Bánh

For the Vietnamese surname Bành, see Peng (surname).

Bánh
Bánh bèo, bột lọc, and nem chua
Type	Cakes and breads
Place of origin	Vietnam
Main ingredients	Usually rice flour, wheat flour, pressed glutinous rice, or tapioca
Cookbook: Bánh Media: Bánh

In Vietnamese, the term bánh (Hanoi: [ɓaʲŋ˧˥] or Saigon: [ɓan˧˥]) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", referring to a wide variety of prepared foods.^[1] With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savoury, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from rice or wheat flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.

Each variety of bánh is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that follows the word bánh, such as bánh bò (literally "cow cake" or "crawling cake") or bánh chuối (literally "banana cake"). Bánh that are wrapped in leaves before steaming are called bánh lá (literally "leaf cakes").

Vietnamese name
Bánh
Vietnamese alphabet	bánh
Chữ Nôm	餅^[2]

In Vietnamese, the term bánh is not limited to Vietnamese cuisine: it applies equally to items as varied as fortune cookies (bánh may mắn), pudding, caramel custard (bánh caramen), and sacramental bread (Bánh Thánh). In some cases, the word can also refer to inedibles that have a cake-like shape, such as car tires, bath soaps, and compressed tobacco wheels.

Varieties

There is a nearly endless variety of named dishes with the prefix bánh. What follows is a list of the most typical traditional varieties of bánh.

Noodles

Bánh canh soup

Bánh canh - tapioca noodles which are cut from a large sheet.
Bánh hỏi - extremely thin noodles that are woven into intricate bundles and often topped with chopped scallions and a complementary meat dish
Bánh phở - The steamed flat and thin cake made from rice flour and water before being cut into strips. The strips are not only called Bánh phở but also "con phở" or "cọng phở," noodles that are used in phở. The width of the strips is usually around 1cm or less.

Dumplings

Bánh tẻ

Bánh bá trạng (Bak Chang dumplings) - like Chinese zongzi^[3]
Bánh bao^photo - ball-shaped bun filled with pork and/or other ingredients
Bánh bột lọc - tapioca cake packed with shrimp^[4]
- Bánh bột lọc trần^photo - dumplings with wrappers made of tapioca starch; similar to Chaozhou fun guo
- Bánh bột lọc lá^photo - tiny rice flour dumplings stuffed with shrimp and ground pork and wrapped in a banana leaf; from Hue
Bánh cam - deep-fried glutinous rice sesame balls filled with sweetened mung bean paste; from southern Vietnam
Bánh ít - small stuffed glutinous rice flour balls
- Bánh ít trần^photo - "naked" small stuffed glutinous rice flour balls
Bánh khúc^photo - glutinous rice ball
Bánh nậm^photo - flat rice flour dumpling from Hue stuffed with minced pork and mushroom, and seasoned with pepper and spices; wrapped in a banana leaf
Bánh phu thê^photo - (literally "husband and wife cake"; a sweet cake made of rice or tapioca flour and gelatin, filled with mung bean paste; also spelled bánh xu xê)
- Bánh phu thê bột bán (husband and wife cakes made with tapioca pearls)
Bánh rán - deep-fried glutinous rice sesame balls filled with sweetened mung bean paste; from northern Vietnam
Bánh tẻ, small steamed rice cake wrapped with Lá dong leaves into a long, thin cylindrical shape, and boiled thoroughly.

