VietNamNet Bridge – Banh u nuoc tro, or banh tro in short, is made mainly from sticky rice and mung beans. The name of the cake comes from the process of making it. Sticky rice is soaked in ash (tro) water before it is wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuffed with sweetened mung beans.

A woman identified as Trinh in HCMC shows a basket of banh tro. (Inset) A pot is used for cooking banh tro. The cake is usually cooked in three to four hours

The traditional cake is still popular among Vietnamese people as it is used on special occasions, especially Doan Ngo Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Sometimes people use banana leaves instead of bamboo leaves to wrap banh tro.

Bamboo leaves are shaped into a funnel before people put sticky rice soaked in ash water and mung beans in it       A woman holds fresh bamboo leaves for wrapping banh tro       A woman wraps banh tro using banana leaves – Photos: Tran Duy

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