Vegetarian Banh Cuon

One thing I’ve been aiming to do with my blog is to create vegetarian versions of Vietnamese recipes. In the past couple of years, many of my friends have become vegan or vegetarian, and this made me realize how many of my recipes they couldn’t eat. As a home cook, my greatest joy comes from making food for my friends and family, and the fact that they couldn’t enjoy most of that food inspired me to do something about it. So this is the first of many vegetarian friendly Vietnamese recipes. This is my recipe for vegetarian banh cuon.

What is banh cuon and how did I make it vegetarian?

Banh cuon is one of the most well known Vietnamese dishes out there. It is a rice roll filled with some sort of filling, typically a mixture of ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, and onions. It is then served with fresh herbs, vegetables, and nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce). Banh cuon is typically not vegetarian. The most vegetarian it gets is when the banh cuon skin is served without fillings, but then it is dipped in nuoc cham which is made with fish. So ya thats where the vegetarianism ends.

With all this in mind, I really wanted to create a recipe that has a vegetarian filling and a vegetarian sauce, but still kept the spirit of the original recipe. So first I swapped out the ground pork for fried tofu. I then swapped out the fish sauce for soy sauce in the dipping sauce. All in all, the result even surprised my parents who are staunch meat eaters. The umami flavor of the soy sauce more than makes up for the absence of the fish sauce. The tofu also provides a meat-y texture that makes it a good substitute for pork. But the main surprise is this dipping sauce. I would say it is JUST AS GOOD as the original. I will definitely be posting it as a separate recipe.

Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

Banh Cuon Skin

• Rice flour & tapioca flour – Rice flour is the most important ingredient in the skin since this is of course a rice roll! Tapioca flour makes the batter chewier. Make sure to use regular rice flour, not glutinous rice flour.
• Room temperature & boiling water – Both provide the perfect temperature liquid for the skin.
• Vegetable oil – You can use any kind of neutral oil for this recipe.
• Salt – Brings out the flavors of the other ingredients.

Filling

• Tofu – This is the main ingredient in the filling. I used firm tofu for this recipe because it holds up better in the fryer. Soft and smooth tofus will fall apart during frying.
• Yellow onion – Adds sweetness to the filling. Good substitutes of yellow onion are white onion or shallots.
• Wood ear mushrooms – Wood ear mushrooms are the stringy looking things you see in traditional banh cuon. It tastes earthy like a mushroom and has a chewy texture. You can get wood ear mushrooms at Asian grocery stores or on Amazon. A good substitute for wood ear mushrooms are shiitake mushrooms.
• Soy sauce – Adds umami flavor to the filling. My favorite brand of soy sauce is Kikkoman soy sauce. I swear by it. To make this filling gluten free, use tamari.
• Granulated sugar – Adds sweetness to the filling
• Sesame oil – Adds smokiness and just more flavor to the filling.
• Salt & pepper for seasoning

Toppings

Toppings are optional for banh cuon. It is usually up to the eater what they want to eat banh cuon with. Traditionally, we serve banh cuon with lettuce, cucumbers, mint, and fried shallots. Other toppings you can consider are Thai basil, bean sprouts, and even carrots. Feel free to adjust these toppings to your tastes.

Making my vegetarian banh cuon

Making the filling

The first step to making this banh cuon recipe is to make the filling. First prepare the tofu. Place 2 paper towels on a plate and then the tofu on top. Place 2 more paper towels on top and then a large plate on top of it. Let the tofu sit for 30 minutes. This will help remove some of the liquid out of the tofu. Next slice the tofu into 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 inch cubes. Heat 4-6 cups of vegetable oil to 350 degrees F. Fry tofu in batches for 1-2 minutes until they are light golden brown. Place fried tofu on paper towels to absorb excess oil. Set aside.

Making the banh cuon skin

Next make the batter for the banh cuon skin. Combine all the ingredients for the skin in a large bowl. Mix and let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the water should have separated from the the flour. Pour out as much of the water as possible into a liquid measuring cup without pouring out the flour mixture. Take note of how much water you poured out and throw the water out. Add the same amount of fresh water to the measuring cup that was poured out. Pour the fresh water into the batter and mix well.

Making the banh cuon

Now you are ready to make your banh cuon! This is by far the hardest part to get right. The first few are always messed up, so keep trying if you don’t get it right the first time! I personally messed up 4-5 until I finally got one good one.

First make sure you have all your components right next to you. That would be the batter for the skin and the filling. You will also need to have a flat surface for rolling your banh cuon, a plate to place your banh cuon on, a 1/4 cup measuring cup, and a 8 inch non stick pan.

Heat the pan over medium low heat until hot. Use your measuring cup to measure 1/8 cup of batter. Pour the batter in a circular motion into the pan. Move your pan in a circular motion to ensure the skin is as thin as possible. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes until it is white and you can see the color of the pan through the skin. Once it’s done cooking, quickly flip the pan upside down onto the flat surface, so the skin comes out all in one go. This might take some practice. Let the skin rest for ~10 seconds so you don’t burn your fingers. While the skin is resting, pour more batter into the pan for your next skin and cover. Fill the skin with 2 tablespoons of filling and roll it up like an egg roll. Repeat this process until the batter is used up or the filling runs out.

Putting your banh cuon plate together

Lastly, make the scallion oil and vegetarian Vietnamese dipping sauce. Make the scallion oil. Heat 1/2 cup of vegetable oil over medium high heat until it starts to sizzle (1-2 minutes). Pour hot oil over minced green onions in a small bowl. Set aside. Make the dipping sauce. Combine all the ingredients for the dipping sauce in a bowl. Mix and set aside.

Now it’s time to put together your banh cuon plate. Add some banh cuon to a plate. Spoon some scallion oil over the top. Top with mint, fried shallots, cucumbers, and lettuce. Sprinkle the vegetarian dipping sauce over the top and enjoy!

My special vegetarian Vietnamese dipping sauce

This is the THE recipe I’ve been so excited to share. It is very similar to my original Vietnamese dipping sauce recipe but instead of using fish sauce, I use soy sauce. The dipping sauce includes soy sauce, lime, sugar, and garlic. Mix it all together and that’s it!! Like I mentioned, I will be writing a longer blog post about this sauce, so stay tuned for that! To make this sauce gluten free, use tamari instead of soy sauce.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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