“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
~Albert Einstein~
Hectic, fast-paced, or confusing, just keep your life moving!
Banh duc la dua or pandan rice cake is made using a combination of rice flour, tapioca flour, and mung bean starch. The flour mixture is made by whisking rice flour and tapioca starch in boiling water to get a half cook paste. Then the mixture is steamed until thoroughly cooked. Traditional rice cakes consist of rice flour, mung bean starch and tapioca starch. In this recipe, I substitute mung bean starch with corn starch because it’s not easy to find mung bean starch at Asian markets. I also use a shortcut version in making the flour mixture by using the boiling method.
This sticky, chewy dessert is infused with coconut milk flavors and served over ginger syrup. This nutty sweet dessert is popular in Vietnam and a favorite for street food markets.
You might think they are just simple rice cakes at first but trust me, they’re more than that. Perfectly blended, the aromatic cake is flavorful, sweet, nutty and coconut-ty.
Rice cakes are definitely fond memories from childhood!
Cheers to a busy life, cheers to us and cheers since there’s finally sunshine outside. Enjoy friends!
Pandan Rice Cakes (Banh Duc La Dua)
These chewy, nutty, flavorful pandan rice cakes is most popular street snacks in Vietnam. Serve over ginger syrup and coconut sauce.
Ingredients
For the green layer:
- 1 bunch pandan leaves (about 7oz)
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1 1/4 cup pandan water (divided)
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 drop teaspoon pandan extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the white layer:
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup coconut milk see notes
For the Ginger Syrup:
- 0.7 oz palm sugar can be substitute with brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cup water
- a small thumb size ginger
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoons water
For the coconut sauce:
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 pandan leaves (optional)
- toasted sesame seeds for toppings
Instructions
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To prepare the pandan water: Combine 2 cups water with 7 oz of chopped pandan leaves in a blender. Blend until smooth. Strain through. You'll get about 1 1/2 cup of pandan water.
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To make the green layer: In a small bowl, combine corn starch, rice flour, tapioca starch and 1/2 cup of pandan water. Mix until smooth.
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In a small sauce pan, place the remaining 1 cup of pandan water. Bring it to boil. When it starts boiling, add in the flour mixture and remove from heat immediately. Use a whisk and keep stiring until you get a thick paste, about 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside.
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To make the white layer: Repeat the same step to get the white paste. In a small bowl, combine corn starch, water, rice flour, tapioca starch. Mix until smooth.
Bring 1 cup of coconut milk to boil. When it starts boil, remove from heat and add in the flour mixture. Keep stiring until you get a thick paste, about 3 to 5 minutes.
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To arrange the cake: Grease a 9" cake pan with some vegetable oil. Pour the green into the mold, then the white layer. Use a spatula to flatten it out.
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Steam the cake for 20 minutes.
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To make the ginger syrup - In a small sauce pan over medium high heat, combine water, palm sugar, ginger. When the sugar are all melter, turn the heat to low. In a separate bowl, whisk tapioca starch with 2 tablespoons of water until dissolve. Add mixture to sugar syrup, cook for a minute until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
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To make the coconut sauce - In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine coconut milk, salt, pandan leaves and water. Bring it to a boil. Whisk tapioca starch and water in a small bowl until smooth and add to the coconut mixture. Let it simmer for a few minutes until sauce thickens.
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Chill the cakes until set and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably over night.
To serve: Cut the cakes into cubes, drizzles some ginger syrup, some of the coconut sauce and tops with toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
A 13.5 oz can of coconut milk is used in this recipe. I use 1 cup for the white layer and the remaining (about 1/2 cup) for the coconut sauce.
If you can't locate pandan leaves, you can use more of pandan extract. See picture #3 above. I use 3 drops of pandan extract for the darker green cakes and did not use any pandan leaves at all.
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