Tag Archives: vegan vietnamese food

Vegan bánh cuốn

11 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by in Chinese, gluten free, healthy, quick and awesome, rice, rice noodles, Sauces, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

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Or cheung fun (dim sum). Vietnamese bánh cuốn is usually filled with shrimp or ground pork. I’ve had these shiny, slippery rice noodles plain, served with nothing but a yummy sauce in dim sum restaurants. They were good but I knew there were better vegan options out there.

Experimenting at home, I tried a few different vegan versions–simple avocado and basil, edamame, fried tofu, a mixture of mushrooms, ginger and macadamia nuts sauteed in sesame oil and soy sauce (the winner!), and finally, a vegetarian version with a fried egg sliced into strips. These were all good. Experiment and see what tasty filling you come up with.

If you’ve never made banh cuon or cheung fun before, I recommend watching a few youtube videos or learning from a friend. I just really wanted to make and eat these, so taught myself with youtube, but I do not pretend to be an expert. If you can’t find the premade mix of flour, you can make your own with rice flour and cornstarch. But I’m sure if you have an Asian market near you, you will be able to find this ‘bot banh cuon‘.

Ingredients
serves 2
(increase proportions for more servings, 1 cup of flour makes about 6 rice noodle rolls)
1 cup rice noodle flour (bot banh cuon)
1 cup cold water
olive oil

for sauteed mushroom and nut filling
mushrooms, sliced
cashews or macadamias, finely chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 equal-sized piece of minced ginger
avocado sliced
1 tsp mushroom soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar

to serve
mushroom soy sauce or soy sauce
sweet chili sauce
chili oil
cilantro or spring onion garnish

To make
Note: There are 2 ways to do this–in a steamer with muslin (youtube video here) or in a non-stick frying pan (youtube video here. These are a pork version so skip to minute 3:18). I chose the frying pan method as I found it easiest and this is what I will describe.

1) Prepare the filling first. Either use a simple filling of fried tofu and avocado with fresh herbs like basil and mint. OR, heat up a little oil in a frying pan and quickly sautee sliced mushrooms, ginger, garlic, chopped nuts and sugar until golden. Add a small splash of mushroom soy sauce and mix. Set aside and get started on the rice noodles.
2) If using the packaged mix of rice flour and cornstarch, mix it with water, a drop of oil and whisk until there are no lumps.
3) On medium heat, heat up a nonstick frying pan and rub it with a tiny bit of oil. Pour one ladle of the batter into the frying pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Cover with a lid and steam for about 1 minute until the rice noodle roll is cooked.
4) While cooking, rub a little oil onto a clean work surface. Turn the frying pan upside down onto your work surface swiftly. The rice noodle should fall out easily onto the work surface. Straighten it out and use a table spoon to place the filling of your choice onto the middle of the rice noodle. Fold a little of one side over the edge of the filling. Fold a little of the other side over. This is so that when you roll it up, the filling will not fall out the sides. Then fold the top half over and continue rolling up the entire rice noodle.
5) Place on a platter and continue cooking the rest.
6) Serve with garnish and sauce of your choice (either drizzled over or on the side).

Enjoy!!

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Vegan pho

07 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by in gluten free, healthy, soup, spices, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

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If you don't already have all these whole spices, you can pick up a cute little packet like this in an Asian grocery.

If you don’t already have all these whole spices, you can pick up a cute little packet like this in an Asian grocery.

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They said it couldn’t be done!

Ok, ok. ONE person told me it couldn’t be done. In kind of a patronizing way. So I say to that one person: PHBLTTT! In any case, there are Buddhist Vietnamese who have vegan pho once in a while themselves, so this is already a thing.

I am a little sad that I used the last of my flat rice noodles in a spicy coconut soup, so my pho has — ahem– somen noodles in it instead. WHA?? I know, I know. But just look past the noodles! Look at the broth, the cilantro, the chilies instead! We do what we can after all. We do what we can…

Behold, my vegan pho recipe!

Ingredients
Serves 4 small bowls or 2 large bowls

for the broth
6 cups vegetable stock (or 6 cups water, one vegetable boullion cube)
2 inch piece of ginger
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
6 dried mushrooms (such as shitake)
1 palm-size piece of dried kelp (kombu)
4 tbs quality light soy sauce (light in color, not in sodium)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp rock sugar (or palm sugar or jaggery)
2 star anise
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves
3 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds
1/2 tsp szechuan peppercorns
1/4 tsp black peppercorns

For the soup
flat rice noodles (Bánh Phở Tươi)
tofu (optional)
mushrooms (optional)
1 red or green chili, sliced thinly
1/2 raw onion, sliced thinly and soaked in water
2 spring onion, sliced thinly
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup bean sprouts
wedge of lime

1) Start the vegan pho broth by charring the onion and ginger. Keep the skin on both and place on a grill over an open flame. Turn the ceiling fan on for this one! No worries if the onion skin lights on fire and floats away as onion ash. Cook the onion and ginger on all sides for about 10 or 15 minutes. Rinse in warm water and rub the blackened skin off. The onion and ginger will be warm and soft and smell amazing. Cut the onion in quarters. Smash the ginger and chop it into a few pieces.
2) In a small frying pan, dry roast the spices (star anise, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, coriander and peppercorns) until fragrant.
3) Bring the 6 cups of veggie stock to boil and adding the garlic, kelp, charred onion and ginger, dried mushrooms, and spices, soy sauce, salt and rock sugar.
4) Simmer about 20 minutes. Strain all the vegetables and whole spices from the broth, but reserve the mushrooms.
5) While the broth is simmering, prepare the noodles and soup toppings.
6) For the flat rice noodles (Bánh Phở Tươi), you can use dried or fresh (look for them in the refridgerated section of Asian grocery). Cook the noodles according to the instructions, then set aside.
7) Wash and chop all the fresh vegetables, such as cilantro, spring onion, raw white onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, chilies and wedge of lime.
8) When the broth is ready and strained, return it to the heat and bring to a simmer again. Get your bowls, noodles and veg all ready. Use a large spoon strainer to dip a serving of the noodles into the hot broth to reheat, then place the (now hot) noodles into the bowl. Heat the tofu, mushrooms and bean sprouts this way too if you like.
9) Top the hot noodles with plenty of broth, the vegetables (cilantro, onion, chilies, etc) and a wedge of lime. Repeat for as many bowls as you are making.

YUM!!!

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Don't look too close--I used the wrong noodles!

Don’t look too close–I used the wrong noodles!