Name: Steamed Rice Noodles Filled with Pork and Wood Ear Mushrooms (Bánh Cuốn)
Yield: Serves 4-6 as part of a Shared Meal
Cuisine: Vietnam
Ingredients: 125 g (4½ oz/1 cup) tapioca flour about 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) vegetable oil; 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) dipping fish sauce; 4 dried wood ear mushrooms; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pork terrine, sliced into thin strips (optional); 2 bird’s eye chillies, sliced; 50 g (1¾ oz/½ cup) fried red Asian shallots; 125 g (4½ oz/1 cup) rice flour; 2 Lebanese (short) cucumbers, sliced into batons; 1 bunch Vietnamese mint, leaves picked; 1 bunch perilla, leaves picked; 1 bunch mint, leaves picked; 300 g (10½ oz) bean sprouts; 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 4 red Asian shallots, finely chopped; 300 g (10½ oz) minced pork; ½ teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon fish sauce

Preparation info

Serves
4-6
as part of a Shared Meal

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Songs of Sapa

By Luke Nguyen

Published 2009

About

THESE NOODLES ARE MADE WITH A BATTER OF RICE AND TAPIOCA FLOURS. TAPIOCA FLOUR MAY ALSO BE LABELLED AS TAPIOCA STARCH - BOTH FLOURS ARE GLUTEN- AND GRAIN-FREE.

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, MY AUNTY FIVE WOULD MAKE THIS DISH EVERY SIX MONTHS. FAMILY WOULD TRAVEL FROM ALL OVER SYDNEY TO EAT HER BANH CUON. I CAN REMEMBER STANDING ON A MILK CRATE WATCHING HER PREPARE HER DELICATE RICE NOODLE SHEETS. IN HANOI THE NOODLES ARE MADE OVER A POT OF RAPIDLY BOILING WATER, WITH A PIECE OF CLOTH TIED ACR