Charcoal-Grilled Sticky Rice Plantain with Coconut Cream & Scallion Oil

Ripe Siamese banana wrapped in glutinous rice and banana leaf, grilled crisp over glowing charcoal and drenched in pandan coconut cream and scallion oil.

Charcoal-Grilled Sticky Rice Plantain drenched in coconut cream and scallion oil near the 30 Thang 4 Pier (corner of Trung Trac and Thu Khoa Huan Streets, My Tho Ward) is a beloved Mekong street sweet internationally acclaimed by CNN among the world's finest desserts. Every afternoon as golden light falls across the Bao Dinh River, the aroma of blistered banana leaves and toasted glutinous rice over mangrove charcoal fills the riverfront corner. Vendors select sun-ripened black Siamese plantains (chuoi xiem), encase them in glutinous rice steamed with rich coconut milk, wrap them tightly in fresh banana leaves, and slow-roast them over glowing embers until the outer rice shell turns golden and crackling crisp. Sliced bite-sized, the warm plantain is ladled with velvety pandan coconut cream, savory scallion oil, and crushed roasted peanuts.