Banh Chung Collective recipe

On behalf of the BCC, we'd like to thank everyone (over 500 of you!) who joined us over the weekend to make banh chung! It was lovely to see folks' faces and your banh chung creations. We were so moved by the stories you shared in the breakout rooms and in the chat. Your enthusiasm, joy, and conviviality contributed to making the weekend everything we hoped it would be: an opportunity to affirm and strengthen community.

For the folks who asked for the recipes for the marinated pork and mung bean-shallot paste:

Red Boat-Marinated Pork Belly

Ingredients

1 pound pork belly (center-cut preferable)

2 1/2 tablespoons Red Boat fish sauce

1 1/3 tablespoons ground black pepper

Directions

Slice the pork belly into 2 x 2 x 1/2" slices.

Toss the pork belly in fish sauce and black pepper.

Allow the pork belly to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours, up to 3 days.

 

Mung Bean-Shallot Paste

Ingredients

1/3 pound mung beans

1/4 pound shallots

1/4 cup coconut oil/butter

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

Day 1:

Soak mung beans in 1 quart water. Let soak overnight.

Day 2:

Drain the mung beans and rinse through 2 changes of water.

Transfer the mung beans to a medium pot.  Add 2 quarts of water and bring the beans to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the beans are tender, but not falling apart, about 15 minutes. Set a colander in the sink and drain the mung beans. Let cool.

Add the coconut oil/butter to a saute pan over high heat.  Add the shallots to the oil.  Stirring constantly, cook until the shallots are aromatic, about 2-4 minutes, the reduce the heat to low.  Stirring occasionally, cook until the shallots are tender and slightly caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and add the salt and black pepper. Stir to combine.

Add the drained mung beans to the pan.  With the back of a spoon, mash the mung beans and shallots until they form a paste (you may also use an immersion blender).  Transfer the paste to a bowl and set aside to cool. Cover and store in the refrigerator until needed.

If you couldn't zoom in during the weekend for one reason or another, we're including a video tutorial for wrapping banh chung. The password is mungbeansandshallots. We're working on captioning the video and we should have that available soon!

Following an 50 mins to an hour-long high-pressure cook in the Instant Pot, the banh chung emerged perfectly cooked and ready to eat.