Friday, February 5, 2010

Vietnamese Pork & Shrimp Dumplings Demonstration (Bánh Quai Vạc Trần)



We did it! Our steamed pork buns and banana ice cream bars were a savory success. We labored for 4 hours in my cozy kitchen, hiddened from the pouring rain outside . . . an ideal setting to experience culinary delight.

There were 5 of us, eager and hungry to create something. Each of us made a batch. We made a total of 75 buns. Now that's a lot of kneeding, rolling, and twisting. When the steaming buns were done, they were soft, sweet, salty . . . just simply  delicious.  I guessed crossing my fingers helped.     The process of kneeding the dough and assembling the buns didn't take long but steaming took a while since we had only 2 steamers and each one could only hold about 8 buns.  Each batch took about half an hour to cook.  

One of my friends had an ice cream bar when she was at my house the last time, but there weren't enough for her to have seconds so she requested that I include this as part of the demonstration along with the steamed pork buns.  While the buns were steaming, we started on Banana Ice Cream Bars.   Some of us couldn't handle the wonderful and strong aroma of durian, so we had to make two different dips: Coconut and Durian Coconut. This serves as a great dessert to go with the pork buns.



uncooked buns

Our first batch of Steamed Pork Buns.

Next on the menu . . . a request for   Pork and Shrimp Dumlings  (Bánh Quai Vạc Trần).  That sounds great.  And for dessert,  I am thinking of Chè Trôi Nước (Floating Sticky Rice Ball with Mung Bean filling); this is my mom's best kept family recipe.  Are you up for it? 
Pork and Shrimp Dumplings (Bánh Quai Vạc Trần)


Until next time, feast upon these delicious imagery.

Chè Trôi Nước (Floating Sticky
Rice Ball with Mung Bean filling)

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed being part of the steamed pork buns and banana ice cream bars cooking demonstration. Loan, you did an excellent job prepping for the demonstration and your instructions were easy to follow. The food turned out very tasty. Can't wait for the next cooking demonstration!

    ReplyDelete