Banh Bao

These are traditionally chinese and have all sorts of fillings. They are pillowy and soft to the touch and should feel like eating a cloud! I've made mine without fillings as I prefer it that way, but I've seen other food stalls make flat versions that have been filled with pork belly.

Ingredients:
500g Supreme flour
1 bowl of milk
Half a bowl of sugar or less
2 tablespoons of oil

Pour the flour onto a smooth surface. Make a well in the middle. Get your sugar and add to the milk. Stir until combined/dissolved. Pour the milk/sugar combo slowly in the well gradually bringing in more flour. Knead for about 2-3minutes then break the dough slightly in the middle and add the oil. Knead until the oil is incorporated. Knead for 5 minutes more. Make little balls and roll into a sphere. Roll out in a circle and join the edges when dough is thin enough. Give a final pinch when joining the middle as they can open out when steamed. Place on a small squared piece of greaseproof paper. Steam for 10-15 minutes (with no filling), 2o minutes (if filling).

Bun Rieu

You don't need the fried tofu but my mum likes to add it as an extra filler!

Ingredients:
Prawn or Crab
Egg
Tofu
Tomato
Vermicelli/Buon
Tofu (fried)

In a bowl empty a can of crab or fresh prawns (roughly chopped). You can add both if you want. Then add about two eggs. Mix like you are making scrambled egg. Add seasoning; pepper, salt, MSG and fish sauce. In a pan boil some water add quartered tomatoes in the pan. Then add the egg until it bubbles to the surface. Add the pre-fried tofu into the pan. When ready to serve, taste and season the broth. Prepare some buon and place in a bowl. Add the broth and tofu.

Banh Xeo

Translated as sizzling cake its a crispy, crunchy treat! You can have as many or as little filling as you like, but this is the one my mum usually makes.

Batter Ingredients:

Half a packet /250g Bot Gao (Rice flour)
Half a packet Coconut powder
2 teaspoons of Tumeric powder
Tablespoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Put all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Then add 2 rice bowls of warm water (ideally hot water mixed with a tiny bit of cold water). The consistency should be like single cream, so if it is too thick then add a bit more water. You won't be able to tell if the batter is right until you fry it up, so hold out on adding water until you have done a test run.

Filling ingredients:
Pork (bacon lardons or belly pork thinly chopped)
Prawns (de-veined and cut in half)
Carrots grated or thinly chopped
Beansprouts

Heat up a non-stick pan. Add some oil to a piping hot pan, leave the heat on medium high. lightly cook the pork and prawns, then pour some batter in and swirl around. It should make a sizzling sound. Add a small handful of carrot and beansprouts. Put a lid on top and leave until the underside is crispy. Put the heat on low-medium while waiting.

Won Ton Soup

Won Ton Noodle Soup

Use the BASICS: broth recipe to make the soup base. All you need to do is make the filling and won tons. You can buy the won ton wrapper in chinese supermarkets. Add these to egg noodles and serve.

Ingredients:
Pork (shoulder or mince)
Prawn crab meat optional
Chinese mushrooms
Thin Potato noodles/Mien
Carrot
Garlic
Onion

Blitz these in a food processor. Put in a bowl to spoon into the pastry. place the filling in the middle of wrapper. Bring the sides up and pinch in the middle. Add a twist to secure the filling. Once all have been made put some water in a small pan. Bring to the boil and add the won tons one by one. Wait until some have risen to the top and put in a colander. When ready to eat, heat up the broth add how many won tons you want. Once cooked through spoon into bowls. Serve with coriander to garnish. You can have noodles at the bottom of your bowl if you haven't made enough won tons.

BASICS: Broth

This is the base to most of the soup dishes. You can change the main ingredients to other sweet vegetables but limit to two or three maximum. This is a vegetable base but you can do it with chicken bones or pork ribs.

Ingredients:
Pork ribs
Carrots
Mooli
Water

Chop these into chunks and put into a pan of about 4 Cups water. Bring to the boil. Get rid of any scum on the surface and then keep simmering until the vegetables are soft.

Mi Vit Tiem

Mi Vit Tiem sauce
Cinnamon
Star Anise
Soya Sauce
MSG
Salt
Onion Garlic
Mit Vit Tiem packet

Dice the garlic and onion finely and put in a owl. Add the dry ingredients and the soya sauce to make it wet enough for a rub. Rub into cut pieces of duck. Leave to marinade for an hour. Fry or grill to give the duck a crispy coat.

Basic Broth

Use chicken bones or pork bones to sweeten the broth. Add a carrot and a whole onion for a sweeter broth. Once cooked add the lotus root, then the ingredients that need a longer cook.

Ingredients:
Dried Plums
Bamboo
Lotus Root
Chu Chu
Dried Barley

Warm egg noodles in hot water and put in bowls. then add the duck to the broth before serving.

Black bean squid stir fry and bong bong soup

Black bean squid stir fry

INGREDIENTS:
Squid
Red pepper
Garlic
Black bean
Oyster sauce
Coriander to garnish

Prepare the squid (use the tops left over from the previous recipe). Chop the garlic and red pepper into large chunks. Heat up oil in a pan, add the garlic and black bean. Add the squid and cook for about a minute. Then add the red pepper and cook for a minute or two. Add the oyster sauce and serve (with coriander on top).


Bong Bong soup

Roughly translated this is pig skin or crackling which is usually sold dried. You soak it in hot water until soft.

INGREDIENTS:

some small pieces of chicken/pork
Dried prawn
Carrots
Cauliflower
Shu Hao
Any leafy veg you have leftover
Salt
MSG
Nguoc mam

In a pan of water cook the meat. Then add the carrot to make a sweet stock. Once the carrot is slightly soft add the shu hao and pig skin. Cook until the shu hao is just soft (still slightly soft when you press a spoon on it) and then season. Then add the other vegetables.