Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Dim sum classics and Vietnamese banh or dumplings

I was selected to write a post for Foodbuzz's 24, 24, 24 event this month - a fun thing they do every month to showcase 24 meals, over 24 hours, through 24 blogs.  Thanks Foodbuzz!

Many people are familiar with the Chinese dim sum classics - now meet the Vietnamese dishes and dumplings that share a lot of similarities and are seemingly inspired by them, but are uniquely Vietnamese!

We started the day with dim sum in Chinatown in Manhattan, and then had a few friends over to enjoy a feast of Vietnamese dumplings and dishes, all referred to as banh.  I made pork and vegetarian versions of four different dishes - banh bao, banh it tran, banh bot loc, and banh cuon.

Banh bot loc - tapioca flour pork and shrimp or vegetarian dumplings

Banh bot loc is another type of Vietnamese dumpling that is wrapped in a dough made from tapioca flour, creating an almost clear but firm and chewy exterior.  The traditional filling includes pork and shrimp strongly seasoned with fish sauce, sugar and black pepper.  Often, the shrimp are small and left with the shell on - they have thinner shells - but I make them with peeled shrimp instead. You can use pork belly a fatty boneless piece of pork shoulder, braised until a little tender but still has some firm texture and a little chewiness.  Once the pork is cooked, cut into small pieces.  I try to fill the banh bot loc with a small piece of shrimp, pork and pork fat.

For the vegetarian version, I've made a filling with fried gluten, fried tofu, shallots, garlic and enoki mushrooms and have braised it in a caramel sauce to mimic more the pork and shrimp version - the filling is pretty delicious and you can eat any leftover filling with some rice for another meal.

Banh it tran - sticky rice flour dumplings with pork and shrimp or vegetarian fillings

Banh it tran, or just known as banh it, is my favorite Vietnamese dumpling – made from glutinous rice flour and are filled with pork and shrimp, and traditionally, mung beans.  My mother never really made them with mung beans so I’ve grown up eating them with only shrimp and pork filling.  Some people use pork belly, like in banh bot loc, but our family always used ground pork.  One of the keys to great banh it tran is to use fatty ground pork so the filling is nice and juicy. Top with scallion oil and serve with nuoc cham.  I've also included a vegetarian filling in the recipe below and you can serve vegetarian banh it with nuoc cham chay.

The dumplings can be steamed or boiled, or also wrapped in banana leaves and steamed, which then are commonly referred to as banh nep and are pillow shaped.You may also see a sweet version of banh nep filled with coconut and mung beans - these are wrapped in banana leaves and often shaped into a cone to differentiate them from the savory banh nep.  Bot nep is the Vietnamese term for glutinous rice flour, so banh nep just refers to banh made from bot nep.

Banh it can be reheated in the microwave - heat them up in intervals and check if they are warmed through.  You want to be careful you don't overheat them or they'll deflate into a gooey mess.  If you're reheating a bowl with about 6 dumplings, cover so they can steam a bit and start with a minute on high, and then in 30 sec. intervals until they're heated through.

If you have leftover filling after making your dumplings, you can add it to some stir-fried vegetables and eat it with rice!

Banh bao and banh bao chay - Vietnamese steamed pork buns and vegetarian buns

Banh bao is a childhood favorite – and is an easy and portable breakfast, lunch or snack! The Vietnamese version of bao is very different from Chinese. They look similar from the outside but the filling is so so different. Char siu bao is the more common version you’ll see at dim sum – steamed buns filled with chopped sweet and savory bbq pork. Banh bao are filled with basically a pork meatball with a wedge of hard-boiled egg, onions, Chinese sweet sausage, and sometimes mushrooms and peas. Some people also include some chopped char siu, or barbecued pork, into their ground pork mixture though my mother never did. 

My mom used to make these with that standard frozen pea and carrot mix to increase the veggies. I always loved the peas, but didn’t love the carrots as a kid for some reason, so I make these only with peas, but you can certainly add carrots if you like. Some people also add some sautéed cabbage to increase the veggies but I haven’t bothered for the pork version. I recommend using petite frozen peas, which I think are the sweetest, and also, because I like making smaller banh bao rather than the huge fist-sized ones you find at the Vietnamese delis, it just seems to fit better to use the smaller peas. 

