Bánh giò - Vietnamese rice pyramid dumplings

By Helen Le Published: October 28, 2012

  • Prep: 60 mins
  • Cook: 40 mins
  • Ready In: 2 hrs 40 mins

  • Yield: 14 pieces (6-8 Servings)

A very common breakfast in Northern Vietnam

Print
Ingredients
Instructions
  • 89763To make the filling, soak the woodear mushroom in hot water for 15 minutes. Rinse well, remove the stems and chop finely or pulse to process in a food processor. Season minced pork with salt, sugar, pepper, chicken stock, minced shallot. In a large wok/pan on high heat, add cooking oil and sautee the diced onion till translucent, then add the pork and stir-fry untill no longer pink. Use a spatula to break all the chunks. Season to taste with fish sauce and sugar. Then add the chopped mushrooms and stir-fry for 1 more minute. Take off the heat and sprinkle more fresh ground pepper on top.
  • To prepare the banana leaf, tear the leaves into 20-25cm (10-inch) square pieces. Soak each piece in boiling water for a few seconds to sterilize and soften. Wipe with paper towel and stack on each other, inserting one piece of plastic wrap (same size) inbetween every peiece of leaf. Darker shiny side of the leaf should face down.
  • To make the dough (flour paste), combine together the flour, starch, and broth. If to serve immediately after steaming, use recipe #1. If to serve on the next days, use recipe #2. Stir well to dissolve. You can strain to avoid lumps. Then add 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 tsp salt (to taste).Bring to the stove and cook on high while constantly whisking/stirring.When the starch starts being cooked, it sticks to the bottom of the pot, lower the heat and whisk/stir more vigorously, until the batter thickens into consistency of potato mash.It could be lumpy, but that's ok. Take off the heat, continue whisking 1 more minute until smooth. Alternatively, you can cook in a microwave; just take out and stir after every 1 minute until the batter turns into a paste.
  • To wrap the dumpling, place one piece of plastic wrap under one piece of banana leaf to support. Fold 2 times (let the opposite corners meet) to form a triangle. Open to form a funnel. Add 1 tbsp of the flour paste, then 2 tbsp of the filling, and finally 2 tbsp of the paste to cover the filling. Fold and tuck in the edges to seal. (Please see the demonstration in the video)
  • Steam the wrapped dumplings for 20 minutes. Most likely the dumplings will collapse if to be unwrapped right after steamed. So, if you want to maintain the pyramid shape, let them cool completely to firm up. Then microwave 1 minute before serving to warm up. Unwrap and serve with ground pepper, soy sauce and chili sauce (siracha). You can store the cake up to 1 week in the refrigerator or a few months in the freezer.

***UPDATE 15/01/2018***: I made Banh Gio more often these days and figured out that I need more water to get the ultra soft texture of the dumplings, just like them in Hanoi. You need the amount of liquid to be 3 times the amount of flour (if to measure in volume). So I would adjust the chicken broth in the recipe to 9 cups instead of 6 cups like in the video. Give it a try!