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Bánh Bèo
Recipe by Tommy Pham
Try these Vietnamese steamed rice cakes with prawns and a mung bean paste. They have a pop of flavour with every bite!
- Steps
- Ingredients
Ingredients
Steamed Rice Cakes
Mung Bean Paste
Prawn Crumb
Prawn Essence Oil
Spring Onion Oil
Fried Croutons
Nuoc Mam Dressing
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Steps
- For the Steamed Rice Cakes, bring a wok of water to the boil.
- Place rice flour, tapioca flour, water, oil and salt into a large bowl and mix well. Add the boiling water and whisk until smooth. Set aside to rest mixture for 15 minutes.
- Pour mixture into 15 shallow 9cm diameter sauce bowls or ramekins to a depth of 1.5cm.
- Place 5 ramekins into a 26cm steamer base, cover and steam over boiling water for 6 minutes.
- Repeat steps 4-5 with the remaining mixture or stack 3 layers and steam all rice cakes at the same time. Remove ramekins from the steamer and set aside.
- For the Mung Bean Paste, place the mung beans and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium and simmer until mung beans are soft, approximately 30 minutes, skimming the surface of any scum as required.
- Strain mung beans and mash to a paste using a mortar and pestle. Season with salt and set aside.
- For the Prawn Crumb, marinate the prawns with the fish sauce, salt and sugar for 5 minutes.
- Cook prawns in a pan over medium heat with 1 tablespoon oil for approximately 10 minutes, constantly turn the prawns while cooking.
- Remove prawns and set aside to cool. Transfer to a food processor along with the drained softened shrimp and pulse until a coarse crumbly texture is achieved.
- Fry onions and garlic in 3 tablespoons oil until soft. Add the prawn mixture into pan and cook until a golden brown crumbly texture is achieved. Season with salt. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- For the Prawn Essence Oil, roughly chop prawn heads, shells and chillies then place into food processor along with remaining ingredients. Process for 30 seconds to break everything down.
- Transfer to a saucepan and bring to 120°C, over 15 minutes while constantly stirring and monitoring temperature. Strain oil through a fine lined sieve into a bowl. Allow the solids to settle then spoon off red oil on top and place into a small serving bowl and set aside.
- For the Spring Onion Oil, place the spring onion and oil in a saucepan and cook over low heat until spring onion is soft. Season with salt to taste and set aside.
- For the Fried Croutons, remove the crusts and chop the bread into 1cm cubes. Place bread and oil into a frypan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden brown.
- For the Nuoc Mam Dressing, mix water and sugar together until sugar has dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
- To serve, place ramekins of rice cakes onto a tray. Top each with ½ tablespoon of the mung bean paste then ½ tablespoon shrimp crumb on the paste. Drizzle with ½ teaspoon shrimp oil, then ½ teaspoon of the spring onion oil. Finish with 3 pieces croutons and dress with the Nuoc Mam Sauce.
