Monday, October 13, 2008

Bánh Chuối Hấp với Nước Cốt Dừa - Vietnamese Steam Banana Cake with Coconut Milk

What do you do with left over bananas? There are many ways to get rid of bananas. You can make banana muffins, smoothies, banana breads, banana ice cream and the list can go on and on.

One of my favorite Vietnamese snacks is steam banana cake with coconut milk, Bánh Chuối Hấp với Nước Cốt Dừa . I have made this snack in the past. However, I hate the idea of putting each layer of banana on top of each others while steaming it. It's a lot of work. Therefore, I don't make it as often as I should.

Recently, I found a much simpler recipe by Tamnhualt from VietFun Forum. Her recipe is so fantastic. Not only it easy, fast, yet; it tastes great. I tried it today, and it was so good that you would not believe. Check it out.




After you mixed banana, tapioca flour, sugar, salt, and a few drops of yellow colors together, the texture will look like below.



Here is a closer look.


Steam it for at least 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, let it cool completely. Then take one piece and cut into smaller pieces. Generously pour in a sweet and salty coconut milk and sprinkled with roasted peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.


Ingredients:
-Steam banana
peel the 4 bananas
Add 1/2 tsp of salt
Add 1/3 cup of sugar (you can add more sugar if you like it more sweet.)
Let it sit for a few minutes so the bananas will be come soft and easy to mix with flour.
Add 1 cup of tapioca flour
Mix well
Add 4 drop of yellow food color

-Coconut milk:
1/2 can of coconut milk
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of tapioca flour
1 1/2 tsp of sugar
2 TBS of tapioca pearl (optional)

-Garnish
toasted sesame seeds
roasted peanuts

Method:
-Mix all the steam banana ingredients together.
-spray your pan/mould with some oil so it will be easy to come off
-pour in the banana mixture
-steam for 45 minutes
-let it cool completely

Presentation:
-cut steamed banana cake into smaller pieces.
-pour coconut milk over
-garnish with roasted peanut and sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you add any water or coconut milk to mix all the steam banana ingredients?

Zoe said...

no you don't. The coconut milk is to add on to the banana dessert once it's steamed.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! I will try your recipe this weekend. I love this steam banana cake. Yours looks very delicious. I'm sure it tastes very good.

Anonymous said...

Tried your easy to make recipe today. It taste wonderful! Thank you for putting it online.
I did add some coconutmilk to mix the bananas, if else the mix was too dry. And it worked out very well!

Zoe said...

I am glad you like the recipe. If you think the mixture is too dry, then you can always add some liquid like coconut or water. In the meantime, enjoy eating :-)

-Zoe

Anonymous said...

Hi Zoe,

I want to know what kind of bananas do you use to make this? Do you use chuoi gia (american banana), VN chuoi su or chuoi me (plaintains)? I have tried chuoi gia before and the bananas don't stick to the bot. Is there any method to make it stick together as chuoi gia is too wet when steam? Thank you.

Issy

Anonymous said...

Hi Zoe,

Your photo for Banh Chuoi Hap looks liquidly but I don't see any water as the ingredient. You said to mix tapioca flour, salt, sugar and bananas and if I do it won't be anything as in your photo.

Anonymous said...

I made this on Tuesday and it is delicious. Like many others who had asked you before about how come there is no liquid when mixing the bananas and I found out the secret way to get liquid stage. You have to mix salt and sugar with the sliced bananas first. Once you will see it becomes runny/liquidly, then you add the flour in to mix. I hope this help. Also, I used the american bananas to make this.

Issy

Zoe said...

Issy,
I used different types of bananas that you described above, and they all work. I never added any sugar because I don't like it too sweet. Usually, I made with ripe bananas and they are very sweet to begin with. Therefore, no sugar is needed. However, if you like sweet you can always add more sugar. It's one great thing about cooking at home, you can add or subtract whichever ingredients you like. It's great to experiment. As far as getting the liquid texture, I guess you can use sugar or salt or add coconut milk or water. For me, I never have to add since ripe banana are very soft. After I mixed them with all the ingredients, it automatically gets me to the liquid stage.

Good Luck,
-Zoe

Anonymous said...

it have been a long time since I see this food again , perhapp since I come to America , it had bring back a lot memory about my grandmorther in Viet-nam, she no longer with us .Thanks for share the information how to prepair this dish .

Riki said...

Hi Zoe,
You said you tried different bananas, but do you have a preference? Have you used plaintains before? I tried the recipe today. Perhaps my bananas(plaintains) weren't riped enough because I didn't get enough liquid even though I've added a few spoons of coconut milk into the mixture. The cake therefore turned out a bit hard. I will definitely try it again and will double the recipe and add about 1/2 cup of coconut milk. I'll let you know how it turns out. I love the cake anyway.

Zoe said...

Riki,
I don't have a preference. I use what I have available. Why don't you try different types and see which type you like better, and stick with it. If the cake is hard, add water or coconut milk. Good Luck!

Zoe

Riki said...

I made the cake again today. Used 2 large ripe Mexican bananas and added about 4 spoons of water. Cake turned out nicely. I guess Mexican bananas don't get ripe and soft enough to produce enough liquid, so I'd strongly recommend adding water to the mixture.

Since I'm in a mood of baking Viet's desert, I want to try making Banh Gan Nuong and Banh Bo Nuong next.

Kim

Viet woman said...

EXCELLENT! I made it twice. Tks TV.
FYI for anybody wonders about adding water/nut juice to the flour: I didnt add anything to the flour, mix the flour directly to the banana sugar mixture because when you add sugar to the banana, give it a couple shakes and let it sit for a few minutes, you'll see some juicey.
Love love this. It is my keeper

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting this! Extremely easy! But I added a cup of coconut cream to thin it out since it was quite dry.
And instead of steam it, I covered it up and cooked it in the microwave!
Faster and less mess to clean up!

Anonymous said...

Is tapioca flour the same as tapioca STARCH (bot nang )? Also, can u steam this using a rice cooker? Thanks. Looks delicious, and I hope to make it soon after ur response. :)

Zoe said...

yes tapioca flour is bo^.t na(ng. I never steam it in the rice cooker before, but you can try.

PTrann's Kitchen said...

Hey Truc Vy , thanks for sharing the recipe . I make it once every month,and it turn out great . Have a good day

TrucVy said...

Thank you PTrann. Glad the recipe turned out great for you. :-)