How to make bánh cuốn at home using a pan. This is one of my favourite dishes growing up. Served with some giò or chả (Vietnamese sausage), fresh herbs, a light fish sauce based dipping sauce and an abundant amount of fried shallots.
Bánh cuốn is very easily accessible in the streets and markets in Vietnam however, since living abroad, I’ve also learned from my mum how to make them at home. On the outset, it looks a bit intimidating and rightfully so when the instructions behind the premix pack starts with ‘Stretch a cloth over a pot of boiling water’ 😰…
However there’s another popular and much easier method that can also be used to make them if you don’t have a whole steaming apparatus at home… Had a bit of a craving today so I quickly whipped some up. Thought I’d record and show you guys a brief look at how I do it, it’s fairly simple (check out my instagram for the video: here) If you can make crêpes, you can easily make this too! The premix I used is from ‘Vĩnh Thuận’ brand
Vietnamese Rice Rolls (Bánh Cuốn)
Ingredients
Filling:
- 300 g Minced pork if you don’t eat pork, popular substitutes are chicken, mushroom, tofu
- Wood ear mushrooms
- 1 Onion
- 2 tsp Salt & pepper to taste
Batter:
- 400 g I used premixed flour from Vĩnh Thuận brand
- 1 l water
- 1 tbsp Oil
Garnishes:
- Shallots
- Coriander
Dipping sauce:
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- lemon
- Finely chopped chilli
- Garlic
Instructions
Filling:
- Soak the wooden ear mushrooms in hot water, once it becomes soft, chop into smaller pieces
- In a food processor, add the pork, onion, wooden ear mushrooms and start blitzing until everything is finely minced
- In an oiled pan, stir fry the filling until everything is well cooked.
Batter:
- In a bowl or jug, mix the flour, water, oil together until there are no more clumps (the pack suggests 750ml water for 400g flour, however I find it to be too thick for this method so am using 1L and a tbsp of oil)
Assemble:
- Prepare 2 pans, one filled with hot water (maintained on stove turned on at medium heat) to help generate steam onto the lid and one which we will use for cooking the pancake.
- Lightly grease the cooking pan on low heat with some oil by using a paper napkin
- Pour the batter using a ladle, rotate the pan so that the batter covers all the surface then quickly pour the excess batter back into the bowl of batter – this will help thin out the rice roll so that it doesn’t become a thick pancake
- Cover the pan with the lid that’s been resting on the other pan filled with boiling water
- After about 30-50 seconds, the batter should have a more transparent colour and will be ready
- Transfer it to a working surface, usually lightly oiled so that it doesn’t stick
- Add the filling as a line in the centre and start rolling
Dipping sauce
- I usually prepare this to taste, but as a guidelines, I usually start by mixing 1 tbsp of fish sauce with 100ml hot water, 3 tsp sugar and 4 squeezes of lemon juice.
- Add the garlic and sliced chilli
- Then, I adjust accordingly to taste
Did you make this recipe?
If you’ve made this recipe, remember to tag @mai.ng on Instagram www.maicookbook.com
