Banh Khot/Vietnamese Mini Savory Pancakes

I am so sorry for not updating my blog for over 2 weeks. I have been very busy and also having some problem with my car too. It was stolen from my driveway and it totally stresses me out. Thank God the police found it and it was in pretty good shape. Now I have to deal with the insurance, the DMV and whole loads of paperwork to be done before I can drive the car again. Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with all the details.

Now let’s talk about Banh Khot. Banh Khot is a mini sized rice cake that is fried and served with fresh lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce. I’ve eaten Banh Khot from a Vietnamese restaurant in PA and really like it. What I love about this snack is the crispy texture on the outside and soft and tender in the middle. To eat it you take a piece of the banh khot, place it in a bed of lettuce and herbs, a bit of the pickle carrot, wrapped it up and eat it. It is crispy, sour, sweet, salty and spicy at the same time. Really satisfying!!

I bought a Banh Khot/Ebelskiver pan from Amazon last year so I thought I try to make this at home. It turns out pretty well but not as crispy as the restaurant ones. I think it’s because I used too little oil to the pan when I was frying it. The last batch I added a bit more oil to it and it did turn out crispy. The Asian supermarket does sell the ready mix banh khot flour and you can use that. Since I am too lazy to drive out to buy it, I just goggle for the recipe. As for the dipping sauce I added some carrot to the dipping sauce as this way I don’t have to pickle the carrot separately. I serve mine with only lettuce since I don’t have any fresh herbs in my fridge but you can have it with any type of lettuce and fresh herbs.

Tuna Buns

I like making this kind of buns with savory filling as this is something that Carlos will eat. I usually baked a big batch as this way he can warm it up and eat it whenever he wants. It can be for his lunch or snacks. I gave a few to Nini’s and she likes it too. I used the same dough recipe as the Spam buns as I find the dough is very easy to work with and also the buns stays soft even the next day. With this basic dough you can put any filling in it. It can be sweet like red bean paste or kaya.

Ingredients for the dough:

3 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp dried yeast
1 cup milk
80 gram butter
1 egg

Gong Xi Fatt Chai/Happy Chap Goh Meh

I hope it is not too late to wish everyone Gong Xi Fatt Chai. Well, better late than never right. At least I made it before the Chap Goh Meh. Wish everyone a healthy, happy, prosperous and blessed year of the Ram. As for me I didn’t go back to Malaysia this year so it is a very small celebration with some friends. Here are some pictures I took of us doing the tossing of Yee Sang/Prosperity Toss and some of the food. Hopefully next year I will be home to celebrate it with my family.

 

Prepared these two platters of Yee Sang on the second day of CNY to share it with my Zumba buddies. It was the first time for them to try out our Yee Sang. They love it! Is a labor of love as it took me some time to cut, sliced and chopped :)

Happy tossing

Everyone enjoying the yee sang.

I prepared the above platter for the weekend CNY get together with my best friend. Just a few of us. Don't you just love all the vibrant colors?

Good food good friends, can't ask for more. Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!