Luuux

I just had dinner and it was one of my favorites. It's a Vietnamese dish called Bánh Cuốn and I added cha lua, dried/fried onions, lettuce & a little bit of soy sauce. Everyone eats it differently but that's how I like it.

►What is Bánh Cuốn?

Bánh Cuốn is also known as rolled cakes. Rice noodle rolls/crepes with ground pork and wood ear mushrooms inside.

► How to Make Bánh Cuốn?

{Honestly, it's easier to be bought then to make unless you're making a lot like for a party. My parents bought this from the restaurant and bought the cha lua (fried pork), lettuce, and chopped it up. You can add more vegetables if you want like}

Batter

▸1 bag of rice flour (16 oz)
▸1 bag of tapioca flour (14 oz)
▸1 ts salt
▸3 qts of water

Filling

▸1 lb ground pork
▸1 cup Wood Ear mushrooms {soaked and drained and chopped into small pieces}
▸1 medium onion
▸1 shallot, thinly diced
▸1 tbs fish sauce
▸fresh cracked pepper

Accompaniments/Optional

▸Vietnamese ham, Cha Lua
▸Fried Shallots
▸Bean Sprouts
▸ Cucumber
▸Nuoc mam cham
▸Cooking oil

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice and tapioca flour with water and salt. Mix well.

2. Steam up the beansprouts in the microwave, and slice up the cha lua, and julien the cucumbers

3. Then make the filling. In a pan on medium high heat, add a small bit of cooking oil and fry the shallots. When shallots begin to turn yellow, add the ground pork and onions. Stir frequently and season with fish sauce. When finish, drain any excess liquid and season with pepper and additional fish sauce or salt to taste. Set aside.

4. Similar to the banh xeo (sizzling rice crepes), have everything ready to go and within reach--batter, filling, a working station (mom uses a large round aluminum tray--brushed lightly with oil), bowl of oil (any neutral oil) and a brush.

5. Heat up a large nonstick pan to medium high heat. Brush on a very light layer of oil and ladle on the well mixed batter and immediately tilt and swirl the pan around to evenly coat the pan. You'll have to use your judgement on the quantity according to how large your pan/ladle is. Cover for about 30 seconds and the crepe should be nearly transparant. Then invert the pan to your large aluminum work tray that has been lightly brushed with oil.

6. Add a small amount of filling into the center of the crepe and spread it out thinly. Then fold over the sides and place in a serving tray. You can make many banh cuon and stack them on top of one another and it won't stick due to the very lightly oiled surface that you're working on. Repeat again and again. :)

7. To make the banh cuon Thanh Tri, the process is exactly the same, except of the meat filling add some fried onions in the center.

6.Serve with plenty of steamed bean sprouts and julienned cucumbers, cha lua and nuoc mam cham. Some restaurants here in the US also add pork floss, banh tom as additional toppings. For the banh cuon Thanh Tri dipping sauce you can use the same nuoc mam cham, however, in Vietnam, it's dipped in straight up fish sauce with a wedge of lime and some chili.

Recipe belongs to: http://ravenouscouple.blogspot.com/2010/01/banh-cuon-vietnamese-rice-rol...

After dinner, I had a big cookie my mom got from her work today when she was at a meeting. She hardly eats sweets and always saves it for me. It was a yummy chocolate cookie!

►► Have you ever tried Bánh Cuốn before? Did you like it? Not like it? Share your experiences with me.

** Photo belongs to me taken with my Canon Powershot SD 630
** Recipe does not belong to me from source link below.