Name: Tiny Steamed Rice Cakes with Shrimp and Crispy Pork Cracklings
Yield: Makes about 24 pieces
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 2 tsp. Vegetable oil or rendered pork fat; ½ tsp. Fish sauce (nước mấm); ¼ tsp. Kosher salt; 2 tsp. Minced shallots; 1 tbsp. Tapioca starch; 2 tsp. Vegetable oil; ¼ lb. (113 g.) Small shrimp, peeled, deveined, cut into ½-inch (1.3 cm.) pieces; ½ recipe Scallion oil; ½recipe Nước Chấm dipping sauce; 1 recipe Pork cracklings, broken into ¼ to ½-inch (.6 cm. to 1.3 cm.) pieces (0.6 to 1 cm.) or store-bought chicarrones (available at Latino takeout places); 1 cup Rice flour; ⅛ tsp. Kosher salt; ¼ tsp. Granulated sugar; 1¼ cups Water

Preparation info

Makes about
24

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Southeast Asian Flavors

By Robert Danhi

Published 2008

About

Each country in Southeast Asia has some delicious version of small rice pancakes. These bite-size cakes represent a blank canvas to create a myriad of snacks upon. A slight variation, such as small grilled shrimp with chili sauce, or minced pickled veggies make excellent choices. Be creative and make up your own version.

These Vietnamese steamed rice flour discs have little flavor of their own. The dish’s flavor comes from fried shrimp and crisp pork cracklings, which are sprinkled