Banh da lon or Pig skin cake is a popular food in Hoi An Vietnam. It’s aka Steamed layer cake or Green and Yellow cake. It’s simply made with rice flour, tapioca flour, coconut milk, panda leaf and mung bean and all steamed. This traditional cake has a chewy and sweet taste. Now, let’s HoiAn Day Trip Company provide all information about Banh da lon or Pig skin cake.
You may also like: Specialty Food in Hoi An, Vietnam
• Content by Tam Le, founder of HOIAN DAY TRIP CO.,LTD
• Designed by Giang Cong Minh, co-founder of LS E&C LTD and his team
• Photo by Dang Cong Loi, Dao Xuan Son, Tam Le & others
Must Knows about Banh Da Lon (Pig Skin Cake)
– Other name(s): Steamed layer cake, Yellow and Green cake
– Origin: southern Vietnam
– Where to find: local markets in Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue cities
– Ingredients: rice flour, tapioca flour, pandan leaf, mung bean, coconut milk
– Time: anytime during the day
– Price: 10,000 to 20,000 VND/cake
– Calories:
– Travel blog: https://hoiandaytrip.com/banh-da-lon-pig-skin-cake-hoi-an
– Fact:
Name of Banh Da Lon
In Vietnamese, Banh da lon means ‘Pig skin cake’ because it has different layers and a little chewy texture that looks like the skin of the pig. So, meaning that this cake is not made of pork.
Ingredients & How to Make Banh Da Lon (Pig Skin Cake)
Banh da lon or Pig skin cake is made by tapioca flour, rice flour, coconut milk, panda leaf and mung bean. So, it’s 100% vegetarian and not related to pork like its name. All of these ingredients will be bought at local markets. Some artisans grow pandas in their garden to use whenever they make this sweet and chewy cake.
Here are steps to make the Vietnamese Banh da lon or Pig skin cake:
Step 1: Mix the rice flour and the tapioca flour with fresh water and coconut milk.
Step 2: Use half of the mixture to combine with pandan leaf juice (to make a green colored layer).
Step 3: Use the other half of the mixture to combine with ground mung bean (to make the yellow colored layer). Previously, mung beans were soaked in fresh water for many hours and then boiled and grinded by hand or machine.
Step 4: Steam the green mixture by the steamer first, for a couple of minutes and then pour the yellow mixture onto it and steam again. Keep doing this until all of the mixtures are used.
Step 5: Take out the cake, keep cool and then use a knife to cut it into small pieces to eat.
How to Eat Banh Da Lon (Pig Skin Cake) Like A Local
Local people just eat Banh da lon or Pig skin cake without anything else. Somebody likes putting the cake on the plate and then adding sweet coconut milk.
Where to Eat Banh Da Lon (Pig Skin Cake)?
Visitors need to find street vendors and stalls near local markets to see and try Banh da lon or Pig skin cake. No restaurants serve it. On streets around the Hoi An Central Market, it’s possible.
Better to Know about Eating Local in Hoi An
– Local family-run restaurants always serve better local foods than tourist restaurants. Places inside small alleyways potentially are hidden gems. The price is even more affordable at these lesser known spots.
– Restaurants where you can see a queue or crowds, food or drinks there are absolutely better or safer than others. Vietnamese people also avoid places without people eating, such as roadside eateries.
– Hot foods are often safe to eat for non-Vietnamese people. Refuse cold food (especially ones sold on the street, markets) or things you don’t see people cooking.
– Make sure that you learn some basic Vietnamese words or sentences to order foods, such as xin chao (hello, hi), cho toi mot (something) (I want one…), toi an chay (I am vegetarian), khong cay (no spicy), cam on (thank you), tam biet (goodbye) or numbers (mot/one, hai/two, ba/three, bon/four, nam/five, sau/six, bay/seven, tam/eight, chin/nine, and muoi/ten).
– Ask any local people you know (tour guide, driver, hotel receptionists, bellmen, etc) to receive their recommendation for good places to eat local.
– Raw vegetables are popularly used in local dishes, such as noodles or noodle soup or sandwich. They are often washed by tap water or unwashed. If can not drink tap water, remove or refuse them. Likewise, in most iced drinks (such as coffee or herbal tea), people add ice made by tap water also.
– On the 1st day and 14th-15th days of each lunar month, Hoi An citizens eat vegetarians. Many local restaurants and street businesses will be closed by that.
– If you don’t eat pork or beef, due to diet or religious restrictions, be careful when want to try local food here, if don’t see the ingredient description. Pork and beef are very popular meats, so they will be in numerous dishes. Street vendors may say ‘no pork’ or ‘no beef’ for better business, but please check before buying!
– Consider joining a food tour guided by locals who know much better about dishes in the city, including things never mentioned in guidebooks or on the internet.
– If have an allergy (milk, egg, peanut, wheat,…), ask anybody you know before trying or search for ingredients on the internet. By the way, fish sauce is popularly used to marinate Vietnamese foods, so make sure that you know this information if you’re fish allergic.
– Food portion (or size) here is often not really big (locals prefer eating with their family at home). You may try double or some different dishes for main meals.
– If don’t see the price on the menu, please ask in advance to avoid overcharging, especially when you are not a local. In Vietnamese, how much is bao nhieu.
– Most popular cutleries are chopsticks and spoons. To know how to use it, browse here
Photos, Videos about Banh Da Lon (Pig Skin Cake) in Hoi An
