Bo Bia (Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Chinese Sausage, Dried Shrimp, Eggs, and Jicama) and Hoisin Dipping Sauce with Chili and Crushed Peanuts
Bo bia are the Vietnamese spring rolls version of popiah, a Hokkien-style spring roll popular in Singapore and Malaysia. (If you sound out bò bía with the proper Vietnamese accent marks, they both sound similar. This is not to be confused with bò (beef) and bia (beer) with no accent mark.) The fillings are slightly different and the Vietnamese version uses rice paper wrappers instead of wheat, but in both versions, the spring rolls are stuffed with shrimp and jicama. Hokkien cuisine hails from the Fujian province of China, and I can only assume that immigrants must have brought the recipe with them and then adapted it when they dispersed to Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. I also remember eating a Thai version once long ago, and am assuming that's courtesy of the Fujianese again. Bo bia are a common street snack in Saigon, where many Fujianese immigrants settled. Noodlepie has pictures of a Saigon bo bia streetseller. I found a bo bia recipe from Playing with My Food. I did a little tweaking with the recipe and came up with this version. Read my previous discussion of banh trang (rice paper) -- how to wet it, roll it, and preserve it. This recipe also gave me an opportunity to use the very scraggly potted basil plants I have in my kitchen window. I saved the flowered tops and put them in a vinegar bottle to make basil-flavored vinegar.
Spring rolls should not be made more than one hour before you intend to eat them as the rice paper will revert back to its hardened state. You can also prepare all the ingredients and let your guests make their own bo bia spring rolls at the table.
Bo Bia (Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Chinese Sausage, Dried Shrimp, Eggs, and Jicama) with Hoisin Dipping Sauce with Chili and Crushed Peanuts Adapted from Playing with My Food To make roughly 8 bo bia spring rolls, you'll need: 2 Chinese sausage (I used the large fresh kind from Quang Tran, Inc., which gives me 4 slices per sausage. You may need more if the kind you use is smaller.) 1 small jicama, roughly 3 inches in diameter 2 tblsp dried shrimp 2 eggs 8 rice paper wrappers small bunch of fresh basil leaves hoisin sauce fish sauce crushed fresh chilies, or chili paste crushed peanuts
Take a small handful of dried shrimp and place in a bowl, filling with water until just covered. (The following steps don't necessarily have to be performed in this order but I try to dirty as few pans as possible when cooking for less cleanup afterward.) While the shrimp is soaking, finely shred or julienne jicama and set aside. You can also do this with carrots for additional flavor and color. I would have but I didn't have any in my fridge. Then beat 2 eggs with a dash of fish sauce and make a thin egg omelet. Slice into lengths and set aside. Slice Chinese sausage lengthwise and saute in pan until slightly crisp. Drain fat. Saute jicama (and carrots if any) until softened. Set aside and save any juices. Saute soaked dried shrimp, saving the soaking water. When shrimp is slightly softened and warm, set aside. I just left everything on my cutting board as shown below. If you're serving this to guests, just arrange everything on a large platter, or separate smaller plates.
Add the water from the soaked shrimp and the juices from the jicama into the pan. Add the hoisin sauce and chili sauce and stir until thoroughly mixed. If there's not enough liquid, add more water so that you achieve a dipping sauce consistency. Pour into bowls, swirl some more chili sauce in the center, topped with crushed peanuts.
Now as for wrapping, this is purely for my sense of aesthetics. Wet your rice paper, arrange small row of the shrimp, with the Chinese sausage and egg omelet (pretty yellow side facing out) on opposing sides as shown here.
Enjoy! My other Vietnamese spring rolls recipes: Goi Cuon (Vietnamese Salad/Spring/Summer Rolls) Nem Nuong and Nem Nuong Cuon (Vietnamese Grilled Pork Patty and Vietnamese Grilled Pork Patty Salad Rolls) Who else made bo bia? Miss.Adventure @Home has a similar version.
Read more: http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com
Monday, December 17, 2012
Be Thui (Beef with Roasted Rice Powder and Fermented Bean Curd)
A funny thing has happened since I've started this little ol' food blog. Among the emails I receive, there's always bound to be one naming some dish I've never heard of before. And it usually goes something like this: "Kirk, have you ever tried xxxxxx? I don't eat it myself, but my (fill in the blank - Father, Mother, Uncle, Grandfather) just loves the stuff." I guess it's just a sign of old age, I'm getting lumped in with what "Dad" eats. However, this one came from a good "FOY" (friend of yoso!!!), TammyC. The basic gist of the email was that her Dad loves what she called "almost raw baby cow meat dip" from Cho Ben Thanh Market in Westminster. Not quite the most appetizing of descriptions, but TammyC knows my "tastes" pretty well, and recommended I try it out. I understood that I was a bit out of my depth here, and perhaps needed a bit of help. This, of course, was a job for the man we simply call "Beach"! Of course he knew exactly what I was describing. Always generous with his time, Beach agreed to meet me, and in fact took me on a whirlwind little tour of some of Little Saigon's little shops and eateries. It was a wonderful 2 hours, and will be the subject of a future post.
