Banh In (Pressed Mung Bean Cake), No Added Refined Sugar
Sweets and drinksChilled DessertsVietnamSoak the beans 4 hours, leave the cakes in the mold 30 minutes
Banh in spends more time waiting than working. What makes it good is the flour shell that melts in the mouth and the smooth mung bean filling scented with pomelo flower. The difficulty is that the cakes break very easily the moment they leave the mold.
The mung beans need a full 4 hours of soaking, then steaming with a little salt and grinding very fine, because the smoother the beans the flatter the surface of the cake. Once pressed, the cakes sit in the mold for 30 minutes before coming out.
This batch weighs about 1.2kg, at roughly 224 calories per 100g.
Method
Put 350g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and water in a pot, cook over medium heat until dissolved and thickened, then turn off the heat and cool.
Stir 10ml lime juice and 30ml pomelo flower water into the syrup.
Put 500g banh in flour, a mix of glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch, in a bowl with the syrup and mix steadily until smooth.
Rinse 200g split mung beans and soak them in water for about 4 hours or overnight until soft.
Steam the beans with a little salt for aroma, then grind them very fine, since smoother beans make a better cake.
Put the ground beans in a pan with the remaining 100g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, cook over low heat and stir until thick, then turn off the heat and cool.
Spread a thin layer of flour mixture in the mold, fill it two thirds of the way, then add the mung bean filling to fill it up.
Press the mixture firmly and leave the cakes in the mold for about 30 minutes before turning them out.
Tips
A full 30 minutes in the mold lets the pressed mixture settle, since cakes taken out early fall apart.
The cakes keep in the fridge and are best served with hot tea.
Add the lime juice and pomelo flower water only once the syrup has cooled, since heat drives the aroma off.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend has a light cooling finish that shows more clearly in a chilled cake than at room temperature.
The finer the beans are ground, the flatter the surface, since gritty beans leave a pitted top.
Press the mixture down firmly, because a loose press breaks the moment the mold comes off.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.