It has been a while since I posted my recipe on how to make Banh Cuon. I just want to share with you how I ended up learning to make this from scratch. I just love how I can incorporate my fashion skills and my cooking knowledge together! You will understand what I mean later in the blog. Otherwise just skip to my recipe to cut out the story.
Growing up Banh Cuon (Proper Vietnamese name for steamed rice roll) was a treat my mum would make for us kids in the weekends. Because we speak another dialect of Cantonese, we called it Ghern Fun. The Hong Kong Cantonese is pronounced as Cherng/Cheung Fun. Though it is made using a totally different method. My mum usually only make this 4-5 times a year or when we ask for it but she doesn’t always have the time to make it as it is very time consuming, especially everything has to be coordinated. We were too young or too small to reach the pot on the cooker or it was too hot for us kids to handle. My mum would make this on her own or sometimes we go to my aunty Tina’s, and both mothers would help make Banh Cuon together to feed the hungry kids. Sometimes the rice rolls don’t even reach the serving plate because the kids are queuing up as each roll leaves the production line!
I live on the other side of the planet now so I don’t get to eat this anymore unless I order it from a Vietnamese restaurant. I have tried ordering from a well known chain here in Hong Kong but I don’t think they are authentic enough. The taste is not quite right. I have yet to try a “Vietnamese family run restaurant”!
Anyway, back to my story. I have a friend in UK which owns a Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant called Cafe Soya. When I moved out of my family home and started working, me and the hubs used to visit her place to eat Banh Cuon. I once had a part-time summer job there, so I know it is done the proper way. Steaming the rice batter on a cloth and not in a frying pan! Well, even though I have moved to Hong Kong I still see their delicious Banh Cuon pictures on Facebook. Whenever a friend eats there they post pictures up. There’s me at 11pm getting hunger pangs, and trying to make a substitute! Also Banh Cuon is one of the hubs favourite dishes. One day I just had enough, so I decided to take on the challenge.
At first I asked my mum. Knowing her, she does not measure her ingredients or if she does it is usually in bulk to feed the village or even vaguely tells you the recipe. My brother alone will eat 30 in one sitting! That’s just for lunch. Ok, so I asked her. She tells me, “a couple ladles of potato starch and double ladles of rice flour. Put it in a huge ice-cream tub and add water. You can add some oil. Even better if you have some rice from last night. Put into a blender and add to the mixture. Test it out by steaming it and add whatever you think is not enough”! Man, you tell me I have to go out and buy the same huge ladle she uses in a Takeaway. Which brand ice-cream tub is that? I am going to be here all year if I was going to test this out.
I would spend all night and day researching and looking up the internet for recipes. I checked YouTube to see what other people were doing. They were either mediocre or teaching you to use a frying pan! If you want authentic tasting you need to use the cloth! Yup, I must admit I have used the frying pan method before but it was at a friends house and we had no other tools available. The cloth method makes the Banh Cuon thin and soft. The frying pan method makes it dry and gives the edges a slight crisp, not forgetting to mention it doesn’t always cook evenly and you end up with bubbles of oil on the cooked batter.
By the way, rice flour is not just called rice flour in Cantonese. There is a special name too. So, my last resort was to ask Vanessa (Cafe Soya) for help. Obviously I wasn’t going to be cheeky and ask her for the recipe. I wasn’t sure she would be willing to share trade secrets. Haha. I contacted her just to confirm what the rice flour was called in Cantonese and if she uses potato starch or corn starch. Once confirmed I then continued with my experiment. Believe me it took 2-3 attempts and a lot of eating a tasting!
Once I got the quantities right, there was no stopping me. I made it twice a week until the hubs was begging for no more!
Getting the Ingredients right!
First of all you need to find the right starch! When I say the starch I mean tapioca starch, the one made from Cassava Root. I did try corn, and potato starch but somehow they just didn’t work for me. Also I found out there were many tapioca starches out there but in Cantonese it is totally something else! Just check the label on the back and you should be fine.