Pancakes

Bánh xèo

Bánh bèo^photo - small steamed savory rice cakes
Bánh căn^photo - a southern specialty consisting of small pancakes made with quail eggs, cooked in small clay pans
Bánh đúc, rice cake or corn cake eaten as a dessert or savory meal
Bánh rế - deep-fried pancake
Bánh khọt^photo - a southern specialty consisting of small, fried rice flour pancakes
Bánh xèo - a fried rice cake with shrimp and pork

Rolls

Bánh cuốn

Bánh cuốn - steamed rice roll
Bánh tôm - shrimp patties
- Bánh tôm Hồ Tây - a shrimp patty made from deep fried julienned sweet potatoes - specialty originating from the area around West Lake (Tay Ho), Hanoi

Rice paper

Bánh tráng - rice paper
Bánh ướt - steamed rice paper

Sandwiches

Bánh mì

Bánh mì - Vietnamese sandwich

Sweet cakes

Durian green leaf cake Bánh da lợn sầu riêng

Bánh in nhân sầu riêng Sweet Rice Flour and Durian Cake

Bánh bò - "cow cake," made from glutinous rice flour and coconut milk, with a honeycomb-like texture
Bánh cáy, rectangular-shaped sweet dessert made by roasting and grinding glutinous rice and other ingredients
Bánh da lợn - colored steamed layer cake made from tapioca starch, rice flour, coconut milk and/or water, sugar, and other ingredients
Bánh đúc - rice cake or corn cake eaten as a dessert or savory meal
Bánh chuối - banana cake
Bánh khoai môn - taro cake
Bánh tiêu - hollow doughnuts^photo
Bánh trung thu - mooncake
Bánh khoai mì - sweet cassava cake

Dishes for special occasions

A plate of bánh tét, with mung bean paste filling

Bánh chưng - square-shaped steamed glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in a dong leaf (lá dong)
Bánh tét - log-shaped cylindrical glutinous rice cake, wrapped in a banana leaf and filled with a meat or vegetarian filling
Bánh trôi ^photo ( literally "floating rice cake") - served together with bánh chay
Bánh tô - a round, golden/taupe colored, sticky cake served for new years. It's made of glutinous rice flour, sugar, water, and soybean oil. Like the Chinese new year cake, neen gow, the bánh tô is cut into thin slices then dipped in egg and fried before serving. This is an uncommon pastry and it's said the shape represents a wheel. It is sometimes decorated with white sesame seeds and red food coloring. (cf Kue Keranjang in Indonesia)

Others

Bánh bông hồng^photo
Bánh bông lan - sponge cake
Bánh chay - served together with bánh trôi
Bánh cốm - green rice cake made using cốm with mung bean filling
Bánh đa (Northern) or Bánh tráng nướng (Southern)- rice cracker
Bánh đậu xanh^photo - sweet mung bean paste
Bánh dứa
Bánh gai - made from the leaves of the "gai" tree (Boehmeria nivea) dried, boiled, ground into small pieces, then mixed with glutinous rice, wrapped in banana leaf. The filling is made from a mixture of coconut, mung bean, peanuts, winter melon, sesames, and lotus seeds.
Bánh giầy, also written as bánh dầy - white, flat, round glutinous rice cake with tough, chewy texture filled with mung bean or served with Vietnamese sausage (Giò lụa)
Bánh giò - pyramid shaped rice dough dumplings filled with pork, shallot, and wood ear mushroom wrapped in banana leaf^[5]
Bánh ít lá gai - triangular dumpling wrapped in ramie leaf, similar to Chinese zongzi
Bánh kẹp - Vietnamese waffle cookies made from rice flour - like a Pizzelle
- Bánh kẹp lá dứa - pandan waffle
Bánh mật - Molasses-sweetened glutinous rice cake (filled with green bean paste or groundnut)
Bánh lá dừa - Cake wrapped in coconut leaf
Bánh phồng tôm - prawn cracker
Bánh phục linh
Bánh quế
Bánh tráng mè

References

↑ Richard Sterling Banh World Food: Vietnam Lonely Planet, 2000 ISBN 1-86450-028-X, 9781864500288 254 pages
↑ Taberd, Jean-Louis. "bánh". Dictionarium Anamitico-Latinum. p. 16.
↑ "Playing with My Food: Bánh Bá Trạng (Bak Chang Dumplings)". Retrieved 29 December 2014.
↑ "Hue Dictionary". NetCoDo. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
↑ "Mom's Recipes: Bánh Giò". Miss.Adventure @Home. Retrieved 21 September 2010.

External links

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