Shrimp Cakes Galore!

Last week I took a whirlwind 5-day trip that covered all 3 regions of Vietnam and hit 5 provinces. One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to go back to Hue in central Vietnam. I was just there about a month earlier with my friends C and J who were visiting from the US, but this time was different...I had local Vietnamese experts with me to find the really great eats.

In my previous Hue post, I mentioned that the city was famous for their Hue specialities, but I completely missed the selection of banh, or cakes, that are quite popular. Now this isn't a cake like you're probably thinking about. That is the literal translation of the word banh, but depending on the second word, you could be talking about crackers, sliced bread, cake (like what Americans would call cake), cookies, and on and on. In this case, the "cakes" are made out of rice flour and they all contain shrimp in some form. Check out my pictures of each of the cakes, which are actually more like dumplings now that I think about it, and some brief descriptions. I hope I didn't mix up the names!

The first one I tried is the most well-known, banh beo. They are served in little dishes with spoons that you use to scoop the contents out. Inside was ground shrimp and it was topped off with dried pigskin to give a little bit of crunch. I ate way more than half of these little buggers.

My half of the tray of banh beo. The bowl not like the others
was a sauce you could pour on top with chilies for a kick.

The second treat was called  banh nam. This was similar in taste to the banh beo except it didn't have the little crunch of the pork topping. It came wrapped in a banana leaf. I was a mixture of a kid on Christmas morning unwrapping my presents and a nervous Nelly waiting to see what kind of oddity I was unraveling.

Ground shrimp on top and wrapped in a banana leaf.

The third goodie was banh bot loc. This was my least favorite of the group because it was really gelatinous and hard to chew. Plus, the shrimp inside wasn't peeled, so you were eating the tail and shell too. It too came wrapped in a banana leaf, but it was smaller overall and had a small piece of leaf tied around it to hold it together.

A little sticky--you had to peel the banh bot loc off the leaf.

And last but certainly not least is banh it ram. This one was my second favorite. The top part was a little too chewy for my taste, but the bottom little crunchy ball and the crispy pork skin on top made up for the chewiness. This one is a Southerner's delight! Fried dough and fried pig skin!

They should serve these at the SC State Fair!

Another great trip to central Vietnam and more delicious local food to add to the list of yummy (and some not so yummy) things I've eat in Vietnam.