The 3 main ingredients you need are: Water, Tapioca/Starch and Rice Flour.
If you can’t get hold of Cassava Root Tapioca Starch try corn or potato starch. It seems to work for my mum.
Here is a more detailed description with extra photos of me making Banh Cuon compared to the recipe page. I hope it answers some of your questions or even help you achieve this dish. I used what I have in my (Mother in Law’s) kitchen and only bought a few items since the kitchen is very small and we have no space for anything. Most kitchens should have all the basic equipment.
You will need:
- A medium to large deep pot 1/2 filled with water (the diameter determines the size of the Banh Cuon).
- White Poly-Cotton (the colour looks cleaner) 2-2.5 inch wider than the diameter of the pot.
- Wide elastic slightly shorter than the circumference of the pot is fine as it will stretch.
- A glass lid larger than the diameter of the pot.
- A palette knife roughly the length of the diameter of the pot.
- Pastry brush or kitchen paper towel.
- A funnel is optional but will make your life much easier.
- A large mixing bowl for the batter.
- A flat ladle.
- Bowls for your filling.
- Spoon for filling.
- Serving dish.
- Bowl for your sauce dip.
- Measuring cups.
- Chinese soup spoon.
- T Spoon
You need to measure out the ingredients using a western measuring cup. I have a friend who used a mug to do the measuring since she drinks out of a mug and not a cup!
I am using a small Ikea pot (which you can buy steamers to stack on top). I know they also sell this pot in a larger size but you will find it hard to get an even larger glass lid for it. So yeah, you need a deep pot with a lid that is larger than the rim. Take note, if you buy another brand the handles might get in the way!
You can prepare the sauce at the same time as you prepare the ingredients for the filling or you can do this after you have completed the Banh Cuons.
The most important bit is to let the boiled water to cool down and the sugar and salt has dissolved.
Put the sauce ingredients in a bowl and press with the back of a spoon to crush the juices out.
Have a taste and add more ingredients to suit your taste buds. You might notice after a while the garlic might turn a blue/green colour. This is normal due to the acidity of the vinegar. Set aside to allow it to cool down to room temperature.
I find cloud ear fungus is much tastier since it is thinner and softer than wood ear fungus.
Soak the wood ear/cloud ear fungus in hot water for about 20 minutes. Once it has rehydrated and expanded in size.
Cut off the hard stalk in the centre.
Chop it up into tiny pieces.
Use a paper towel and put 1/2 a packet of mince pork on it to soak up any water and blood.
Peel and devein the prawns/shrimps. You can use around 1-2 prawns per Banh Cuon. I use a lot more than the recipe suggests because the hubs is a carnivore!
Chop the prawns/shrimps into tiny pieces. It is up to you if you want them finely minced or slightly chunky.
Peel the carrots and chop into tiny pieces. This is how I prepared mine.
Slice the shallots if you decide to use them. Some people prefer to have this as a topping. It is deep fried until crisp and sprinkled onto the Banh Cuons when serving. I mixed mine in with the filling when cooking.
Feel free to add more garlic to the filling as you please.
Put 2 T-Spoons of oil in a frying pan or wok. Medium to high heat, wait for the oil to heat up.
Put the minced pork in and stir it a few times to break it up into tiny pieces. Pour out or soak up the extra water it gives off.
Add the garlic. Stir for a few seconds before adding the chop prawns/shrimps, carrot, fungus, or any filling ingredients you have decided to use. Add the seasoning: salt, pepper, soy sauce, sugar, oyster flavoured sauce, chicken stock powder, and fish sauce.
There is no need to thicken the sauce produced by the filling but you can do this if you like. I usually leave the filling to soak up the juices or pour some of it away if it’s too much. Set the filling aside until needed.
This is where the Poly-Cotton comes in! Yes, this is the Poly-Cotton fabric I use for making shirts and dolls clothing. You wouldn’t have thought of using this in cooking would you?
Soak and wash the Poly-Cotton fabric a few times with hot boiling water.
Get someone to help you with the next process if you want to achieve the tightest drum!
