YummY Vietnam

When it comes to Banh gio (Vietnamese rice and pork pyramid dumpling), many people remember the unforgettable scent made up of rice flour, the sweetness of ground pork, shiitake mushroom, wood ear mushroom, and red shallot. With many Vietnamese people, Banh gio is one of the common dishes chosen for breakfast and sold in anywhere in Vietnam from crowded markets to street-food stands around school or office.

Unlike other dumplings, Vietnamese rice and pork pyramid dumpling is often made with a unique shape like pyramids and wrapped by banana leaf. This cake is wrapped immediately when the batter is still hot; therefore, when steaming, it becomes mushy and tasty. When you peel off the wrapper, it has the aroma of banana leaf and its crust is smooth and not broken.

Although it is a rural dish, it brings eaters the elegance and courtesy of Hanoi people. Do not be hurry when eating Banh gio, just enjoy small pieces gradually to enjoy the aroma of the filling with meat, pepper, and crunchy wood ear mushroom.

In Hanoi, you can enjoy Vietnamese rice and pork pyramid dumpling in many address famous for the traditional flavor such as: Thuy Khue, Nguyen Cong Tru, Dong Cac,…However, you can easily make Vietnamese rice and pork pyramid dumpling by yourself with the Banh gio recipe right below.

Ingredients for making 7 dumplings include:

For the crust:

• 200 gr rice flour
• 50gr tapioca flour
• 1 liter of pork bone broth
• Stock powder
• 2 teaspoons of cooking oil.

For the filling

• 200 gr ground pork
• 2 bulbs red shallot
• 1 handful of wood ear mushroom
• 5-6 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• Seasoning, ground pepper.
• Banana leaves
• Chili sauce

Steps making Vietnamese rice and pork pyramid dumpling

Making the crust:

Step 1:

Firstly, scrub banana leaves clearly then dip banana leaves into hot or boiling water to make it soften and easy to wrap. After that, take banana leaves out to drain.

Step 2:

Add tapioca flour, rice flour, seasoning into a pot then add pork bone broth, cooking oil and stir well until the flour is melted. Taking 30 minutes to rest the flour.

Step 3:

After 30 minutes, Stir the mixture well before cooking.

Turn on the stove and cook the mixture. While cooking, stir the mixture constantly until the mixture getting consistent. Keeping stir vigorously to get the smooth batter.

Turn off the stove and set the batter aside.

Making the filling:

Step 4:

Rinse wood ear mushroom and shiitake mushroom and soak them for 15 minutes to make them soften then chopping them and the red shallot.

Step 5:

Add ground pork into a large bowl, add some seasoning powder, ground pepper, salt and mix them and marinate for 15 minutes to absorb the seasoning.

Step 6:

Add 2 teaspoon of cooking oil into a pan and cook on the medium heat.

Add chopped red shallot into the pan and fry until getting the aroma then add the ground pork and stir well to dissolve it.

Add wood ear mushroom, shiitake mushroom, a little fish sauce to fit your taste then stir well to make the filling cooked.

Step 7: Wrap the dumplings

Place a cling film on the table, the next is a squared piece of banana leaf.

Fold twice diagonally (let the opposite corners meet) then pull out to form a funnel.

Take a spoon of batter to spread around the banana leaf, then ladle the filling place inside the batter, finally ladle a spoon of batter to cover the filling.

Fold the rest of banana leaves to cover all the dumplings.

Step 8:

Continue doing the step 7 until running out of the ingredients.

After finishing wrapping step, place all the dumplings into steamer. With this way, you don’t need to tighten the dumplings.

Step 9:

Place steamer on the stove and turn on the heat. Steam the dumplings for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take the dumplings out and place on the plate. You can serve this dumpling with chili sauce.

If you don’t enjoy the dumplings immediately, you can preserve them in fridge and steam again when eating.