Banh Khoai (Hue pancake) is a unique fried pancake of Hue ancient capital.
The procedure is similar to Banh Xeo Nam Bo (the Southern Pancake), but different types of ingredients and skills to make Banh Khoai Hue special.
Hue pancake has a round shape, a small cast iron pan with a flat bottom, about 15cm diameter, about 2-3cm high.
While the southern pancakes are poured into a wide and thin layer after it is well-fried, the chef makes it into a semicircle, to cover the inside, Banh Khoai is thicker and more crunchy.
Now, we will introduce you to the way how to make delicious pancakes of Hue.
Ingredients of Hue pancake:
+ 250g of rice flour
+ 1 cup of freshwater
+ 1 glass of beer
+ 1 spoon of salt
+ A few stalks of spring onion
+ A little turmeric powder
+ 200g meat pie/roll
+ 300g shrimps
+ 20 quail eggs
+ 3 chicken eggs
+ 500g bean sprouts
+ 100g shredded papaya
+ Cooking oil
Sauce’s ingridents to use with Banh Khoai Hue:
+ 250ml soy sauce (made from soybeans)
+ 250ml of freshwater
+ 200g sugar
+ 2 tbsp of soy sauce
+ 2 tsp seasoning powder
+ 50g fried sesame seeds
+ 100g roasted peanuts, crushed
+ 2 tbsp cornstarch
Now we start to make the famous Hue pancake.
This step to prepare ingredients for Banh Khoai:
– Wash and steam shrimps, then peel their shells off,
– Slice the meat pie/roll into small pieces,
– Boil quail eggs, peel and split into 2 pieces,
– Mix the chicken eggs,
– Wash bean sprouts, and mix them with sliced carrots,
– Mix rice flour with water, add a little salt, and a little turmeric,
Now we will prepare to fry the pancake:
– To get a nice pancake, we need a small round pan. This pan is usually very thick to make the cake crispy and nice and to keep the heat longer.
– Put the mold on the stove to heat, add oil, wait until it is really hot, we start pouring a thin layer of flour all over the pan, if you see any holes, add flour there.
– Wait until the cake changes into yellow color, and add the bean sprout, carrot, sliced spring onion, shrimp, and the half of quail egg on the surface of the pancake.
– You may cover the top, just around one minute. This step is to cook bean sprouts better. Then, take the cover off. And, wait until the cake becomes well yellow, crispy.
– You use chopsticks or spoon to take the pancake out of the pan. Put it on the iron frame, or on paper to reduce oil.
Next step is to make the sauce (nuoc leo):
– Boil soy sauce and water in a pot, add seasoning powder, sugar, and soy sauce.
– Put the cornflour into a dish, add a little water, mix well to dissolve cornstarch in water.
– Pour this dish slowly into the boiling soy-sauce pot.
– Turn the fire lower heat; add sesame and peanuts, and stir them with the sauce, and then turn off the light.
– If you want to eat spicily, you can add chili oil above the sauce.
That’s all steps to make the pancake of Hue.
Hue pancake is tasted with nuoc leo – the mixed sauce above. In addition, it is also served with raw vegetables, including fig, star fruit, bitter banana, and green papaya.
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