Bánh bột lọc are small, clear-looking, chewy tapioca

dumpling Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

s in

Vietnamese cuisine Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes (): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and Piquant, spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more ...

that can be eaten as appetizers or small snacks. They are usually filled with shrimp and pork belly, often being topped with fried shallots and served with sweet chili fish sauce. They are said to have originated from

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

, as the city was once the imperial capital of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

and known for having simple, yet sophisticated dishes.

Etymology

The dish's name is believed to have come from its clear, dumpling-like appearance, as the term
bánh bột lọc Huế
' loosely translates to "clear flour cake." In Vietnamese, the word ''

bánh In Vietnamese, the term ''bánh'' ( or , Chữ Nôm: 餅) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, ' ...

'' can mean "cake" or "bread," but can also be used as a general term for foods that are made from any type of flour, the most common being rice or tapioca. ''Bột'' literally means flour, although it does not specify the type, and ''lọc'' means "refine" or "clarify."

Variation

Bánh bột lọc can either be steamed or boiled and wrapped with or without banana leaf. With the banana leaf wrapping, it is called ''bánh bột lọc lá'', meaning "clear flour cake with leaf." Without the banana leaf wrapping, it is called ''bánh bột lọc trần'', meaning "clear flour cake bare." The filling is traditionally a whole grilled shrimp with the shell on and a slice of pork belly, but variations have had the filling be shrimp without the shell, no pork belly, ground pork, mushrooms, and onions. In addition to tapioca flour, corn starch and rice flour have also been known to be added in the making of the translucent wrapper.

Production

Bánh bột lọc trần is made by adding boiling water into tapioca starch, then mixing and kneading until a smooth, soft, and elastic dough is formed. The dough is then divided into small balls and flattened, where the filling is placed in the middle. The dough gets folded over the filling and the edges pinched together to seal the filling in and creating a dumpling shape. The dumplings are either steamed or cooked in boiling water, then drained and rinsed with cold water. Making bánh bột lọc lá is similar to making bánh bột lọc trần. The dough is placed in blanched banana leaves, some filling is added in the center, and then some more dough is placed on top to cover the filling. The banana leaves are then wrapped tightly and tied together with small strands of banana leaf before being steamed. Regardless of the method, the dish can be frozen for later use.

References

External links

Video showing how ''bánh bột lọc trần'' is made

Video showing how ''bánh bột lọc lá'' is made
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banh bot loc Vietnamese dumplings Steamed foods Vietnamese pork dishes Vietnamese seafood dishes Bánh Cassava dishes

Etymology

Variation

Production

See also

References

External links