Next open up the damp fabric and lay it over the rim of the pot. There should be at least 1.5 inches of over hang. Trim off the excess fabric to avoid it from catching fire!
Once you have got the elastic over the rim of the pot, pull the fabric around the pot to help it pull tight. It should be as tight as a drum. If you flick it in the centre with your fingers you should hear a taught drum sound.
The fabric should be ok left as it is if your pot is deep. If your pot is shallow you might need to trim more fabric off or keep an eye on it if you are using a gas fire. It can easily dry out and catch fire. Trim it short enough so that it will not catch fire but long enough to pull if you require the fabric to be tighter.
Get a knife and poke a hole in the fabric. Roughly an inch wide and close to the rim of the pot. This is to allow the excess steam to reach both sides of the rice batter.
If you do have the hole towards the front just be careful when you open the lid. It might burn your fingers. I will be turning this pot around so the hole is at the back. I usually use a funnel to put the water in the pot. I use the hole in the fabric to do this. If I put the water in before I stretch the fabric on the pot I will risk it getting spilt all over the place.
You can use boiled water to speed the process or just tap water. Fill around 1/2 way so you don’t have to top-up so often. Usually 15 rolls don’t need a refill.
Put the pot on the cooker and turn up the heat to around medium. Make sure you don’t burn the fabric! You will need the time to prepare the other ingredients.
Now in a large mixing bowl put in 1/2 cup tapioca starch, 1 cup rice flour, and 2 cups of cold water. You may add 1 T-spoon of oil and salt but I usually don’t use any. Give the mixture a good mix with a ladle.
As you can see my cooker only has 2 gas rings. Sometimes I cook 8-9 dishes for a family meal in a small scrammed kitchen!
This is my set up. You just play around until you find it comfortable for yourself.
Set up your equipment. My cooker/pot is close to the sink. This is ideal because once in a while you might want to wash your hands or wash a cloth or clean the palette knife. Otherwise have a bowl of water and a dish cloth/towel near by to use when needed. I am right handed so I put the batter bowl on my right. Obviously the pot is in front of me. On the left of the pot will be the olive oil and pastry brush. If you don’t have a pastry brush then just soak a kitchen paper towel with oil and use that instead. Next to that would be the large flat plate or tray that needs to be greased every so often. The filling bowl would be next to this with a spoon. To the left of that is the serving plate where you put the Banh Cuon (rolled rice rolls). If you are left handed or unfortunate to have the cooker to the right of the sink then you just have to lay the equipment the opposite layout to mine.
Grease the flat plate/tray with the pastry brush and olive oil.
Stir the rice batter mix with your right hand. You need to stir it every time you want to ladle the batter onto the fabric.
If you don’t do this the mixture settles at the bottom.
The heat needs to be on medium to help produce the steam but not too high that the steam wants to lift the fabric into a bulge. This take practice and depends on your cooker, amount of water, size of pot and hole in fabric. Let’s start. The first time you do this, it is a test piece. Also it helps prime the cloth. Stir batter and ladle 2/3 full. This amount depends on the size of your pot and ladle. My pot is a small Ikea steamer so I use around 1/2 to 2/3 full.
Repeat* these next 3 steps when prompted.
Lift the lid off, pour the batter in the centre and quickly using the underside of the ladle in a circular motion, spread the batter outwards.
Notice I still have a bit of batter left in my ladle. Watch the batter if it runs to one side as you pour it on the cloth. You need to adjust and level the pot if this happens. Be careful because the pot is hot and be careful of the steam hole in the fabric! Turn the pot until the hole is out of the way. Spreading the batter should take no longer than 2-3 seconds or the batter cooks on the ladle. Scrape off any batter with the palette knife and test again if you need to. Remember practice makes perfect.
Put the lid on and watch the batter cook. You might need to time the first Banh Cuon. It should take around 15-20 or so seconds.