Our fourth (yes fourth) stop on the tour was Cho Ben Thanh Market.....and a plastic vat of pinkish meat covered with a powdery substance..... Be Thui. Beach explained that this version is roasted veal, dusted with rice powder, and is eaten with a ginger based dipping sauce and basil. The market itself is fairly busy, and the shoppers (mostly women) are pretty aggressive.
You haven't lived until you've seen an anxious group of women with tongs (not thongs) attack a steaming vat of intestines. The gentleman manning the register seemed to grow 2 extra pairs of arms as he deftly handled all of the transactions coming at him. Beach made sure I got what I came for, the gentleman covered his hand with a plastic bag, grabbed a handful of the meat, folded the bag over, and that was it. I paid, and fearful of what damage ladies with tongs could do, beat a hasty retreat.
After I arrived home, I opened up my little package and checked out my Be Thui.
Slices of very pink meat along with fat and skin, coated in rice powder and sesame seeds. I tried some straight out of the bag, and the meat had a chewy texture almost like that of cured meat. Being veal, the flavor was very mild, and though the fragrance had a bit of a "metallic" edge to it, it was not reflected in the meat, as the rice powder had absorbed much of the moisture of the meat, and provided a bit of a nutty flavor to the whole thing. The pieces of skin were on the crunchy side.
The real star of the show was the dipping sauce, made with what Beach said was Tuong Cu Da, a fermented bean sauce. According to Wikipedia the sauce is made in a town in the Hà Tây Province, which as of 2008 is now a part of Hanoi. It was the ginger in the fairly salty sauce that really shown through. Though the Missus wouldn't touch the Be Thui, she kept tasting the sauce. The combination of the dipping sauce and the basil gave the dish a very clean and refreshing flavor.
As Beach pointed out, this would be pretty good with a "cold one". Should you want to brave the "women with tongs" you can get Be Thui, and a whole range of Offal at Cho Ben Thanh Market.
Cho Ben Thanh Market
9172 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, CA 92683
I'd never had thought to try this without that wonderful email from TammyC, and Beach's(who should do food tours of Little Saigon) help. So thanks again to both of you!
Food Festival opens in HCM City
50 leading hotels and restaurants in 25 countries and territories are taking part in the 7th Food Festival in Ho Chi Minh City from December 12-16.
The highlight of the festival will be famous chef Martin Yan’s “Yan Can Cook” demonstration of food preparation and introduction of unique international gastronomy.
In addition, 100 watermelon lanterns will be created by professional cooks for Vietnamese Guinness recognition.
Other activities include making Vietnamese dishes from cooked rice paper, preparing Korean food and serving drinks with the participation of five-star hotel chefs.
Visitors to the festival can also enjoy art performances, folk games, fashion shows, traditional and rock music, dance sport, aerobic and Thai Muay.
The annual event, jointly held by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Tourism Association of the city, provides a good opportunity for the public to learn more about the cultural values of culinary arts from different nations, prestigious hotels in the world, restaurants and trustful addresses to serve foreign and local tourists in Vietnam.
(Source: VNA)
Friday, November 30, 2012
Banh Xeo (Sizzling Crepes)
Banh xeo recipe has been sitting in our queue for way too long. A while back, we had a small dinner party and made Banh xeo (Vietnamese sizzling crepes). We took advantage of the outdoors burner and were flipping banh xeo for our guests like street vendors in Vietnam. We were smokin I tell ya! Banh xeo is savory and delicate crepe made of rice flour, turmeric powder, and coconut milk and filled with various meats such as pork, shrimp and veggies such as bean sprouts or mung beans. Each region in Vietnam has it’s slight variation with the southern region larger and having more veggies and mung beans and the central region typically smaller, poured in a mode, and without the mung beans.
As in our report of Van Restaurant’s banh xeo, the distinction between a good versus a great banh xeo is the thinness and crispiness of the crepes. We have a few tricks up our sleeves to make ours crispy…the first is cook the bean sprouts ahead of time. Second is to use beer in the batter (totally unproven but we seem to think it does compared with water), and third, vary the heat and add a bit of oil during the cooking process as described below.
Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Sizzling Crepes) one bag makes about 10-12 crepes
Printable Recipe
Fillings
1 /2 lb pork butt, cut into thin slices
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts sugar
1/2 ts fish sauce
black pepper
1/2 lb of shrimp (medium to large size, deveined and peeled)
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cups of bean sprouts (in small bowl wrapped in plastic wrap, steam small batches in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes, drain and set aside)
Batter
1 package of banh xeo mix (basically rice flour either with turmeric pre-mixed or separate–we used the package above, but many brands are available)
3 cups of water or beer
1 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of chopped scallions
1/2 ts salt
Accompaniments
Whole green lettuce leafs, mustard greens, mint, perilla, basil,
nuoc mam cham
pickled carrots and daikon
small bowl of cooking oil
In a mixing bowl, combine banh xeo mix, coconut milk, and beer and mix well. Let the ingredients meld together for about 20 minutes and add green onions. Marinate the pork with salt, pepper, sugar, and fish sauce and set aside. Season shrimp with touch of salt and pepper and set aside.
Before starting to pour your crepes, make sure you have have plenty of counter space and line up all your ingredients ready to go–largest nonstick pan you have, a ladle and flexible spatula, batter, pork, shrimp, onions, and small bowl of cooking oil.
On high heat, heat 1 teaspoon of cooking oil in a nonstick frying pan and sautee a few pieces of pork–when it’s about 1/3rd of of the way done, add onion slices and shrimps since they are quicker to cook. Distribute the shrimps and pork evenly prior to adding the batter. Don’t use too much filling–you don’t want to overload the crepes.
Stir batter with ladle and add about 3/4 quarter ladle full into the center of the pan and quickly swirl the pan to evenly distribute a thin layer batter to the very edges of the pan. Try to go for as thin a layer as possible. You may have to adjust how much batter you use depending on how big your pan is.
Place a lid over for about 1.5 minutes or so. When you check the crepe notice that the area of uncooked batter in the center will get smaller and smaller (see above). When the crepe is almost completely cooked, the edges of the crepe start to curl up a bit and turn golden brown. Now take another small amount of cooking oil in a spoon distribute oil around the edges so the crepe gets crispy, won’t burn, and will be easier to flip (see how the edges are lifting off the pan?–below)
Now add the pre-steamed beansprouts to one side of the crepe. Turn the heat down to medium heat and place the lid over for another 1 minute or until gold brown. Using the flexible spatula carefully flip over the other half. When golden and nicely browned, don’t try to lift the crepe out of the pan with a spatula….just tilt the pan and slide the crepe over to a plate and serve immediately. When pouring the next crepe, add more oil as needed.
Unfortunately, this is something that doesn’t hold well if made in advance–no matter how crispy you make it, after some time banh xeo will lose it’s crispiness. So don’t have guests wait–tell them to dig in right away!
Enjoy with plenty of lettuce, mustard greens, mints, basil, and perilla. You can either break off small pieces of banh xeo and form lettuce wraps or combine all the herbs and break off some banh xeo and eat in a bowl. Some Vietnamese even wrap the banh xeo spring roll style with rice paper. Dip or dress with nuoc mam cham dipping sauce along with pickled carrots and daikon.
So that’s our trick to get banh xeo crispy, thin, and without breaking. What are your tricks? But while we emphasize thin and crispy, even a noncrispy and broken banh xeo is still delicious!
Happy Holidays and a Delicious and Joyful New Years to
Banh Uot ("Wet" Rice Noodle Sheets)
Bánh ướt (literally "wet cakes"), is a Vietnamese thin pancake wrapper[1] consisting of rice noodle sheets, eaten with nước chấm, fried shallots, and a side of chả lụa (Vietnamese pork sausage). This entrée is served in all Vietnamese restaurants all around the Earth.
Vietnamese Rice Flour Rolls: Banh Uot and Banh Cuon
A couple years ago when I put together my guide of Vietnamese Banh (linked below), I was confused about the difference between Banh Uot (opaque rice flour rolls), and Banh Cuon (translucent rice flour rolls) especially because there is also Banh Uot Thanh Tri and Banh Cuon Thanh Tri (rice flour sheets). Carb Lover's post about the chain Banh Cuon Tay Ho got me wondering about the differences again.
Photos of these 3 banh are below. I think I’ve figured out the differences, but I may be wrong so anyone with more knowledge than me, please chime in.
Here’s my take:
To start with Banh Uot translates to Wet Banh. Banh Cuon translates to Rolled Banh. And Thanh Tri translates to something like Threads or Strings. All three are made of water and finely ground rice flour, and that’s where the similarities end. Here’s what I think are the differences:
First, the wrapper: The wrapper for Banh Uot is a thicker version of the wrapper for Banh Cuon, and they have different fillings, and Thanh Tri is basically just the non-rolled, non-filled wrappers.
