Bánh lá

A plate of cooked bánh tẻ, wrapped with Phrynium placentarium leaves, before being unwrapped for eating
Type	Bánh or dumpling
Place of origin	Vietnam
Region or state	Southeast Asia
Associated cuisine	Vietnam
Main ingredients	Rice

Bánh lá (/bǎɲ lǎ/), literally meaning "leaf cake", is a category of bánh, or Vietnamese cakes, that consist of a parcel of a variety of rice stuffed with some fillings and wrapped in a leaf or leaves.

Varieties[edit]

• Bánh bột lọc – cassava cake packed with shrimp^[1]
• Bánh chưng – made from glutinous rice, mung beans, pork^[2]
• Bánh dừa – glutinous rice mixed with black bean paste cooked in coconut juice, wrapped in coconut leaf. The filling can be mung bean stir-fried in coconut juice or banana.
• Bánh gai – made from the leaves of the gai tree (Boehmeria nivea) dried, boiled, ground into small pieces, then mixed with glutinous rice, wrapped in banana leaf. The filling is made from a mixture of coconut, mung bean, peanuts, winter melon, sesames, and lotus seeds.
• Bánh giầy – white, flat, round glutinous rice cake with tough, chewy texture filled with mung bean or served with Vietnamese sausage (giò lụa)
• Bánh giò – pyramid-shaped rice dough dumplings filled with pork, shallot, and wood ear mushroom wrapped in banana leaf^[3]
• Bánh ít
  • Bánh ít lá gai – triangular dumpling wrapped in ramie leaf, similar to Chinese zongzi
  • Bánh ít tro – used in the Dragon Boat Festival (Vietnamese: Tết Đoan Ngọ).
• Bánh khoái
• Bánh nậm – flat rice-flour dumpling from Hue, wrapped in a banana leaf
• Bánh nếp
• Bánh phu thê – literally "husband and wife cake"; a sweet cake made of rice or tapioca flour and gelatin, filled with mung bean paste; also spelled bánh xu xê)
• Bánh tẻ
• Bánh tét
• Bánh tro and bánh ú used in the Dragon Boat Festival (Vietnamese: Tết Đoan Ngọ).

References[edit]