The vegetarian version that follows includes a mixture of tofu, onions, mushrooms, carrots, peas, cabbage and slices of vegetarian curry "chicken" - which is a braised gluten cut to resemble chicken.

Banh cuon - rice noodle rolls filled with pork and mushrooms or vegetarian filling

I made banh cuon yesterday as part of a larger meal of Vietnamese dumplings and I just couldn't put the time or effort into making the banh cuon totally from scratch so I bought the rice noodle sheets in Chinatown after we got dim sum - find them on the corner of Grand and Bowery - there are usually two ladies on the corner selling both the rolled up rice noodles (banh uot in Vietnamese), plain or with bits of scallion and dried shrimp, and then large folded sheets that you can cut apart to fill with your filling of choice.  Some Asian groceries also carry large rice noodle sheets frozen or in the refrigerated section.

I'll make the rice noodle sheets some other time and post the recipe but for now, here are the recipes for the pork and mushroom filling and the vegetarian filling.

Serve with fried shallots and onions, chopped mint, cilantro and basil, steamed bean sprouts (cook them in the microwave for a few minutes), julienned cucumbers, and plenty of nuoc cham or vegetarian nuoc cham chay.  For the pork version, also serve with some gio lua, or Vietnamese bologna.  You can find it in most Asian groceries that carry Vietnamese foods.

Nuoc cham chay - vegetarian Vietnamese sauce

This vegetarian version of nuoc cham is made with soy sauce and is really delicious - you'll be surprised how close it tastes to the traditional version with fish sauce!

As with all sauces, you can season to your own taste - it should be salty and sweet and garlicky - add water to make it a little milder if you feel it's too strong.  Also, if you're getting too much of a tang from the vinegar and lime sauce, add a little water as well - you may need to balance it out with a little more sugar or soy sauce.

Scallion oil

Scallion oil is an easy thing to whip up to drizzle over grilled meats, over Vietnamese dumplings, or over a rice noodles.

• 2 bunches scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Heat 1 cup canola or vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add scallions and salt and cook about 1 minute, then turn off heat and set it aside.

Leftover scallion oil can be used top just about anything for some extra flavor.

Do chua - carrot and daikon pickles

Do chua or carrot and daikon pickles

Do chua is used broadly for Vietnamese pickles, with carrot and daikon pickles being the most common and standard.  You can find them cut into fancy shapes or crinkle cut, or cut into matchsticks, like what you find on banh mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches.

I like chunkier pickles and cut my vegetables a little larger but you can cut them to your preference.  You can also include a chili pepper, or a few garlic cloves, slices of red bell pepper, some pieces of scallion or chunks of onion if you like.

Serve them as an accompaniment to a Vietnamese meal, on a bowl of bun thit nuong, or rice noodles with vegetables and grilled meat and served with nuoc cham, the all-purpose Vietnamese sauce, or serve with banh chung, the Vietnamese sticky rice cake served at Tet, the Vietnamese new year, or lunar new year.

Pureed zucchini and green bean soup

I was watching Friday Night with Jonathan Ross the other weekend and Jeff Bridges was on talking about Crazy Heart.  They talked about how he had to gain a bunch of weight, and then Jonathan asked him how he lost the weight.  He said that he ate nothing but a pureed soup of zucchini, green beans and parsley.  Growing up, we used to eat simple soups of boiled vegetables served along side strongly flavored stewed or caramelized meats or seafood,  kho dishes in Vietnamese (try shrimp in caramel sauce, or tom kho).  A regular soup at our table was made from onions, garlic and zucchini and a little cilantro, seasoned just with a little salt and pepper. I thought this would taste similar so made a pureed soup of green beans, zucchini, parsley, cilantro, onions and garlic.

There are countless vegetable combinations you could try, but I think this combination is pretty tasty and worked out well without much tampering.  I had a 1 lb. bag of frozen sliced green beans in the freezer so used that but you could use fresh beans as well.

