Destination
Hue
The story
Bánh bột lọc is one of the classical small snacks of the Hue royal court tradition and one of central Vietnam's most-loved bite-sized dishes. A dough of tapioca starch is cooked briefly with boiling water into a translucent stretchy pastry. Small portions are pressed thin, filled with a small mound of chopped pork and shrimp cooked in caramel-fish sauce, folded into half-moons, wrapped in a piece of banana leaf and steamed. The finished dumpling is completely translucent so you can see the pink shrimp inside, and the banana leaf gives a specific vegetal aroma. Served in stacks with a small dish of nước chấm dipping sauce, fried shallots and chopped scallion oil poured over the top. Sold at every Hue food market and increasingly at central Vietnamese restaurants across the country.
Method
Warm oil in a pan. Cook shallots and garlic 2 minutes. Add pork; cook 5 minutes. Add prawns; cook 90 seconds until pink. Add fish sauce, sugar, caramel sauce, pepper and salt. Cook 3 more minutes until the mixture is glossy and slightly sticky. Cool completely.
In a large bowl, whisk tapioca starch and salt. Pour boiling water over while stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Add oil. Knead by hand for 3 minutes until smooth and elastic. It should be stretchy and slightly sticky.
Take a small piece of dough (about 20g) and flatten between two sheets of plastic wrap into a 6cm round. Place 1 heaped tsp of filling in the middle. Fold in half into a half-moon; press edges to seal. Repeat for all dough.
Place each dumpling on a banana leaf square. Fold the leaf up around the dumpling into a small parcel. Do not tie; the steam and pressure will hold.
Set up a steamer. Arrange wrapped dumplings in the basket, seam-side down. Steam over vigorous heat for 20 minutes until the dumplings are completely translucent and you can see the pink shrimp through the wrapper.
Warm 3 tbsp oil in a small pan. Pour hot oil over sliced spring onions in a heatproof bowl. Add salt. Rest 5 minutes.
Whisk all dipping sauce ingredients until sugar dissolves.
Unwrap the banana leaves and arrange the translucent dumplings on a plate. Drizzle with scallion oil. Scatter with fried shallots and coriander. Serve with dipping sauce and warm banana leaves as plates (the classical Hue presentation).
Tips
- Tapioca starch, not tapioca flour. Sometimes labelled differently. Tapioca starch is what turns clear when cooked; other starches do not.
- Boiling water into the dough. This partially cooks the tapioca and gives the classical stretchy translucent texture.
- Fresh banana leaves. Pass over a flame briefly to soften and release aroma. Foil is a substitute but the flavour changes.
- Do not overfill. One heaped teaspoon per dumpling is the target; more and they burst.
- Serve warm. Bánh bột lọc are best fresh from the steamer. Refrigerated ones firm up; reheat by re-steaming.
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