This is a delicious Vietnamese dessert called steamed rice cakes also known as banh bo. When I was little, my grandma used to make this for me (minus the coconut milk). There is a chinese version to this cake that doesn't use coconut milk.
Many years ago when I tried to learn how to make this dessert, I failed miserably 13 times. On my 14th attempt, I finally got the beautiful honeycombs in my steamed rice cake. Oh boy, what a journey that was! The key to this recipe is PATIENCE!!!! Do not rush anything otherwise, you'll end up with a flat and unflattering cake. I also found that the secret to nice honeycombs is also in the preparation of the first step. It is critical that you have a good solid container.
Ingredients
1 - 16 oz bag rice flour
2 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 package yeast or 2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 - 13 oz can coconut milk (the cooking kind is preferred, do not use dessert coconut milk)
1 3/4 cup sugar (adjust sugar to your liking)
1 cup water
gallon ice cream bucket or other airtight container
Step 1
Add 2 cups warm water, yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar to an ice cream bucket. Mix.
Add rice flour and mix.
Close lid, set aside for 5 - 10 hours (or overnight). The batter will rise and fall. The longer you keep it in the container, the stronger the flavor.
Step 2
In a small pot, add 1 cup water, coconut milk, and the sugar. Heat on medium until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil.
Set aside for 10-15 minutes until cool.
Mixing it all together
Using a whisk, stir the batter to loosen it from the ice cream bucket.
Add the syrup from step 2 to the batter. Mix. It will become the consistency like milk.
Close lid.
Set aside for 1 hour.
After 1 hour
Open lid and you will see tiny air bubbles form.
If you want to make multiple colors, separate the mixture into equal parts. Add food coloring of your choice. Skip this step if you don't want color.
Heat a steamer to boiling and place a metal pie pan. Make sure the metal pie pan is hot before you pour in the mixture.
Steam on high for about 15-20 minutes.
When the rice cake is done, the top surface should be solid.
Remove from steamer and place into a freezer for about 10-15 minutes until cool.
Transfer onto plate and cut. Serve
I hope you try this recipe and let me know how it turns out for you!
Variations!
Steam in tart molds
Cut up the bottom of soda cans and use as a mold. It has a unique shape!
Sweet pork is a very popular dish at Hmong family gatherings. This is a popular dish in Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, and the Phillippines. I will show you how I make my version of sweet pork. It's very simple and easy! We call this in Hmong nqaj qaab zib or nqaij qab zib.
I'll be very straight forward and honest, no one was willing to teach me this recipe. Everytime I asked someone to show me how they made this dish, they would tell me it was very hard and complicated or they would tell me only half of the recipe. So for many years, I experimented and tried different ways. I felt really bad asking for other people's recipes because some people don't want to give it away. That's okay, I respect that. So I went on my own food journey and tried making sweet pork. I failed miserably many, many times. The first time I made it, I put too much sugar and it came out like candied bacon. Hahaha! The second time I made it, it was way too salty. The third time I made it, it tasted great but had no caramel color, it looked like boiled pork only. As the story goes, many pounds of pork belly, sugar, and soy sauce later .... I finally resulted in this recipe which I use whenever I get a sweet pork craving. Haha, do let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions how you make it. I'm very interested to know how you make your sweet pork recipe!
Ingredients:
4 cups pork belly, sliced
7 eggs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3-5 pieces of star anise
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 thumb ginger, sliced thin
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed tight
water, lots of it
1 tbsp oil
additional soy sauce for browning eggs
Marinate the pork belly in soy sauce and oyster sauce. Set aside.
Boil the eggs. Then remove the eggshell when done.
In a large pot, add oil. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir until brown. Add the brown sugar.
When the sugar is melted, add the pork belly marinade including juices and all.
Stir for a few minutes until the pork gets slightly white. Then add 4 cups water or more until the pork is all covered.
Cook for 1 hour or more. For more tender pork, keep adding water and cook 2 hrs or longer. You can add the star anise at any time.
The water will evaporate. When it reaches the thickness you like, remove from heat and serve.
Remember, you can always adjust the taste by adding water, increasing or decreasing the amount of sugar or soy sauce!
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Please leave me a comment if you try it or have any questions!
Hmong eggrolls are fun to eat any time of year! Here is a very basic recipe. Experiment with other ingredients and add whatever you like to suit your taste!
1 lb or 2 lb ground meat of your choice (pork, chicken, turkey, beef)
2 cup shredded cabbage
2 cup shredded carrots
2 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp salt
1 package rice vermicelli cellophane noodles
3 eggs
1 egg yolk for sealing the wrapper
50 sheets eggroll skins
Add hot water to rice vermicelli cellophane noodles and let soak 5-10 minutes until soft. Then take scissors and cut up the noodles.
Mix meat, cabbage, carrots, onion, oyster sauce, salt, noodles, eggs until well combined.
Peel the eggroll skins.
Place eggroll skin on a flat surface. Add the eggroll mixture and roll up. Seal the ends with egg yolk.
Here is an easy recipe how to make chicken feet with black bean sauce. This is so delicious and yummy. Ohhh and it is so addicting too! I can't put the food down! OMGAH! I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Get your ingredients ready!
2 - 3 pounds chicken feet
2 tbsp chinese black bean
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 thumb ginger sliced into small strips
3 cup water
1/4 cup green onion sliced thinly
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1/2 cup water
1.
Get all your ingredients ready. (click on the picture on the right to view larger image).
2.
Cut off the nails with scissors or a knife. Wash and drain the chicken feet. Squeeze out all the water. You can also use a paper towel to dry them.
3.
In a hot pan, add 1-2 cup oil.
