This is a recipe my mum used to make for us when we were kids but adapted to my taste. I am not sure if this is the authentic recipe used in Vietnam since it can vary from region to region but the steaming method is as close as I can get it for a home-made dish. I have seen some people us the frying pan method to achieve the same outcome. That method can be used if you don't have the tools to make Banh Cuon but the final outcome will not taste as soft and springy as the steaming method.
| Servings |
| 13-15 Rolls |
| Cook Time |
| 20 Seconds Each |
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This is a recipe my mum used to make for us when we were kids but adapted to my taste. I am not sure if this is the authentic recipe used in Vietnam since it can vary from region to region but the steaming method is as close as I can get it for a home-made dish. I have seen some people us the frying pan method to achieve the same outcome. That method can be used if you don't have the tools to make Banh Cuon but the final outcome will not taste as soft and springy as the steaming method.
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Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Cassava Tapioca Starch Corn/Potato/Tapioca Starch
- 1 Cup Rice Flour
- 2 Cup Cold Water Tap water/Filtered Water is fine.
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt (For Batter) Optional. I don't use.
- 1 T-Spoon Oil (For Rice Batter) Optional
- 2 T-Spoon Oil (For Stir Frying)
- 12-15 Pieces Medium Size Shrimp/Prawns Optional
- 1/2 Medium Packet Mince Pork Optional
- 4-5 Pieces Wood Ear Fungus/Cloud Ear Fungus Optional see **
- 1 Medium Carrot Optional
- 5-6 Small Shallots Optional. I don't use unless I am making a vegetarian option.
- 2 Cloves Garlic Optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt Optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon White Pepper Optional
- 2-3 T-Spoon Soya Sauce Optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon Sugar Optional
- 2-3 T-Spoon Oyster Flavoured Sauce Optional. I don't use unless I am making vegetarian option.
- 1 T-Spoon Chicken Stock Powder Optional. I don't use unless I am making vegetarian option.
- 2 T-Spoon Fish Sauce Optional
- 1/2 Chinese Soup Spoon Malt Vinegar * For Sauce
- 1/4 Chinese Soup Spoon Fish Sauce * For Sauce
- 1 Chinese Soup Spoon Sugar * For Sauce
- 5 Chinese Soup Spoon Distilled Hot Water * For Sauce
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt * For Sauce
- 2-3 Cloves Garlic * For Sauce
- 1-2 Whole Dried/Fresh Chillies * For Sauce
- 1/4 Chinese Rice Bowl Olive Oil Greasing the plate for rolling the Banh Cuon
Instructions
- You will need: A medium to large deep pot 1/2 filled with water. 1 sheet of white Poly-Cotton fabric around 2-2.5 inches larger than the diameter of the pot. Wide elastic length of the circumference of the pot. A glass lid larger than the pots diameter. A palette knife roughly the length of the diameter of the pot. A flat plate or tray larger than the diameter of the pot. Pastry brush and a funnel but it is not important if you don't have one. You need a large mixing bowl and a flat ladle. A couple of bowls and spoons for the filling.
- Soak the wood ear/cloud ear fungus in hot water for about 20 minutes then cut off the hard stalk and 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. Use more prawns/shrimps as you like. Chop the prawns/shrimps into tiny pieces. Peel the carrots and chop into tiny pieces. Chop up 2 garlic cloves or more if you want.
- Put 2 T-Spoons of oil in a frying pan or wok. Wait for it 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.
- In a separate large bowl put 4-5 T-spoons malt vinegar, 4-5 T-spoons fish sauce, 1-2 T-spoons sugar, 1/2 T-spoon salt. 1-2 chopped dried/fresh chillies, 1/2 lemon juice optional, chop or crush 4-5 garlic cloves. Mix in the bowl and press with the back of a spoon to get the juices flowing. Pour in 1/2 bowl of hot water. 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.
- Soak and wash the Poly-Cotton fabric a few times with hot boiling water. Set it aside to drip dry.
- Get the elastic and put the 2 ends together and tie a knot. Next open up the the damp fabric and lay it over the rim of the pot, and stretch the elastic over it to secure it to the pot. The elastic has to fit the pot perfectly taught any slack and it won't work. The elastic will be so tight to pull over you will need an extra hand to do it. Once you have got the elastic over the rim of the pot pull around the fabric to help it pull tight. It should be as tight as a drum. If you flick it with your fingers in the centre you will 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 it 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 towards the back of the pot and not in the middle of the handle. This is to allow the excess steam to reach both sides of the Banh Cuon. If you do have the hole towards the front just be careful when you open the lid. It might burn your fingers. Just turn the hole to 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 you don't have to refill for 15 rolls.
