Banh Bot Loc
Ingredients
For the dough
- 400 g tapioca starch
- 1 cup boiling hot water
For the filling
- 200 g shrimps deveined and diced
- 200 g pork belly diced
- 1 tsp shallot minced
- 1 tsp garlic mined
- 1 tsp paprika or annatto seed powder
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- salt & pepper to taste
For scallion oil
- 4-5 scallions thinly sliced
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Instructions
To make filling
- Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Season the pork with salt, pepper, and paprika powder.
- In a pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat, sauté minced garlic/shallot till fragrant. Then add the pork and stir well for 1 minute. Add sugar, and keep stirring for 3 more minutes. Add the shrimps and season with fish sauce. Stir well and simmer on medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes until the pork and shrimps are nicely caramelized. Set aside to cool completely.
To make scallion oil
- To make the scallion oil, heat the vegetable oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add the chopped scallions. Stir quickly for 10 seconds and take off the heat. Alternatively, you can combine the vegetable oil and spring onion in a bowl and heat in a microwave for 15-20 seconds.
To make dough
- Place one third of the tapioca starch (150g/ ~5 oz) in a small bowl and the rest (250g/ ~9 oz) in a large mixing bowl. Pour the boiling hot water into the small bowl. You will see the starch on the surface turn quite translucent. Stir well and you will get a half-cooked paste. Wait 1-2 minutes for it to cool down slightly. Transfer the paste to the large mixing bowl to combine with the rest of the tapioca starch. Knead well until a soft yet elastic piece of dough is formed. Place the dough in a plastic bag to prevent it from drying up.
To make dumplings
- Pinch a piece of dough, divide and shape into 1-inch size pearls. Flatten each pearl into a 3-inch disk. Place a teaspoon (or less) of the filling in the center and fold over to form a half-moon dumpling. Pinch the edges together to seal. Try not pinching on the filling as you don’t want to tear the “wrapper”. Repeat until all the dough and filling are used.
- Fill a large saucepan with at least 5 inches of water and bring to a boil. Gently slide the dumplings into the boiling water, one by one. Cook the dumplings until they float to the surface. Stir them around gently. Cook the dumplings in 2-3 batches to avoid overcrowding them. Then transfer them to a bowl of icing cold water, they will turn translucent. Drain well and mix with scallion oil. Garnish with chopped cilantro and chili. The dumplings might stick to each other but are easy to detach thanks to the scallion oil.
- To serve, transfer some dumplings to a serving plate, drizzle generously with your choice of dipping sauce and enjoy!
Notes
Recipe inspired by Helen's Recipes