Banh Ran

Place to enjoy the cake: “Bánh rán” is a delicious finger food for breakfast in Vietnam. There are two main kinds of bánh rán, namely salty cake and sweet one with the latter being much more common than the former.

Banh ran is one of a wide variety kind of Vietnamese cake with a thin crust made from glutinous rice flour, normal rice flour, added pureed potatoes, stuffed with sugared green peas (sweet Banh ran) or salty Banh ran serving with dipping sauce. Two main kinds of Banh ran having one common is both deep fried to have yellow brown color and so crunchy.

Selected delicious rice will be soaked into water for 3 hours, then taken out and grind. Crust of  Banh ran should  be made from 3 parts of sticky rice flour, 1 part of normal rice flour. Mix well with a little bit of salt and some minced boiled potato to make cake crispy but not too dry. Keep the dough for 1 hour then shape the donut. To make sweet Banh ran, some sugar will be added into dough, and green bean will be steamed and stir fry with sugar to make fillings. After that, we easily shape small round balls, sprinkle on a sesame seeds plate, and deep fry by much of cooking oil. 

Salty Banh ran, a simple name to distinguish sweet Banh ran that is too familiar with Vietnamese. Not having round shape like sweet one, salty Banh ran looks like egg shape. When the rainy season comes, Hanoians find it so warm and interesting to sit at pavement in the familiar street corners to enjoy crispy salt Banh ran, especially in cold and windy afternoon. Does the cold weather makes people crave for a special flavor of fried food and Banh ran, of course is an indispensible dish?

It is considered to be more complicated on making salty Banh ran because of sophistication of the fillings inside. The ingredients to make stuff mixture are minced pork, minced carrot, vermicelli, wood ear, dried onions, spring onions, peppers. These are mixed before putting into dough. It really needs a skillful hand to put this mixture into dough and shape donut with shape of egg or round. After that, salt donut will be deep fried in cooking oil with low heat to make the crust crunchy and have eye - catching color of yellow brown but the insides fillings remain soft and keep the natural flavor of all ingredients.

The dipping sauce plays an important role in deciding the quality and formular is the secret of each restaurant. The dipping sauce is made with fish sauce, sugar, vinergar or lime juice, boiled water, peppers, hot chili, garlic which all work together in creating a subtle blend of salty, sweet, sour and spicy tastes. The bowl of dipping sauce is decorated with red color from chili slices, orange carrots, a little bit of white color of green papaya or kohlrabi. Dipping crispy salty Banh ran in the bowl of sauce and it is said that all ingredients combine harmoniously; apparently, salty Banh ran is more delicious when eaten with dipping sauce. 

Banh ran, a simple dish but is a memory of Hanoi. Let’s try Banh ran and you will understand why it is a popular dish not only in Hanoi but also everywhere in Vietnam and you will never forget its unique and special flavor.