Some dishes that seem very “rustic” have become unique and hard-to-find delicacies in the city. Bánh lọt with coconut milk is a snack that Western Culture would like to mention… On a hot sunny day, enjoying a glass of bánh lọt with coconut milk is simply unbeatable.
There are 2 types of bánh lọt that my mom used to make
In my childhood memories, there are 2 types of bánh lọt that my mom often made: savory bánh lọt usually eaten with a shrimp-pork broth similar to bánh canh, and sweet bánh lọt eaten with sugar syrup and coconut milk. Cần Thơ is famous for its bánh lọt made with magenta plant (lá cẩm) that gives a purple color, but pandan green is much more common.Bánh from Cần Thơ has long been famous for being delicious. But you rarely see anyone selling it on the streets nowadays. It seems as though traditional cakes and desserts have disappeared to make way for Western-style treats like donuts, churros, tiramisu…
Not entirely true—there are still special spaces reserved for this delicious treat: sidewalk drink stalls or pushcarts run by aunts and women who have come all the way from the Mekong Delta to make a living.
Like many traditional Vietnamese cakes, the makers buy regular rice, grind it into fresh flour themselves instead of using pre-packaged dry flour from the market—homemade ground rice flour tastes much better.
Authentic traditional bánh lọt has individual strands that separate easily, are soft and delicate, and carry a wonderful pandan fragrance. If too much tapioca starch is added, the strands become chewy and slightly tough, thick, long, rough, and clumpy. The color turns an artificial bright green instead of the natural mossy green from pandan leaves.
The dish is simple: pandan-green bánh lọt strands, thick and rich coconut milk, and glossy golden sugar syrup. When eating, everything is mixed together in a glass with ice.
Actually, traditional bánh lọt is just like that. But Saigon people often have the habit of adding or removing a few ingredients from the original version, so sellers commonly add pomegranate seeds (hạt lựu), grass jelly (sương sa), and mashed mung beans to make the dish more interesting and varied.