- 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.
- Set 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 towel with oil and use that instead. Next to that would be the large flat plate or tray that I will be greasing 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. 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. You need to stir it every time you want to ladle the batter onto the fabric.
- The heat needs to be on medium to medium high, depending on your cooker, 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 is a test. Also it helps prime the cloth. Stir the 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.
- 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! 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.
- Ok, lets make our first Banh Cuon. Stir the batter. Ladle the batter and spread it out. Put the lid on. You might need to time the first Banh Cuon. After the first one the rest should be ready by the time you complete each roll. Give it 15-20 seconds depending on the heat. If you are using a glass lid you should see the batter wanting to rise or the fabric slightly bulges. Sometimes it rises and sticks to the lid. You need to take off the lid quickly just before it goes any higher. 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. Here I used a palette knife because it has more coverage. Sometimes I use a flat bamboo stick which I got the hubs to make for me. If done correctly the Banh Cuon should lift off in one piece. Important to put the top side down!
- Now stir the batter with the ladle. Scoop batter and pour onto fabric. Circular motion spread the batter. Cover with the lid.
- Put a bit of the filling on one side of the rice skin. Roughly 1-2 cm from the edge. If you are folding it, do 2cm wide folds from the opposite end of the filling to the filling end until the filling is trapped inside the roll. This is when the flat plate/tray is useful because you can swivel it around to get to all edges of the Banh Cuon. The palette knife is much easier because it has a wider surface for the Banh Cuon to adhere to. Here you can see my flat bamboo stick. It is not a ruler!
- Some people fold it nicely. This is mostly done in restaurants and is just purely for presentation. 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.
- 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 on to the cloth just scrape it with the palette knife and just carry on making the Banh Cuon.
- Can be served hot or cold. The dipping sauce is best at room temperature but it is down to personal preference is how my mum used to make hers.In Vietnam they actually use many ingredients that we can't get over in the U.K. One such ingredient is some kind of water beetle! Yup, you heard me. It is toasted then snipped into the sauce. I have seen it on T.V 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.
- You may garnish it or just serve with some light salad and herb leaves. Bon Appetit!
Recipe Notes
Tools & Equipment:
A medium to large deep pot. Mine is a small Ikea steamer pot.
1 sheet of white Poly-Cotton fabric around 2-2.5 inches larger than the diameter of the pot.
Wide elastic length of the circumference of the pot.
A glass lid larger than the pots diameter.
A palette knife roughly the length of the diameter of the pot.
A flat plate or tray larger than the diameter of the pot.
Pastry brush and a funnel but it is not important if you don't have one.
A large mixing bowl and a flat ladle.
A couple of bowls and spoons for the filling.
Measuring Cups.
Frying Pan/Wok.
Wooden Spatula or something to stir fry with.
Sauce bowls.
This method is the genuine way of making Banh Cuon. I have used the frying pan method before when I am feeling lazy but you cannot compare it to this traditional method. Using this method the rice skin is thin and got a sight chew to it. The frying pan method is easy but the texture is no where near as good as the steamed method on a cloth.
You may make Banh Cuon with no filling or a 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.
Do adjust the sauce ingredients and quantity to your liking. I usually taste and add more condiments to my liking and hardly measure the amount.
* Prepare to have extra of this ingredient. Everybody has a different taste. I have given you my basic recipe for the sauce but you might want to add more to it.
** Wood Ear Fungus is bigger and tougher than Cloud Ear Fungus. You might need only 2 depending on the size. It is only to give the filling some colour and crunch texture.
I have seen recipes using corn/potato starch. I know it works because my mum uses it to make Banh Cuon. I've never had any success when I learnt to make this from scratch though. I once bought tapioca starch and it turned out to be fine then I found out the tapioca starch I was using wasn't just any tapioca starch but made from Cassava Root. Even more confusing was I found out there were 4 different products all called tapioca starch but in Chinese it was something else! In Cantonese we call corn or potato starch "Sang Fun". So, when someone says "Sang Fun" you don't know which one they are talking about. It doesn't help that tapioca starch in Cantonese is also called "Sang Fun:! If in doubt just check the ingredients on the back to make sure your tapioca starch is Cassava.
The Poly-Cotton fabric can be washed and used a few times. The elastic can be used 2-3 times before the elasticity goes or the heat starts melting the plastic. Just replace which ever goes first.
My blog post: My Search for a Banh Cuon Recipe, has a more in depth instruction.
I hope you do try this recipe and method as I find it quite fun!
Have fun!
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