Che Bap: Vietnamese Corn Rice Pudding

Although pho and banh mi have both garnered somewhat mainstream success with Western cultures and palates and certain Vietnamese influences can be found in some of the best restaurants in the world (I recently had that chao tom and it was amazing), che has undeservedly gone under the radar.

The variety of che is fairly diverse, but a couple common themes shared by some of the more popular ches are the use of sweet sticky rice and a sweet and salty coconut milk sauce.  With che thai being my all time favorite che, che bap is definitely in my top 5.  As corn season recently drew to an end, I thought I'd take advantage of the sweet corn while it lasted and make some che bap.

Instead of letting the harvested ears go to waste, I simmered them in water and used that water to cook the rice.  This added another layer of corn flavor to the che.  The resulting che pretty much tasted like sweet rice with corn and coconut milk: clean and straightforward. Corn and coconut seem to have a natural affinity for each other, and I'm not sure if any other cuisines utilize this combination.  Chef Curtis Duffy of Avenues recently created a dish of sweet corn soup with coconut, and I can't help but wonder if che bap served as an inspiration for it.
Corn and coconut's affinity for each other lead me to experiment with making uchepos topped with Vietnamese coconut milk sauce.  Aside from the lack of sweet rice, they turned out tasting a lot like che bap.  The next time I make uchepos, I’ll stuff them with young coconut meat rather than topping them with coconut milk sauce as I found the sauce to be a little too rich and heavy for the delicate uchepos.
   
Coconut milk sauce:

1. 1 cup coconut milk + 1 Tbps sugar + salt to taste + medium heat => low simmer
2. 1 Tbsp water + 1 Tbsp cornstarch (slurry) => stir until sauce thickens

Che bap:

1. 3 cups corn-infused water + high heat => boil
2. 1/4 cup rinsed sweet rice
3. 5 minutes => stir occasionally
4. 1/3 cup coconut milk + 5 Tbsp sugar + 1/2 tsp salt => lower to simmer
5. 450 grams corn kernels (3-5 ears)
6. 5 minutes
7. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract => serve warm or cold topped with coconut milk sauce

Banh Khoai Mi Nuong: Vietnamese Yuca Cake

I’ve noticed that I’ve been cooking with banana leaves more than usual recently.  Between the tamales, the banana sticky rice, and now the banh khoai mi nuong (baked Vietnamese yuca/cassava cake), I’ve finally depleted the stockpile of banana leaves that was sitting in my freezer.

Vietnamese yuca cake is by far one of my favorite sweet banhs of all time.  For the longest time, I had no idea this banh was made from yuca.  I always thought it was made primarily from mung beans due to it’s yellow color and sometimes grainy texture.  In actuality, I wasn’t too far off because some renditions of the banh do call for some mung beans, but the main ingredient is of course yuca.  Having been exposed to more foods made from tapioca starch and yuca over the years, I can safely say that the banh’s slightly chewy texture is distinctly that of yuca.

However, my favorite thing about this banh is the deep, rich coconut flavor that you get from it, as there is nothing to really get in its way.  In fact, the yuca does wonders to highlight the coconut milk and vice versa: the coconut milk makes the yuca shine.

Grating and squeezing the moisture out of the yuca was interesting.  After letting the expelled moisture sit in a bowl for a while, I noticed that the yuca’s pasty starch that was squeezed out settled to the bottom of bowl.  I’d made tapioca starch!  At least I’m pretty sure I did.

 

The recipe I followed was cobbled together from a couple recipes and my own personal taste and intuition:

• Grate (or perhaps puree?) 2 lbs of yuca and squeeze moisture out
• Combine yuca with 14 oz sweetened condensed milk, ~7 oz coconut milk, and 2 egg yolks
• Salt to taste in order to bring out the coconut flavor and balance the sweetness
• Optionally line pan with buttered banana leaves
• Fill pan with yuca mixture
• Bake at 350 F for 1 to 1.5 hours, until golden brown

 

I’m actually on the fence about the grating method.  Whenever I buy this banh from a bakery or a grocery store, it seems like the yuca has been pureed, which gives the cake a smoother texture on the top.  I prefer the smoother texture because sometimes the browned tips from the grated yuca can add an unpleasant hard texture to the banh.  Moreover, I sometimes find inedible, woody pieces of grated yuca in the banh.  Typically, I’m all for a mingling of textures, but not in this case.  The inside, though, comes out nice and yuca-y in texture with a slight chew and no signs of stringy, grated pieces of yuca aside from the woody pieces every now and then.

Banh Tet Chuoi: Vietnamese Sticky Rice with Banana

Out of all the different iterations of sticky rice wrapped in some type of leaf, whether it’s lotus leaf or banana leaf, perhaps my favorite sweet version is Vietnamese sticky rice with banana wrapped in banana leaf.  The sweetness of the sticky rice plays well with the coconut milk that it is cooked in.  This infusion of coconut flavor into the rice combined with banana creates a great flavor profile that can be found in a few other types of banh and che: most notably for me is banh chuoi nuong (Vietnamese banana bread).

Another thing that I love about banana sticky rice is the fragrance.  The banana leaves give off a great leafy aroma and the sticky rice is fairly fragrant, almost akin to basmati rice.  Not only do the leaves give off a grant fragrance, but their leafiness is also imbued into the rice itself. 

To prepare the banana sticky rice, the rice must be soaked for at least a couple hours (overnight even) before cooking.  I’m not really sure why it needs to be soaked, but if I had to take a guess it’s probably because the rice is steamed rather than boiled.  Soaking the rice before steaming may give the rice the proper moisture it needs to soften when cooked.