Handmade rice noodles filled with pork and mushroom

By: Luke Nguyen
From: The Food of Vietnam
Serves: 4-6
Photographer: Alan Benson

Apart from ‘pho’, this dish is one of my all-time favourite breakfast dishes. You have to get up very early to eat this dish in Hanoi, as food stalls serve this dish from 6 am to 9 am. If you are up early, check out Banh Cuon Phuong at 68 Hang Cot. If you wake up late, head for 101 Ba Trieu, the only place that serves it all day.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
2 tablespoons	vegetable oil, plus extra for brushing
2	garlic cloves, diced
4	red asian shallots, diced
300g	minced pork
4	fresh black fungus, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon	fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon	sugar
bunch	perilla, leaves picked
bunch	vietnamese mint, leaves picked
bunch	mint, leaves picked
2 handfuls	bean sprouts
2 tablespoons	* fried red asian shallots [rid:8086]
2	lebanese cucumbers, sliced into batons
250ml	* nuoc mam cham dipping sauce [rid:8084]
2	red bird’s eye chillies, sliced

Batter

Quantity	Ingredient
200g	rice flour
60g	tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon	sea salt

Method

Put the batter ingredients in a mixing bowl with 600 ml cold water. Whisk to a smooth batter, then allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Heat a wok over medium heat, then add the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Fry the garlic and shallot for 30 seconds, or until fragrant, then add the pork, mushrooms, fish sauce, sugar and a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir-fry for 4 minutes, then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Brush a round tray with vegetable oil and place it on your bench next to the stove. Heat a thin 20 cm non-stick frying pan over low heat and brush with oil. Pour 3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan, turning the pan quickly ina circular motion to cover the base with a thin layer of batter — the thinner the better!
Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 45 seconds.
Remove the lid and slide the thin noodle sheet onto your oiled tray. Scoop 1 tablespoon of pork mixture onto the noodle sheet, then fold over to form an open-ended roll. Transfer to a plate.
Repeat this process using the remaining batter and pork mixture, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.
Top the rolls with the herbs, bean sprouts, fried shallots and cucumber. Drizzle with the nuoc mam cham, garnish with the chilli and serve.