I was busy and working alone, so I didn’t take photos of this step. Next, stir-fry the glutinous rice with coconut milk and food coloring. Add sugar and salt, then add the rice. Since I couldn’t get magenta plant leaves, I used purple cabbage for a lighter purple color and Chinese broccoli for green.

Since I couldn’t sun-dry the banana leaves, I boiled them instead. Clean the leaves, cut them to size for wrapping, and prepare the string.

Stir-fry the rice in two separate colors. Start forming the letters by using letter-shaped molds to shape the mung bean mixture. Set aside any extra mung bean mixture to use as filling with salted egg yolks. Use a larger round mold for the rice to wrap around the letter shapes, forming a block. Remove any excess rice, then insert the mung bean letter. Repeat for all letters. Place four letters in each log, then wrap as usual. Make sure to align the letters so that when you slice the cake, the letter appears in the center. I used to make these for others, but didn’t take photos of the process because my hands were messy.

After wrapping and tying, cook the cakes for 4 hours. Remember to add water regularly so the pot doesn’t dry out. Once cooked, rinse the cakes with cold water and let them rest overnight to set before slicing.

This is a cake I made before, using magenta plant leaves for a deeper color.