Banh Bot Loc
Ingredients:
Raw Shrimp (ideally small but if not then cut them in two)
Pork (optional)
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 shallots
A handful of sweet onion like ⅓ cup? (Measure)
Spoonful point five of Sugar (spoon size is the Asian soup spoon)
14 oz bag of tapioca starch
3 little bowls of water (our little glass bowls but not the sauce bowl) (measure)
3 Tbsp. of olive oil
1 tsp. of salt
Banana Leaves or Aluminum Foil
Instructions:
1. Cut the shrimp into appropriate sizes. Smash two or three cloves of garlic. Cut pork chops into thin bite-sized pieces.
2. Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Mince two shallots and a small handful of sweet onion. Cook the onion a little before adding the garlic because garlic burns very fast. Add pork first to give it a head start cooking because shrimp cooks fast. Then add shrimp. Cook awhile. Add a spoonful and a half of sugar and let caramelize. Then add a spoonful of fish sauce and a healthy sprinkling of ground black pepper.
3. For the batter, whisk together the tapioca starch, water, olive oil, and salt. Put the stove on high. Stir on the stove, mixing it will help it to thicken just be sure not to cook it all the way through. In fact once it starts thickening, take it off the stove/heat and mix it. It should be thick, but moveable, sort of like a thick pudding.
4. If you use the banana leaves you have to pour boiling water over them to make them moldable. If using aluminum foil shiny side out. Take your wrap of choice and cut into about 7.5x5.5 size sheets, or similar. Swipe some oil on the sheet if using foil, it wouldn’t hurt on leaves either but it shouldn’t be necessary. Take a spoonful (again; Asian soup spoon) add a shrimp or two and a piece of pork or two with some onions/shallots. To wrap, take the two long sides and pull them up to cocoon it and then pull the edges together and fold it down and tuck the long sides underneath. Shape it a bit and fold the short ends underneath. (I’ll try to get a picture of the desired shape in asap)
5. Pile them all into a steamer for 40 minutes.
Should yield about 20-24
Serve with prepared fish sauce.
this might even be a little hefty, you can add more filling or less batter if you find the proportions are off.