Banh Da Lon — layered tapioca-pandan cake

i. Origin & history

Banh da lon is southern Vietnamese in origin and shares its layered-steamed structure with the Indonesian kue lapis and the Thai khanom chan. Cooked mung beans bind the yellow layer and give the cake a distinctive bean perfume.

ii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 200 g cooked split mung beans, mashed
• 100 g rice flour
• 100 g tapioca starch
• 250 g sugar
• 800 ml coconut milk
• Pinch salt
• 60 ml pandan juice
• Yellow food colour (optional)

iii. Method

1. Combine rice flour, tapioca starch, sugar and salt; whisk in coconut milk to a thin smooth batter; divide in half.
2. Mix mashed mung beans into one half (the yellow layer). Add a touch of yellow colour if desired.
3. Mix pandan juice into the other half (the green layer).
4. Lightly oil a 22 cm round tin. Steam empty 5 min.
5. Pour a 5 mm layer of green; steam 5 min. Pour 5 mm yellow; steam 6 min (the mung-bean layer takes slightly longer). Alternate until you have 6-8 layers.
6. Steam the finished cake 10 more min. Cool fully (4 hours) before cutting into diamonds.

iv. Tips & common mistakes

• Use the freshest ingredients you can. The recipe relies on them.
• Read the method through first. Several steps must be ready in advance.
• Season patiently. Sweetness and salt are tuned at the end, not the start.

v. Variations

Plain banh da lon is white pandan-only. Coconut banh da lon uses thick coconut cream in alternate layers. Modern variations include taro and pumpkin layers.

vii. More from Vietnamese

• Khanom Chan — Thai layered rice cake
• Kue Lapis — Indonesian layered cake
• Seri Muka — two-layer pandan rice cake
• Sapin-Sapin — Filipino layered rice cake
• Bebinca — Goan layered coconut cake
• Klepon — Indonesian palm-sugar balls