, the blog loads very quick for me on Chrome. Outstanding Blog!
32I’ve been browsing on-line more than 3 hours as of late, but I never found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It is pretty price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content as you did, the web shall be much more useful than ever before. “Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates them.” by Saint Thomas Aquinas.
33Thanks for helping out, excellent info. “A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.” by Napoleon Bonaparte.
34Thank you for sharing excellent informations. Your site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this blog. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my friend, ROCK! I found simply the information I already searched everywhere and just couldn’t come across. What a perfect web site.
35Great post, I believe people should learn a lot from this weblog its real user pleasant.
36I always was interested in this subject and still am, appreciate it for putting up.
37Absolutely indited content, Really enjoyed reading through.
38This is very attention-grabbing, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and stay up for searching for more of your great post. Also, I’ve shared your site in my social networks!
39Oh my goodness! an amazing article dude. Thank you Nevertheless I’m experiencing subject with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting equivalent rss problem? Anybody who is aware of kindly respond. Thnkx
40There is evidently a bundle to identify about this. I assume you made various good points in features also.
41Lovely website! I am loving it!! Will be back later to read some more. I am taking your feeds also.
42Hey there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good web hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!
43Awsome post and straight to the point. I am not sure if this is really the best place to ask but do you folks have any thoughts on where to employ some professional writers? Thank you 🙂
44Hello There. I discovered your weblog the usage of msn. That is an extremely smartly written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and return to learn more of your helpful information. Thank you for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.
45Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such excellent information being shared freely out there.
46I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be a lot more useful than ever before.
47An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
48Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to find out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
49I like this blog its a master peace ! Glad I discovered this on google .
50