Bánh ít is a steamed, hearty filled dough made of glutinous rice flour, usually covered with banana leaves. If the leaves are omitted, this cake is called Bánh ít trần – “naked” Bánh ít. The filling can vary depending on the recipe. Traditionally, pork, shrimps and steamed mung beans are used. Depending on the family tradition, these are more or less chopped up, and some families also leave out the mung beans. Originally this dish comes from Central Vietnamese cuisine, but has now spread to the south.

Ingredients

200 g sticky rice flour
140 ml water
salt
50 g peeled mung beans
70 g minced meat
70 g peeled shrimps
1 spring onion
pepper
sugar
fish sauce

Instructions

Preparation

Soak the mung beans for approx. 5 hours, steam them and crush them in a mortar.
Cut the spring onions into rings.
Peel the shrimps, cut open the back to remove the intestine, tap briefly with a knife and cut into very small pieces. The flat knife will crush the shrimps so that they are easier to chop.

Pre-Cook

Put some oil in a pan, add the onions, shrimps, minced meat and spices and cook while stirring.
Fold in the ground mung beans.

Form

Form small balls of about 3 cm from the mixture. Instead of forming balls, the mixture can also be placed in the middle of the dough with a spoon.

Cook

Prepare a pot of boiling water.
Form balls of about 3 – 4 cm diameter from the dough, press them flat on your hand, place the filling in the middle, enclose with the dough and form a ball again. If the ball rises or does not close completely, simply add another piece of dough with a little water.
Put the ball in the boiling water and let it boil for about 10 minutes, take it out and swivel it briefly in onion oil so that the balls do not stick together.
The onion oil in this dish is usually prepared from spring onions and the onion slices are used next to dried, crushed shrimps to garnish.

Arrange

At table the balls are usually served together with a sweet and sour dip such as a vinegar dip or a pineapple dip.
These balls are usually eaten as a snack, but are also good to take with you.

Cook Vietnamese