Banh Bo Bong and Banh Thuan often get confused due to their similar appearances. Here's a simple guide to distinguish between these traditional Vietnamese cakes:
- Banh Bo Bong (Steamed Rice Cake): Made with rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, and yeast (or baking powder), often with food coloring. It has a chewy texture, a pronounced bloom, and a distinct coconut aroma.
- Steamed Banh Thuan: Uses wheat flour (or tapioca starch), eggs, sugar, and food coloring. It's light, airy, has an eggy aroma, and typically blooms evenly into a neat flower shape.
- Baked Banh Thuan: Made with chicken eggs, sugar, arrowroot flour, and vanilla. It has a slightly crispy crust and a unique aroma from the arrowroot flour and eggs.
Now, let's dive into making delicious Steamed Pandan Banh Bo Bong!
Ingredients for Steamed Pandan Banh Bo Bong
- 600g Rice Flour
- 600g White Sugar
- 600ml Water
- 3 pieces of Vietnamese Rice Wine Yeast (men cơm rượu)
- 1 tube Vanilla Extract
- Pandan Leaf Extract (nước cốt lá dứa)
Instructions for Making Steamed Pandan Banh Bo Bong
Step 1: Prepare the Yeast Starter (Bột Cái)
- Finely grind the 3 pieces of Vietnamese rice wine yeast. Mix them thoroughly with 100g of rice flour.
- Gradually add about 200ml of warm water, kneading the mixture until it's very smooth, pliable, and slightly runny.
- Cover the bowl tightly and let it ferment in a warm place or under sunlight for about 4–6 hours until the starter has expanded. The fermentation time may vary depending on ambient temperature.
Step 2: Second Kneading and Fermentation
- Place the remaining 500g of rice flour into a large bowl. Add the fermented yeast starter to it.
- Pour in another 300ml of warm water and knead thoroughly until the dough is soft and smooth.
- Cover the bowl tightly again and let the dough ferment for a second time, for about another 4 hours, until it has risen significantly.
Step 3: Prepare Sugar Syrup and Final Dough Mixture
- In a pot, combine 600g of sugar with 1 liter of warm water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let the sugar syrup cool until it's just lukewarm.
- Pour the lukewarm sugar syrup into the fermented dough. Knead vigorously to ensure the sugar syrup is fully incorporated into the dough.
- At this stage, you can add pandan leaf extract to give the cake its characteristic green color and aromatic fragrance.
- Continue to ferment the dough for a third time, for approximately 6 hours, until the surface of the dough is bubbly and porous.
Step 4: Steaming the Banh Bo Bong
- Place a steamer pot on the stove, add water, and bring it to a rolling boil. While the water is heating, place your Banh Bo Bong molds or small heatproof bowls into the steamer to preheat them thoroughly.
- Carefully remove the hot molds from the steamer. Pour the fermented dough into each mold.
- Place the filled molds back into the steamer and steam until the cakes are cooked through.
- To check for doneness, insert a small bamboo skewer into a cake. If no wet batter sticks to the skewer, the cake is cooked.
- Mix 1 tube of vanilla extract with 5ml of filtered water. Once the cakes are cooked, dip a bamboo skewer into the vanilla water and gently pry the cakes out of their molds.
We wish you success with this Steamed Pandan Banh Bo Bong recipe!
Xin chào, cô chủ Bếp Bánh tên là Phương Anh, sống tại Hà Nội. Mọi người thường gọi là Bếp. Các công thức làm bánh là niềm đam mê của Bếp, mong muốn chia sẻ thật nhiều cách làm bánh cho mọi người để bất cứ ai cũng có thể tự làm bánh được và Bếp Bánh ra đời!. 
