Fawm Kauv (steamed rolled rice cake with pork): Banh Cuon

Here is one of my favorite savory steam rice roll cakes I love to eat called (in Hmong) Fawn Kauv also known as Banh Cuon in Vietnamese. Fawm in Hmong refers to a type of rice noodle and Kauv means to cover. So why do we call this dish Fawm Kauv? We basically roll the rice crepe over each other with each layer covering and layering one another. Makes sense yeah? At least that’s what my mom says hehe.

This dish is well know all over Vietnam but a lot of Hmong people love to eat it just as much. It’s so addicting especially with the sweet and sour fish sauce dressing but it’s quite time consuming making the rice roll cake one at a time. So if you have a group of friends over, make it together and catch up. The crepe is made from rice flour and tapioca starch and cooked thinly over a non stick pan for a couple of minutes and then filled with ground pork. It’s so simple yet it hits all my taste buds. Traditionally, this dish is served with fresh herbs such as mint, fried shallots, pork roll and sometimes bean sprouts. My mom loves to top these rolls with roasted peanuts, which I love too. Here, I’ll just be sharing a simple recipe topped with the fish sauce dressing and fried shallots. Simple yet drools all over! 

Basic Ingredients 

For the rice crepe: Rice flour, tapioca starch, oil, salt, and water.

Mix together in a big bowl

STIR FRY: Ground Pork

Diced onions, wood-ear mushrooms, cilantro, green onion, black pepper, salt, fish
sauce, and sugar. 

The dried wood-ear mushrooms I used. This is what wood-ear shrooms look like before
it gets hydrated. 

Cook the pork 

Add in the onions and mushrooms

Finish it off with the seasonings and herbs. 

FOR THE SAUCE: Garlic, pepper paste, vinegar, lime juice, shredded carrots, fish sauce,
sugar and boiling water. 

Mix well and store in the fridge until usage.

Making Crepes

8-9 inch NON-STICK pan

Ladle 1/4 cup batter in greased pan, cover and cook for 30 seconds

Flip to a greased flat tray and fill with pork stir fry

Roll the ends

Roll the bottom up

Repeat until all the batter is done! 

Serve with sauce and fried shallots

Stack it up! 

Fawm Kauv (Rolled rice cake with pork)

 Serves: 10-15 (Makes 60-70 rolls)  Prep Time: 25 minutes  Cooking Time: 5-10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• ------Rice roll crepe
• 1 pack rice flour (16oz)
• 1 pack tapioca flour (16oz)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp oil
• 14 cups water
• -------Pork filling
• 2 lbs pork
• 1 onion diced
• 1 cup dried wood-ear mushrooms (or use 1 1/2 cups fresh)
• 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp course black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup cilantro
• 1/2 cups green onion
• -------Dipping sauce
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cups fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 Tbsp white distill vinegar
• 1 tsp sambal or fresh chopped Thai chili
• 1 tsp finely shredded carrot
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• -----------------------
• Garnish with fried shallots
• A bowl of oil with a brush

INSTRUCTIONS

1) The sauce

In a bowl, add in the sugar and boiling water. Mix well until the sugar dissolves. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until you use it. It's best to make this a day ahead so it's chilled. 

2) The meat filling 

In a frying pan, add in the ground pork. Saute until the meat is cooked. Then add in the onions and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are soft. Then add in the seasonings and herbs. Taste and adjust. Set aside. 

3) Rice roll crepe

In a big mixing bowl, add in the rice flour, tapioca starch, and salt. Mix well. Then add in the water. Mix well to get starches from the bottom well incorporated with the water. Set aside.

4) Cooking, rolling, and filling

Have a bowl of oil and a brush ready. Brush a flat tray with oil so you have that ready for the cooked crepe as well as your non stick cooking pan. Heat the pan on a medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan and swirl it around until the bottom of the pan is well coated with the batter. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 30 seconds. Uncover and quickly flip it over the oiled flat tray. Fill with the meat filling and roll the ends and then bottom all the way up (just like a burrito). REPEAT THE PROCESS until all the batter is used up. 

MAKE SURE to stir the rice roll crepe batter once in a while because the starches will settle down to the bottom.  

 

NOTES

Add more acid to the dipping sauce if you want more tartness. Same goes with the spice. As always, adjust the seasoning to your liking after cooking. You can also garnish this with fresh herbs and also roasted PEANUTS! yum! You don't have to oil the pan each time you cook the crepe. I only do it when I notice the batter sticking on the pan. If you have a really good non-stick pan, you should be good for the most part.

Credit:  https://chawjcreations.com/

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