Don't think of it as diet food - it's just a simple, tasty vegetable soup!  If you want to add a little richness, you could add a drizzle of olive oil or a little grated parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano on top.

Dairy-free banana ice cream

We had a bunch of pretty ripe bananas and I thought about making banana bread, but didn't really feel like baking.  So I remembered that a friend had posted something awhile back on facebook about freezing banana slices and then putting them in a blender or food processor until you have basically a banana ice cream.  So, I decided to give it a try.  My husband Rick really likes peanut butter with bananas so I added a little peanut butter and honey to the bananas.  I decided to go one Tbsp. of peanut butter per banana. It turned out really great and it's a nice guilt-free treat!  If you like a little salt to your sweets, add a little bit of chopped salted, roasted peanuts, or you could sprinkle a little on top to serve.

Shrimp in caramel sauce (tom kho)

It was raining all day and night here in Brooklyn yesterday, and I was trying to figure out what I could make that wouldn't require leaving the apartment.  I had some shrimp in the freezer and some cabbage and carrots in the fridge, along with some ca phao tom chua, or picked Thai/Japanese eggplants and shrimp, and chao (fermented bean curd) in the fridge (see the post below).  I decided to make some tom kho, or shrimp in caramel sauce, and a simple soup of boiled cabbage and carrots to eat with the ca phao tom chua and chao.

There are many versions of Vietnamese kho dishes - pork, chicken, fish, and shrimp as I've made here.  Basically your meat or fish of choice is simmered in caramel sauce, fish sauce, a little chili, and lots of pepper until the protein is tender and has soaked up all the deep flavors of the sauce.  Kho dishes are pretty strongly flavored as they're meant to be eaten with other dishes and vegetables.  If you're not super familiar with cooking with fish sauce, you might want to start with a little less and increase to your own tastes.  The sauce is salty and sweet with the concentrated fish sauce and shrimp flavors and has a little heat from the pepper - you want a little sauce left in the pan to eat with rice.  The onions and garlic become super sweet and also take on all the flavors of the shrimp and the fish sauce, and it's all great with rice and a simple boiled vegetable or freshly sliced cucumbers.

When making tom kho, the shrimp are cooked for at almost 15 minutes, which seems way too long for shrimp, but the shrimp take on all the great flavors and a meaty texture. You can cook them even longer until the shrimp take on more color, but we were impatient and hungry so stopped cooking them after 15 min. and they were still great.  Growing up, my mother use to cook shrimp in the shell and would cook them until the shrimp were pretty brown from soaking up all the sauce and color - they will get to that point after another 10 min. or so.

Simple boiled cabbage and carrot soup with ca phao and chao

Serve this simple soup as an accompaniment to other more strongly flavored dishes, such as kho dishes (see my tom kho recipe), as part of a traditional Vietnamese meal.  Serve ca phao or ca phao tom chua and chao on the side.

Ca phao tom chua is pickled Thai/Japanese eggplant, the small round white ones, in a sweet, chili pickle sauce with small whole pickled shrimp.  You can also get the ca phao by itself without the shrimp. This can just be served on the side as an accompaniment to any Vietnamese meal but is especially good with various soups, or canh.  My favorite canh to eat with ca phao is a simple soup of spinach, okra, and shrimp dumplings - I'll have to make it sometime soon and will post the pics and recipes.


Chao is fermented bean curd that can be found in a jar.  The bean curd is cut into cubes and jarred with a spicy brine, or sometimes a very plain brine.  The flavor is pretty strong and everything you might think something "fermented" might taste like - it's a little funky, and in full disclosure, Rick doesn't like it, but I love it with any simply boiled vegetables - especially cabbage and zucchini. Also, just a heads up that the brine might seem a little slimy but it's normal.  I know I haven't done a great job selling this to anyone that might be a little squeamish about trying new things but I did want to fully explain it and let you know what it's all about. It's a bit of an acquired taste - if you're feeling adventurous, give it a try sometime :)

Take out a few cubes of chao and put into a bowl and add a few spoons of the soup or liquid from boiling the vegetables and mash the bean curd into the soup to form a sauce.  It may take on a grayish color even though the bean curd is basically white when you put it in the bowl.  You can add a little soy sauce or a little Sriracha or chili sauce if you like or leave it as is.  Serve it as a dipping sauce for simple boiled vegetables, or to pour as a sauce over vegetables and rice.

