Banh Nam Hue (or Rectangular Dumpling) is one of the top local foods in Hue City. Many people want to make Banh Nam after tasting it. So we introduce you to its recipe.
Ingredients to make Banh Nam
- Rice flour: 250gram
- Tapioca flour: 50gram
- Water: 500ml
- Shrimps: 100gram
- Lean meat: 100gram
- Banana leaves (to rap the cake)
- 1/2 coffee spoon of garlic and shallot
- Cooking oil, salt, sugar, seasoning powder, fish sauce, annatto oil (or a little turmeric powder fried with oil)
Recipe Guidance Steps to do Banh Nam Hue
1. The kernel of Banh Nam
+ Wash shrimps carefully, peel their shells, and mince them,
+ Wash and chop the lean meat to become very small pieces,
+ Marinate the above shrimp and meat with 1/3 coffee spoon of salt, sugar, seasoning powder, and pepper to absorb spices. You can add more or less these spices depending on your tastes, but the above level is basic.
+ Fry red onion(shallot) and garlic, then add the shrimp and meat and quickly mix to make them small, not stick together. Then, you add the cashew powder (or turmeric oil) to make the kernel have a red beautiful color. Fry for a while until you see the shrimp and meat cooked and drained, you turn off the heat.
2. The dough part
+ Rice flour and tapioca mix well with water, 1 tbsp of cooking oil, 1 tbsp of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. You note the ratio of flour and water must be correct, which makes the dough a little tough and soft. Typically, the ratio of flour and water will be 1: 2.
+ After dissolving the dough, put the pot of this mixture on the stove and stir quickly with low heat. When the dough is slightly thicker and turns into a clearer color, you turn off the heat. But keep stirring until the dough is smooth, and you do not see any small pieces or balls of the flour. That is great.
+ You wash banana leaves (you can use La Dong if any) and make them soft to rap the dumplings easily. The first way is to dip in boiling water quickly (please remember to add a little salt in the boiling water that can keep the green color of the leaves). Another method is to move banana leaves on. Then, cut the leaves into rectangular pieces with dimensions of 20 cm x 15 cm.
3. Wrapping the dumplings
You add a little oil on the banana leaf (on the non-ribbed side),
Next, spread a medium layer of flour on the leaf,
Add the inner of the shrimp and meat in the middle of the dough,
Fold the sides of the leaf, and curve the ends; the dumpling will be rectangular,
Then, place the dumpling on the flat and pat gently to distribute the dough evenly.
Wrap Banh Nam Hue with a ratio of 1 tablespoon of flour and spread evenly 1 coffee spoon of the kernel.
4. Steaming Banh Nam
You prepare a big pot and frame to steam Banh Nam Hue. Do not put them in the water to boil, just team them.
Put the dumplings on the frame of a pot with boiling water, and steam for 20 to 25 minutes.
When the dumplings are cooked, you remove them.
Tip: The way to know when they are cooked is to see the color of the dough. It will change from the strongly milky color to the slightly clearer and polished one, that is done.
Tasting Banh Nam Hue
You can taste Banh Nam when it is still hot or when it is cool. We recommend to taste when it is hot, it is nicer.
You can check the criteria for delicious dumplings:
- having a nice shape of rectangular,
- the dough does not scatter, and it is tough and soft, not friable,
- the color is clear with a nice color of the yellow-red kernel that is spread evenly on the dough,
- the dumplings have a good smell of shrimp, meat, and banana.
And, when you enjoy the Banh Nam dumplings, a bowl of fish sauce is served to make them better and tastier.
The fish sauce for tasting with this dish is sweeter and lighter than normal.
Here is the way to prepare the dipping sauce for Banh Nam: you slide chili and garlic and mix them with a full coffee spoon of sugar. Then, add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 2 -3 tablespoons of water to reduce salty taste.
All are ready to enjoy them!
