MISCELLANEOUS: If you have enjoyed these delicious snacks in Vietnam restaurants before, you would enjoy making them at home.

SAVOURY STICKY RICE CAKE--VIETNAM STYLE:

 

 

 

 

dough:

    3 cups glutinous (stick) rice

    1 cup + 2 tbsp. warm water

filling:

    1/2 cup dried mung (green) beans with skins removed, available at Oriental supermarket

    1/2 cup water

    1/4 cup minced pork

    1/4 cup shrimp, shelled, deveined and coarsely chopped

    2 cloves garlic, minced

    3 stalks green onion, green & white parts separated, chopped

seasoning:

    1/2 tsp. each salt & sugar

    1 tsp. fish sauce

    1/2 tsp. ground pepper

cooking oil

1 tbsp. bean paste

dipping sauce, see recipe below

 

 

 

Soak mung beans in warm water for about 1 hour to soften. Drain, rinse again then drain, discarding any brown beans.

 

To make filling:  Simmer beans gently in 1/2 cup water, together with the salt and sugar,  for 10 to 15 minutes. Check for doneness by picking up one bean, cool slight; then squeezing it between finger and thumb. Drain; then mash beans until smooth.

 

Cook pork and shrimp together in a non-stick saucepan over high heat until no longer pink; then add in rest of seasoning ingredients. Add bean paste and mix everything together well. Cool completely before dividing filling into 15 portions and shaping each portion into a ball.

 

Put flour in a large bowl; then add in warm water to mix into a dough. Knead until smooth and pliable, adding a little more water if dough is too dry. Cover with damp tea towel and rest it for 30 minutes. Transfer dough to work surface, kneading it a couple of times, adding a little more water if dough is a bit dry. Cut dough into 15 portions, shaping each piece into a ball.  Oil your hands and flatter each ball of dough against the work surface. Add a filling ball into the middle of each dough piece. Gather the dough to cover the filling; then roll the dough by hand into a smooth ball again. Use oiled hands to cover the dough balls thinly with a layer of oil.

 

Put dough balls on pieces of oiled foil or banana leaf squares if available. Sit balls of dough into large bamboo steamers stacked one on top of the other. Arrange steamers to sit on the rim of a large saucepan of boiling water. Cover the top steamer with a lid and steam for 15 minutes at high heat to cook through.

 

Serve hot with dipping sauce or "nuoc mam cham".

 

 

 

 

DIPPING SAUCE:

 

 

1½ cups fresh coconut juice or water

8 tbsp. fish sauce

6 tbsp. each fresh lime juice & sugar

6 tsp. rice vinegar

1 red chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped

4 cloves of finely chopped garlic

¼ cup finely sliced carrots (optional)

 

 

 

Simmer coconut juice or water, vinegar and sugar together in a saucepan over low heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add in rest of ingredients and mix well. Cool then serve.

 

Save left-over sauce in a glass jar and freeze until needed again.