NakedSushi

The BF had a craving for banh cuon, which is a Vietnamese rice crepe that usually has chopped meat and/or shrimp in it. Well actually, he said he wanted to eat tsang fun which is a Cantonese version that usually has a thicker skin and whole shrimp in it. Since he doesn’t eat shrimp or meat or anything good, I had to make a vegan version.

The food was actually easy to make. Preparation took about half a day; we had to go to Chinatown because I wanted to get the pre-made rice wrappers fresh from this rice-sheet factory. Unfortunately, we found it after they closed so I had to buy some from the market. At the market we also picked up some fake meat that we hadn’t tried before.

Recipe and pics after the cut.

For the filling, I just stir-fried together:

• veggie char siu pieces chopped finely
• a finely chopped yellow onion
• 1 clove finely chopped garlic
• a heaping tablespoon dried and preserved salty cabbage (that thing that comes in a clay jar/pot)

I also threw in a bit of soy sauce and cooking wine while I was stir frying to give it more flavor. Oh, and a lot of oil.

After the filling was done, I just spread a very small amount on a rice wrapper sheet, folded it in thirds (like a letter) and put it in my new bamboo steamer (also from Chinatown — only $7!). I put the steamer on top of some simmering water in my old wok and it took about 3 minutes for just one tier of the steamer to get done. Since all the ingredients are already cooked, steaming it just softens the rice wrapper and lets some of the saltiness of the filling melt into the wrapper.

Not bad for a first try at the filling. I’ve helped wrap this before, but never made the filling myself and definitely never made a vegan version before. I think next time, I’ll try some rehydrated shitake mushrooms, wood-mushrooms, and chopped up savory baked tofu so it’ll taste more like the banh cuon my mom makes.