BE CAREFUL WHEN ADDING THE CHICKEN FEET TO THE OIL. IT IS HOT AND THINGS WILL POP!
Deep fry the chicken until golden brown.
4.
Add the garlic and ginger to a new pan with some oil. Stir until brown.
5.
Now add the chicken feet, oyster sauce, chinese black beans, and water.
Once mixed, remove and place into a pressure cooker.
Cook for 20 minutes. Be careful when using a pressure cooker.
When done, put the pressure cooker under hot water, when the steam button is released, you may open the pressure cooker.
(If you don't have a pressure cooker, just cover and let it cook until the chicken feet is tender. This could take a long time and if the water dries out, you may need to add more water.)
6.
Add the brown sugar, corn starch + water mixture, and the green onions. Stir for about 5 minutes until the sauce gets thicken.
7.
Ready to eat!
Please leave me a message if you tried this recipe. I want to know if you like it! :-) Also, please subscribe to my youtube channel http://youtube.com/hmongfood if you like my recipes.
Blue crabs is one of my favorite dishes! I first ate this wonderful dish at my Aunt Ong's house ten years ago and instantly loved it at first taste! The flavor is savory and succulant, omg is it finger licking good! It is best served with sticky rice. You dip the sticky rice into the sauce and eat. OMG YUM!
Ingredients:
2 or 3 pounds of blue crab (cleaned, gutted, and split in half)
1 pound shrimp
1 package of imitation crab meat
1/2 cup chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped ginger
1 cup fresh basil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cup oyster sauce
1 jar crab paste
1 jar shrimp paste
Please subscribe to my Youtube channel if you like this video! :-) Leave me any questions or comments below.
Measure out 5 cups of boiling water to a big bowl. (becareful cos it's hot!)
Then add the water to dissolve the sugar.
Add coconut milk and stir.
Lastly, add the Knox unflavored gelatine.
Divide the mixture into three equal parts.
Add food coloring as you wish.
In a large pan, pour one color mixture and place in the refrigerator until firm (usually 15 minutes, depends on the temperature of your fridge).
When the layer is firm, add another layer.
Once it's all solid, cut it up into smaller pieces!
Where to find the large can of unflavored gelatin? I bought a 16 oz can of Knox Unflavored gelatin at a large American grocery supermarket. Here in Madison, WI I bought it at Woodman's. If you cannot find the 16 oz can, you can buy the individual unflavored gelatin packages at any supermarket. It is cheaper to get the 16 oz can if you plan to make a lot of jello! You can make a few batches with the 16 oz can!
Where to find the powder food coloring like the one in the video? I bought the Swad food coloring at my local asian grocery store. If you cannot find powder food coloring, you can use liquid food coloring too. Powder form just makes the colors brighter but any coloring would work.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Try it with different colors and see how it turns out! Please subscribe to my youtube channel for more updates and new videos!
This is a video I recorded using my iPhone 4S. We went to a family gathering (spirit calling ceremony) for some relatives and my hubby was tasked to make some beef larb. I decided to make a video of this because some people may be interested in learning about how Hmong make their larb. My hubby is the one in the orange shirt in the video :-) This dish shown here can feed up to 100 people. Hmong family gatherings are usually very large and there is always a ton of food and goodies!
Hope you enjoy the video. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or comment on Youtube. Please subscribe to our youtube channel!
This is a super easy recipe to make Hmong Nab Vam strings (pronounced as na va), also known as tapioca worms. My fellow sister in Christ, Nam Phoumee, taught me how to make this recipe! Thank you Nam Phoumee!!!!!
Ingredients:
1 - 16oz bag of Bot Banh Gio flour (see picture below)
9 cups of cold water
food coloring of your choice
Other stuff to get ready
a really big pot to cook the mixture
a steamer pot with a top pot that has holes and a bottom pot for water (I got mine from a korean store)
a big strong spoon (flat or round, preferably a wide spoon)
Let's start!
Mix the flour and the 9 cups of cold water in a pot. Stir until disolved. It will resemble white milk.
Add the food coloring of your choice. I prefer to use the powder food color cos it makes the color brighter.
Place the pot on the stove and cook on high heat and stir.
Watch the pot closely and stir continously. Within 3-5 minutes the mixture will start to thicken. Then in the last few stages it will get really thick within a few seconds!!!! This is why it is important to use a big strong spoon. Keep stirring!
When the mixture starts to develop big bubbles and get shiny, turn off the stove.
Stack the steamer pot in the sink.
Pour the hot mixture into the steamer. Using the big spoon with a downward pressing stroking motion, press the mixture down through the holes. The tiny strings will fall into the bottom steamer. The technique to this is to press downward and stroke it to the side.
Scoop out the strings and put them in the container of your choice. (see picture above)
If you have any questions, please leave me a comment! The key to this is continuous stirring!
1 bag frozen mussels (I bought mine from the asian store)
1 cup mayonnaise (you can use the Japanese Kewpie brand or regular mayo)
a few squirts of sriracha sauce (adjust to your liking)
smelt roe fish eggs (optional)
Thaw the mussels. Pat dry with a towel or napkin.
Place mussels on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Mix the mayonnaise and sriracha sauce together til it blends together.
Using a spoon, scoop out the sauce and layer it onto the mussels generously.
Broil in the oven for about 5-10 minutes until it turns golden brown.
Remove from oven and serve hot.
Variations
Add the smelt roe after you layer the mussels with mayo / sriracha sauce.
You can also cut up the mussels into smaller pieces and then place them back on the shells, then add the sauce and bake. It makes it easier for eating.
Enjoy! Leave me any comments if you tried this! :-)
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