I didn’t set out to make Vietnamese Banh Cuon but I was hoping to test out different rice noodle recipes in this broadcast to see how they turned out texturally with different ratios of tapioca flour to rice flour in the batter. As it turned out, the one for Banh Cuon was my favourite, hence the title of this post.
A third recipe called for a combination of rice flour, tapioca flour and also potato starch; I didn’t have any potato starch in my pantry but of the other two, one was pretty much the same I’ve used for years, including during one of my TV segments on Channel 7TWO’s Malaysia Kitchen.
That recipe along with the sauces used can be found here here >> https://jackiem.com.au/2017/05/04/make-vegan-rice-noodle-rolls-aka-chee-cheong-fun/
This Banh Cuon batter recipe comes from a Vietnamese blog – http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2010/01/banh-cuon-vietnamese-steam-rice-rolls.html – with my adaptation per below. I really like how it turned out compared to the other one, though to be fair I’m meant in all instances to let the batter sit for hours before use, which I didn’t do.
Rice Noodle
INGREDIENTS
250g rice flour
220g tapioca flour
½ tsp salt
1 1/2L water
Oil for brushing
METHOD
- Combine batter ingredients and mix well.
- Set aside for 4 hours.
- Skim off froth from the top and replace any displaced liquid with fresh water.
- Stir well before use.
- Heat a non-stick pan in steamer until hot.
- Brush with oil, then pour a thin layer of batter on it.
- Allow to set until it starts to stick to the base, then swirl mixture to evenly cover the pan.
- Cover and steam for about one minute or until sheet starts to bubble up.
- Using a spatula, lift and fold the sheet into a roll.
- Repeat with rest of batter.
My go-to sauces for this dish are found in this recipe – https://jackiem.com.au/2017/05/04/make-vegan-rice-noodle-rolls-aka-chee-cheong-fun/
Variations –
- Sprinkle the rolls with soaked dried shrimp and slices of spring onion while still steaming. Then pan-fry the rolls until crispy before serving with diluted peanut butter plus hoisin sauce (aka tim cheong).
- Cut the rolls into thin strips and serve with broth.
- Fry up some minced meat with oyster sauce, fish sauce, mushroom slices and diced onion, then sprinkle on rolls while steaming. Serve as-is or with Vietnamese fish sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham) >>
Vietnamese Fish Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- 3 Tbsp vinegar or fresh lemon juice
- 4 Tbsps sugar
- ½ Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp sliced chillies
METHOD:
- Combine all ingredients and stir to make sure sugar is fully dissolved. Adjust seasoning as required
There are many other ways to serve up these noodles, eg. stuffed with prawn or beef a la at Yum Cha – I’ll cover those another time.
