Bánh bột chiên chay - Vegan Vietnamese Fried Rice Cake
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr25 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr30 minutesmins
Course: Gluten-Free
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Servings: 4-6 servings
Author: Lisa Le
Ingredients
For the Rice Cake
4cups400 g rice flour (NOT glutinous, just regular rice flour)
1cup130 g tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
1tsp5 g kosher salt
6cups1.5 L water
2tsp10 mL + 1 tbsp (15 mL) neutral flavoured oil
To prepare (this is per serving of the rice cake)***
2tsp10 mL dark soy sauce(light soy sauce is fine but it's a little too salty)
1tbsp15 mL neutral flavoured oil for the pan + 1 tsp (for green onions)
2Vegan eggs~1/4 cup/60 mL I used Just Egg, but you can also use FYH vegan egg or simply use your favourite tofu scramble
2green onionsfinely diced
1/4cupVegan nuoc mam cham
Instructions
For the rice cake
In a large pot, combine rice flour, tapioca flour, kosher salt, water, and 2 tsp oil. Whisk very well until everything is completely combined.
Over medium heat, use a spatula or a large silicone spoon to stir the mixture while cooking, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pot the entire time so no batter sticks and burns to the bottom. Once you start to see some of the mixture clumping up at the bottom, lower to medium-low heat and continue cooking until the entire mixture has thickened, with some clumps. It'll be a very thick pancake batter texture. If there are a few larger lumps, not the end of the world. This should take between 5-15 minutes, depending on your stove. Remove from heat.
Prepare a baking pan to be steamed (be sure it fits inside your pot for it to actually steam) by oiling it with 1 tbsp of neutral oil. Be sure to get some on the sides and in the middle of the pan. I used an 8 inch round baking pan with 2 inch sides.
Transfer the cooked rice batter mixture to the baking pan and either oil your hands or use a well-oiled spatula to flatten the rice cake into the baking pan as evenly as possible.
Steam (covered) for 45-50 minutes on medium heat to cook the batter.
Remove from heat and let cool. For best results, store in the fridge by coating the rice cake in a bit of more oil if it doesn't already feel oily to you. Wrap well in plastic wrap or an airtight silicone bag, this will prevent it from drying out in the fridge.
To prepare (per 1 serving)
Slice the rice cake into quarters, and then cut them into rectangles, about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thin and maybe 1x1 inch (2.5x2.5 cm) big. Each quarter of the rice cake is a pretty generous serving. Transfer them to a bowl and drizzle 2 tsp of dark soy sauce on top. Toss until everything is lightly coated in the dark soy sauce, this is mainly for colour.
In a well seasoned cast iron pan (or a non-stick pan), add 1 tbsp oil and fry the seasoned rice cake, cooking until each side is browned and crispy before turning. It's tedious but the end texture is very worth it. Street vendors will fry in a lot more oil and spoon the hot oil over the rice cake too cook all sides, but I don't have the bravery to handle that much hot oil haha.
Once the sides are adequately crisp, pour about 2 eggs worth of whatever vegan egg substitute you're using (I prefer JustEgg for this purpose). Rotate the pan to spread out the egg mixture. Flip once the bottoms of the egg are cooked, you can flip in sections, then once the egg is adequately cooked through, transfer to a plate.
Cook the green onions in the same pan with a tsp or so of oil, cook until the onions are bright green (about a minute), then spoon over the cooked rice cake.
***I listed ingredients per serving instead of the whole recipe because I don't really know anyone with a large enough cooking surface to cook the whole lot aside from proper street vendors