Banh Nam (aka The Vietnamese Tamale)

 I love my Vietnamese heritage and am so thankful for the amazing food it brings. Both of my parents were refugees from Vietnam, literally they were "fresh off the boat"(its totally ok i can say it jk no don't) My dad is like #8 I think in a family of 13..I forget there's too many of us. My mom is like #2 of 7. (More on our families later) Any who, with such a big family, there is always a celebration for EVERYTHING..with celebrations and parties, there's always THE FOOD..YUP awesomely awesome super asian food made from delicious LIQUID GOLD (fish sauce, my cousin named it) that always packs so much flavor. Our parties can never have only 5 dishes, it always has to feed the minimum of 20 hungry Vietnamese people. So at every Vietnamese party, you gotta have your BIG ASS POT OF SOUP ( like a pot that u can fit a 2 year old in), at least 2 different kinds of salad ( when i say salad i don't mean like lettuce tomato and shit, I mean like  A LOT OF MEAT and very little veggies and its always sour and spicy), fried rice, egg rolls, some kind of grilled meat, some kind of stir fried noodles, and BANH NAM.

What is BANH NAM?

Banh Nam is a dish from the central region of Vietnam called "Hue". It is ultimately, just like a tamale but made from rice flour rather than masa. The filling is made with pork and shrimp, and it is wrapped in banana leaves. It is thinner than a tamale, so you can eat like 10!!

There are so many different awesome versions and ways to make Banh Nam, I am going to try to make it a little bit easier and a little bit healthier. ( I know I am not really health conscious but I guarantee you, you cannot tell the difference) Also, I have a couple of aunts from the central region of Vietnam, and they gave me their stamp of approval. WOOOO!

So on to the recipe....

Makes about 80 banh nam (LOL YEA ITS A LOT) adapted from a lot of Aunts and my mom

Ingredients

6 Bags of Banana leaves washed and cut (buy it at any Hispanic or Asian Grocery Store)

Filling ( EASIEST PART) 

1 lb of shrimp cut in to small pieces

1 1/4 lb of turkey or chicken (pork if you are doing it the OG way)

2 large shallots minced (small purple onion)

6 cloves of garlic minced (i always add more garlic, I LUB GARLICS)

5 stalks of green onion. minced (optional)

1 Tbsp of salt

2 Tbsp of sugar

1/2 Tbsp of pepper

2 Tbsp of Liquid gold (fish sauce, a good kind, I use one with a flying fish on it with weird writing, don't buy a brand with English on it or at like Vons or Albertsons, go to an asian supermarket)

2 Tbsp of olive oil (any oil will do)

1. Sautee the shallots and garlic till golden and fragrant in a large pan

2. Add your meat and dry seasonings to the pan, make sure you break up the meat into small pieces.

3. After the meat has cooked through and there are no meat juices left (about 5 mins), add the shrimp to the pan and LIQUID GOLD!!! 

4. Again sautee until all the juices have evaporated and all the protein is cooked through.

5. Let the filling cool for 5-10 mins

6. In a food processor,  add the shrimp and meat mixture, grind it up into small bits. ( I would personally do it in batches so that the mixture is ground up evenly)

7. Fold in the minced green onions

Ingredients

Rice Flour Mixture (This is a ratio of how much flour to water you should use, follow the ratio and then just quadruple  the recipe, sounds confusing but it works)

3/4 cup Rice Flour (can be found at any asian grocery store)

1/4 cup & 1 Tbsp Tapioca Flour

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp olive oil (any oil will do)

4 cups of water

(For the amount of filling we are making, I would 4x the Rice flour mixture recipe, but if you don't want your arm to fall off from whisking I would do the recipe in 2 batches per pot)

1. Mix rice flour, tapioca flour and salt in a large pot (preferably non stick)

2. Add water and oil to the flour mixture and whisk until everything is smooth and combined

3. At a low heat, slowly whisk the mixture (CONSTANTLY) until you feel like it thicken and feel more resistance as you are whisking. Once you see the mixture start to thicken, take it off the heat and finish whisking until it becomes a paste and the mixture can almost stand by itself (kind of like making whip cream). If it is still too watery, put it back on the low heat and continue to whisk it till it is a nice paste.

(This was a picture of the first time I made it, I made too much dough in one pot and the filling I used  had shrimp heads)

Now lets put it together!

1. Lay down the clean banana leaf ( should be the size of a piece of paper)

2. Scoop about 1 Tbsp of the Rice Flour Mixture, smear the rice flour in the middle of the banana leaf

3. Sprinkle about 1 Tbsp of the filling all over the rice flour mixture

4. Fold the sides of the leaf to cover the rice flour and filling and fold the ends leave a little bit of room at the end.

5. Once you've folded the ends smooth out the dough, so it is nice and flat and it cooks evenly.

6. After you've made a good amount, steam the Banh Nam for about 10-15 mins or until the leaves change color.

VOILA!

The key to this recipe is making small batches of the rice mixture at a time, otherwise you might be overwhelmed like I was the first time I tried making these. Asian food can be very tedious and time consuming but the end result is DELICIOUS!! I personally eat the banh nam with liquid gold but with this recipe you won't need the extra salt. 

ENJOY!!!!!!!!