If you are using a glass lid you should see the batter wanting to rise or the fabric starts to bulge. Sometimes it rises to touch the lid. You need to take off the lid quickly just before it gets any higher or it sticks to the lid. If you leave the lid on for too long you will have to pull the fabric to tighten it to the pot again and risk scolding yourself unless you pour the water out, cool the pot down and redo all your prep. This will also mean you will have to test the pot is level again. Yes, very frustrating! You should see it starts to lift off the fabric. The batter should be cooked just before the batter touches the lid.
By the way, the first Banh Cuon is test piece. Usually the first one does not form well. You are lucky if the first one lifts off perfectly. You will need to taste it to make sure it is soft and cooked. Not tasting bitty and powdery.
Discard the first Banh Cuon and scrape off any excess batter.
Repeat the last 3 steps if you need to. Stir the batter. Ladle the batter and spread it out. Put the lid on.
(After you made the first rolled Banh Cuon with filling the new batter should be ready. Give it 15-20 seconds depending on the heat. Adjust heat if required. Never should it be too low or too high).
Use a wet or greased palette knife to scoop the Banh Cuon up on the right hand side, using the whole blade (not the tip). Turn the blade over once more if you want a better grip of the Banh Cuon.
Lift the Banh Cuon up and off to the left onto the flat plate/tray. This is when the flat plate/tray is useful because you can swivel it around to get to all edges of the rice skin. Here I use a palette knife because it has more coverage. Sometimes I use a flat bamboo stick which I got the hubs to make for me.
Important to put the top side down!
Repeat * Now stir the batter with the ladle. Scoop batter and pour onto the fabric. Circular motion spread the batter. Cover with the lid.
Ok, lets wrap our first Banh Cuon!
If you want to fold the edges neatly then put the filling on one end.
Fold 1cm on the left and right side of the Banh Cuon.
Then finally do 2cm folds from one end to the filling end.
Make sure you keep folding until the edges are stuck together.
Usually the final edge is tucked under.
Don’t worry if you have a hole in the Banh Cuon. Just improvise. As long as the filling doesn’t fall out no-one will know!
Be prepared for some holes once in a while. It does happen if the batter is spread too thinly.
Just place the filling in a good spot and allowing extra on the edge to seal the Banh Cuon.
Roll up the Banh Cuon making sure the filling doesn’t fall out.
Yup, on my lazy days I don’t even bother folding the edges nicely. Just roll it up.
You are done!
Once complete put the rolled Banh Cuon on a serving plate. Grease the flat plate/tray again, and the next rice batter should be ready to repeat the process again. You should be making at least one Banh Cuon every 20 or so seconds. I never time mine because I got used to making these like on a one man production line. You just need to practice. Keep repeating the process over and over again until the batter is used up. There are times when you get the timing wrong or the Banh Cuon just falls in a clump. That usually ends up in my mouth, so all evidence is destroyed!
If your palette knife gets clogged up with rice batter just clean with a wet cloth or sponge.
If the batter sticks onto the cloth just scrape it with the palette knife and just carry on making the Banh Cuon.
Banh Cuon can be served hot or cold. Hot is better. The dipping sauce is best at room temperature but it is down to personal preference. This was how my mum used to make hers. In Vietnam they actually use many ingredients that we can’t get over in the UK. One such ingredient is some kind of water beetle! Yup, you heard me. You can search up water scorpion if you like to find out. It is toasted then snipped into the sauce. I have seen it on TV but have never want to try it. Otherwise just sprinkle some soy sauce, Maggi sauce or even Sriracha chilli sauce. All goes well with Banh Cuon.
I believe this method is the genuine way of making Banh Cuon.
You can make Banh Cuon with no filling or vegetarian option. If you leave out all the meat then you will have to bulk it up with the other ingredients. I don’t overly stuff my Banh Cuons so I usually have plenty of filling left to make another batch the next day. A lot of ingredients is down to personal preference. You can leave out certain ingredients but the flavour will be affected slightly.
I know it seems a lot of preparation goes into it but once you get the hang of it it really isn’t much effort.
Bon Appetit!
Shan x