With the right ratio of sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, a really good nước mắm pha can be good enough to drink.

Making a well balanced nước mắm pha is a rite of passage. Nước mắm pha, also known as nước chấm (literally, water for dipping) shows up EVERYWHERE in Vietnamese cuisine. Add the scallions last and turn off the heat. Since they are minced finely, it will only take about 5 minutes. Continue to cook and mix well until carrots are tender. When you no longer see any pink in the meat (about 3-4 minutes), add the carrot mixture. Break up the ground pork into little pieces with your spatula. In a large pan on medium heat, sweat the onions until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Then, add your carrots, preserved cabbage and shrimp to a food processor. Dice the onion and scallions while you're waiting for the shrimp to soak. Soak the dried shrimp in some warm water and set aside. Let this cool completely to room temp before slicing. Spoon the mixture into an 8''x11'' (2 qt) casserole dish and smooth out the surface. It will be the texture of thick vanilla pudding. Heat on medium, stirring constantly until the mixture is thickened. Mix together the water chestnut flour, rice flour, coconut milk, water and salt. Water chestnut cake with pork topping (Bánh đúc mặn): Step-by-step instructions For the bánh đúc As always, you can buy them online as well as at any Asian grocery store. They usually always require re-soaking before using in any dish. Because they are dried, the impart a very concentrated umami flavor to dishes. I keep mine in the freezer after I've opened the bag. These shrimp have been sun dried until they're very small, and last forever.

I wrote about dried shrimp in my recipe for Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup (Bún Riêu). This can also be found at an Asian grocery store or online! Dried Shrimp You'll need to rinse it first to get rid of some of the salt before adding to our bánh đúc. It's very salty, and is often used to flavor dishes.

Preserved cabbageĪnother ingredient you might be unfamiliar with that plays a starring role in this dish is preserved cabbage. It's a great shortcut! You can find water chestnut flour at any Asian grocery store, or online. The starch is a great thickening agent and makes a really crispy batter for deep frying foods too.īecause the texture of this flour is a bit firmer than plain rice flour, there's no need to steam the bánh đúc. Water chestnuts are boiled, peeled and then dried and ground up into a coarse, chalky flour. This recipe subs water chestnut flour for rice flour. This savory version of the cake, called bánh đúc mặn (mặn means salty) is topped with a carrot and ground pork mixture and drizzled in nước mắm pha, or a fish sauced based dipping sauce. The sweet dishes are usually flavored with pandan and served with more coconut milk. This past weekend, he got sick and was hospitalized, so I flew home last minute to visit him, and yes, I finally made the bánh đúc!īánh đúc is a steamed cake that's usually made with rice flour and coconut milk. I kept promising my grandpa I'd make bánh đúc for him, but never found the time. I see them much less now that I don't live in Chicago anymore, but I'd always visit on the holidays. I've always been very close to my paternal grandparents because they took care of me when my parents were at work when I was younger (My maternal grandparents were still in Vietnam at the time). This recipe is dear to my heart, because bánh đúc mặn it's one of my grandpa's favorites.

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