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Bến Tre Original · Grilled Banana Sticky Rice

Chuối Nếp Nướng

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It began as a way to use the delta's two biggest crops at once, wrapping bananas from the region's plantations in sticky rice made rich with milk from its equally abundant coconut palms.

A ripe banana is wrapped in glutinous rice, bound in banana leaf, and grilled over charcoal until the leaf chars and the rice turns lightly crisp at the edges, then sliced and drizzled with sweet coconut sauce and crushed peanuts. Mekong Delta street carts, especially around Bến Tre and Cần Thơ, grill it fresh over open coals as customers wait.

Why it's made this way: The dish is thought to have originated in Bến Tre province, whose coconut groves and banana plantations gave it its core ingredients, and it spread from there across the wider Mekong Delta and eventually the rest of the country.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.