I’m guessing the wrapper for Banh Uot is made by pouring the batter into an oiled pan, filling the pan bottom completely, whereas the wrapper for Banh Cuon is made by pouring the batter over a piece of cloth that is stretched tight across a steamer, so the end product is a translucent and ultra-thin. You can make banh cuon wrappers with a nonstick pan, but you have to pour the batter as thin as possible, and even then the texture won’t be 100% right. And if you pour it too thickly or if the wrapper doesn’t come out right, you gather the bad ones into a pile, and you have Banh Uot Thanh Tri or Banh Cuon Thanh Tri! Now I’m really guessing.
Then the filling: Banh Uot is usually filled with marinated grilled pork (thit nuong) and (sometimes) Chinese lapseung sausage, and green leaf lettuce. Banh Cuon is usually filled with ground pork and thinly sliced cloud ear fungus.
Then the dipping sauce: Dark brown peanut dipping sauce for Banh Uot, and fish-sauce-based nuoc cham for Banh Cuon. Then there are the accompaniments: none for banh uot, and many possibilities for banh cuon, including banh cong which is another banh I need to add to my banh guide.
Okay. I think that’s it. If this is correct, I can update my Banh Guide.
Banh Trang (Rice Paper)
Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry. Rice paper (also known as Xuan paper) originated in ancient China and it has been used for centuries in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam for writing, artwork, and architecture.
Another kind of rice paper means edible paper made from starch and especially used for Chinese southern cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine.
Vietnamese 100 Foods to Try
1. Banh Bao (Steamed Bun)
2. Banh Beo (Rice Flour Discs with Dried Shrimp)
3. Banh Bot Loc/Banh Quai Vac (Dumplings with Pork and Shrimp or just Shrimp)
4. Banh Canh Cua (Udon-like Noodles with Crab)
5. Banh Chung/Banh Tet (Lunar New Year Sticky Rice Cakes)
6. Banh Cuon (Rice Noodle Rolls)
7. Banh Gio (Steamed Triangular Rice Dumplings)
8. Banh Hoi (Rice Vermicelli Sheets)
9. Banh It Tran (Round Rice Dumplings with Pork, Shrimp, and Mung Beans)
10. Banh It La Gai (Nettle Leaf Dumplings)
11. Banh Khot/Banh Cang (Mini Savory Pancakes)
12. Banh La/Banh Nam (Steamed Flat Rice Dumplings with Pork and Shrimp)
13. Banh Mi Hot Ga Op La (French Bread with Sunnyside-Up Eggs)
14. Banh Mi (Sandwiches)
15. Banh Pa Te So (Pate Chaud)
16. Banh Tieu (Fry Bread)
17. Banh Tom (Shrimp and Yam Fritters)
18. Banh Trang (Rice Paper) Bonus points for eating
Banh Tom (Shrimp and Yam Fritters)
A specialty of Hanoi, Bánh tôm or Bánh Tôm Hồ Tây (Shrimp fritters of West Lake), as they are known, are delicious deep fried shrimp and sweet potato fritters.
This recipe is from Hanoi-based Chef Didier Corlou, owner and chef behind La Verticale and the recently-opened Madame Hiên. Chef Corlou, born in Brittany and who first arrived in Vietnam in 1991, is a master of mixing combining French and Vietnamese ingredients and techniques.
Who doesn’t love anything that’s battered and fried? Banh tom is another Vietnamese dish originating from Hanoi and is made of deep fried battered sweet potato and shrimp. Along the Ho Tay (West lake) in Hanoi, you’ll find the original Banh Tom Ho Tay Restaurant as well as numerous other restaurants serving this delicacy. The orange color is from the natural flesh of sweet potato and a little bit of turmeric powder in the batter. Often served as an appetizer, banh tom is commonly wrapped with lettuce, herbs, and pickled vegetables and dipped in nuoc mam cham.
We actually made this appetizer to serve along with the mi quang (Vietnamese turmeric noodles) we made last month. It was a great combination and shows the versatility of turmeric. We also love a little beer in our batter–give that a try!
Sweet Potato Shrimp Fritters (Banh Tom) makes 12
Printable Recipe
2 large sweet potatoes (cut into french fry like slices)
12 large head and shell on shrimp, deveined (you can also use head and shell off as well, but we prefer everything intact for more crunch!)
1 package of tempura batter (several different brands are available in Asian groceries– just follow package instructions–but instead of water, we substitute half water/beer)
Pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon of tumeric powder
lettuce, herbs such as basil, mint, perilla, Vietnamese balm, pickled carrots and daikon
nuoc mam cham
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