Vietnamese "Banh Chay" - Japanese Tofu Dango style

On March 3rd every year (Lunar Calendar though), we have the Cold Food festival in Vietnam. And of course, we make yummy treat out of rice. This year I’m not in Vietnam, however, I still want to keep this very cool practice of eating cold sweet dumplings. We call it “bánh trôi”, caramelized sugar cube stuffed dumplings, which means “floating piece”, because when it’s cooked well, it floats on the water; and “bánh chay”, the one with green bean paste inside.

Normally in Vietnam, my family eats “bánh trôi” but I couldn’t really find the caramelized sugar cube anywhere around my area so I did “bánh chay” instead.

What we need:

This is the package of Peeled Split Mung. Usually when you buy green bean, they would have the green peel outside, which take longer time to prepare, so I choose this one instead, I can’t really see the difference though.

Rice flour. Any kind of rice flour would work, as far as I know.

Soft tofu. Originally, in Vietnam we don't use tofu, but I am making these dumpling based on the Japanese tofu dango so here it is.

And some other things like sugar, sesame and some mixed nuts!

Firstly, I need to make the green bean paste stuffing.

Put the amount you like in a bowl. Here I use 2 cups. However, the paste can be saved in a long time, you can just go ahead and use the whole bag.

Soak the mung water for 2-3 hours.

Then dump them in a pot. Start with medium heat.

When the water starts boiling, put it on low heat and steam for half an hour.

Until they're soften.

Then mash them real hard!

They become paste!

Keep them on the burner, add sugar and mix them well. Personally, I like to dissolve the sugar first and then add it in the paste.

Add as much as you like. I don’t really like sweet so I add really little sugar but you definitely need more.

Turn off the burner; leave the paste out to cool. Put them in a container and keep them in the fridge.

Now, we prepare the dough.

4oz of soft tofu

About 2 cup of rice flour, but divide them into 4 half cups.

Put the tofu in a deep bowl and add some of the flour.

Mix them well.

Add more flour until you find it firm enough. (No runny tofu+flour combination when you pinch a piece up)

Now, it's time to take the green bean paste out of the fridge and get ready to make the dumpling!

Take a full spoon of the dough, flat it in your hand like this.

Take a moderate amount of green paste and put it in the middle. I think it tastes better with A LOT of green bean.

This is not much...

Pull the dough around the bean.

And just roll it into a ball!

Make a whole plate of it!Throw the ball in a plate of flour if it get sticky!

Now prepare to cook them and finish.

Prepare a pot of water and boil it.

When it's boiling, throw the rice balls in.

At first you will notice they sink. When they're done, they will start floating! *Amazing right?!*

Then you just take them out and put them on a plate.

Meanwhile, we can start to make the topping.

Prepare sesame and crush them hard! Ground them well!

Add sugar! Mixed it!

And just roll the cooked rice ball in!

Pretty!?

I figure I'd need something different! So I used some mixed nuts for the topping this time.

Embarrassing, I used ice cream spoon to smash them... Actually I did more than just this, and I realized the green color of pistachio was really pretty on the rice ball so I added more of it.

Just sprinkle the mix on top and: Complete!!! :D:D:D

Stick them them the fridge over night, taste better when they're cold. Cold Food festival right?

Mừng lễ Hàn Thực! ^^