The lobster story

We were in Chinatown recently and I asked my husband Rick if he wanted to get lobsters, to which he replied, "no."  It reminded me of the last time we had them and so I thought I'd share the story.

Rick and I spent a little time apart while he was in our condo in Chicago, and I was out here in Brooklyn, in our apartment.  My landlord had been really nice helping me put up shelves and taking care of things around the apartment.  He had dropped off cherries and peaches whenever he and his guys stopped by to repair things and already, we thought he was the nicest landlord ever!

Shortly after Rick finally made the move out here in September, we had been planning to meet up and grab dinner.  I got a call at work and he said,  "Change of plans. We're having lobster for dinner."   Apparently, my landlord had stopped by with a bag of lobsters just because - he's so sweet.

So, that night, we had a big 'ol lobster boil for dinner!

Chicken lime udon soup

This week, we were eating pretty simple dinners after getting home from the gym after work - a little meat, steamed broccoli and brown rice.  Early in the week, Rick made some Vietnamese-style pork, thit kho, pork simmered in fish, oyster and hoisin sauces, and then a few days later, I poached some chicken and we were just eating poached chicken with nuoc cham, and more steamed broccoli and brown rice.  We were starting to have containers of random things in the fridge, including more broccoli, the rest of the poached chicken, and the chicken broth from when I poached the chicken, and chopped spinach I had used in eggs for breakfast one morning.

I've just started getting Fine Cooking magazine, a holiday gift subscription from a colleague (thanks D!) and the new edition of Fine Cooking came to the office the other day. On the cover was a bowl of soup with udon, chicken, cilantro, scallions, carrots and a wedge of lime. I had some udon noodles and a bag of shredded carrots in the fridge too and thought, perfect, I can make this sometime this week.

Yesterday morning, I spent a few hours doing art projects with little kids and was starving when I got home.  So, rather than making the "chicken noodle soup with lemongrass" from the magazine, I threw all the random bits and pieces of things in the fridge together in a pot and called it a day - and it turned out great!  So, this recipe is really inspired by the cover picture of the April/May edition of Fine Cooking, but is nothing like the recipe, and the contents of my fridge - it's more a cross between a simple chicken vegetable noodle soup and a light Mexican chicken soup full of lime juice. I seem to always have carrots and broccoli on hand but you can use any mix of vegetables you like.

Chicago Restaurant Faves

Recently, I was trying to think of places I'd recommend to someone visiting Chicago and it made me think that it'd be nice to post a list of my Chicago faves. After living there for over 8 years, we've been to a lot of places, but there were always a few that my husband and I would go back to over and over.  I've left out a few of our faves that are apparently now closed.

Black bean soup with bacon

I soaked a pound of black beans Sunday afternoon and after cooking, put about a third of the beans aside to just eat with tortillas (try making your own homemade tortillas) later this week, and then pureed the other half with my immersion blender into a chunky black bean soup.  I like to cook beans with a chunk of smoked slab bacon to give the beans a little smokiness and richness.  You can then you can cut up the chunk of bacon afterwards and mix it in, or toss if you want to save the calories. Here, I chopped it up and added to the soup after pureeing the beans.

Mushroom risotto with seared lamb loin chops

It was my birthday last month, and every year Rick goes all out and makes me a birthday dinner. Past birthdays have included meaty crab cakes with a chili sauce, ricotta gnudi with wild mushroom sauce, seared scallops and all kinds of tasty treats. This year, Rick made me a fantastic birthday dinner of mushroom risotto and lamb loin chops.

He followed a basic risotto recipe and used a combination of shiitake and portobello mushrooms but you can any combination of mushrooms - wild mushrooms, creminis. You can also soak some dried porcini or dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water, and then slice and add to the mushroom mixture. Save the soaking water and carefully pour some of it into the risotto without pouring any of the sediment into it.

He served the risotto with a few seared lamb loin chops simply seasoned with salt and pepper.