Bánh Bèo (Vietnamese Steamed Rice Cakes)

Bánh bèo or Vietnamese steamed rice cakes are a popular Vietnamese appetizer made with soft bouncy rice cakes that are topped with softened mung beans, dried shrimp, scallion oil, crispy fried shallots and served with a side of Vietnamese dipping sauce.

Whenever my family would host a big celebration, my mom would make bánh bèo as the first course in a three-course meal for my large family. She would bring out a giant serving tray filled with about 30+ beautiful, tiny white plates filled with soft and bouncy rice cakes topped with creamy mung bean paste, toasted shrimp, scallion oil, and fried shallots with a side of sweet and savory Vietnamese dipping sauce.

These tiny plates are filled with rich umami flavors, soft, bouncy and crunchy textural contrast, and are visually and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. This recipe will guide you step-by-step on how to make these Vietnamese steamed rice cakes. If you are looking for more delicious appetizers, check out my spicy tuna crispy rice, Vietnamese shrimp toast, and pate chaud.

Table of Contents

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• 🍽 Kitchen Equipment
• 🛒 Ingredients
• ✨ Substitutions and Additions
• 📝 How to Make Bánh Bèo
• ⭐️ Tips for the Best Bánh Bèo
• 🥡 Storage Instructions
• 💬 Frequently Asked Q’s & A’s
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe

1. You’ll get delicious plates of soft, bouncy rice cake topped with mung bean paste, toasted shrimp, fried shallots, and scallion oil.
2. This banh beo recipe will show you step by step how to make each component along with some tips and tricks for foolproof cooking.
3. These banh beo plates are the perfect crowd-pleasing appetizers for your next dinner party or event.

🍽 Kitchen Equipment

For this banh beo recipe, make sure you have all of these kitchen tools before you begin. These tools will help make the process of cooking these Vietnamese steamed rice cakes so easy.

• Mixing Bowls: you will use a variety of mixing bowls to hold and mix your ingredients. I love using my Duralex glass mixing bowls because they come in 10 different sizes and are very durable and versatile.
• Rice cooker: you will use a rice cooker to cook and soften the mung beans. If you do not have a rice cooker, you can alternatively cook the mung beans on your stove until they are softened.
• Measuring cup with spout: you will need a measuring cup with a spout or some type of cup with a spout to easily pour the batter into the small plate molds.
• Steamer: you will need a steamer to cook the Vietnamese steamed rice cakes.
• Small plates or dipping bowls: for this banh beo recipe I used small 3-inch ceramic plates. You can alternatively use any small 2-3 inch sized plates, mini muffin pan, ramekins, etc.

🛒 Ingredients

You can find all of these ingredients for this banh beo recipe at your local Asian grocery store or online.

• Rice Flour: is the base of the banh beo. Do NOT mistake rice flour for glutinous rice flour. They are not the same. Glutinous rice flour is much thicker and stickier and will not create the right consistency. You can buy rice flour online or at your local Asian grocery store.
• Corn Starch: is a thickening agent that creates a more tender texture.
• Tapioca Starch: adds a touch of bouncy chewiness to the banh beo. You can buy tapioca starch or tapioca flour at your local grocery store or online.
• Salt: used to season and bring out the flavors of the other ingredients.
• Mung beans: this requires peeled split mung beans. Since you are making a small batch, you do not need to soak the mung beans overnight. But remember to wash the mung beans until the water runs clear.
• Shrimp: used to make fresh dried toasted shrimp. Remember to peel and devein your shrimp for the best flavor.
• Green Onion: used to make the scallion oil
• Fried Shallots: adds a crunch to the dish. For instructions on how to make fried shallots, check out this sticky rice recipe here.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce

• Fish Sauce: is the base ingredient for the dipping sauce. For the best flavor, I recommend using Red Boat Fish Sauce.
• Coco Rico: coco rico is the secret ingredient in the Vietnamese dipping sauce. It adds a coconut-y sweetness.
• Garlic: freshly minced garlic adds a rich aromatic flavor
• Sugar: sweetens the dipping sauce
• Lime Juice: the lime juice adds acidity to the fish sauce and breaks up the strong umami flavor.
• Bird’s Eye Chili: this is optional if you’d like to add a kick of spiciness to your dipping sauce

✨ Substitutions and Additions

• Coconut water: if you cannot find Coco Rico at your grocery store, you can always substitute it with coconut water.
• Lemon Juice: instead of lime juice in the dipping sauce, you can substitute it for lemon juice.
• Fried pork fat or pork rinds: you can substitute the fried shallots with pork rinds for more texture and crunch

📝 How to Make Bánh Bèo

This savory banh beo recipe is very easy to make. All you need to do is make the 1) rice cakes, 2) mung beans, 3) dried shrimp and 4) Vietnamese dipping sauce.

Bánh Bèo Batter

1. Mix the batter. In a large mixing bowl, mix the rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, hot water, and salt. Cover and let the batter rest for 1 hour.

Shrimp

1. Cook the shrimp in water. On a large skillet on medium-high heat, add the shrimp and just enough water to cover the shrimp, about 1 cup. Cover and cook for 1 minute on each side. Transfer the shrimp to a food processor and save the remaining shrimp water for the dipping sauce.

2. Chop the shrimp. Pulse the shrimp in a food processor for about 30 seconds or until finely chopped.

3. Dry the shrimp. Using the same cleaned skillet, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add the chopped shrimp and cook for about 6-7 minutes stirring until the shrimp is dried, lightly golden brown, and fluffy.

Mung Beans

1. Cook the mung beans. Rinse the mung beans until the water runs clear. Then place the mung beans in a rice cooker with 1 cup of water and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook in the rice cooker. Once cooked, mash the mung beans in the rice cooker and set aside. If the mung beans are dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of hot water.

Green Onions

1. Prepare the green onion. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the green onion, oil, and salt for 2 minutes.

2. Mix together. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the reserved shrimp water, fish sauce, coconut water, garlic cloves, sugar, lime juice, and bird’s eye chili.

Assemble

1. Steam the banh beo. Fill your steamer basket ¾ of the way with water and bring to a boil. Grease each small 3-inch plate with vegetable oil and place them into your steamer. Mix up your batter and pour it into a measuring cup with a pour spout. Pour the batter into the dishes halfway, cover and steam on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes or until set.

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2. Assemble. Add a small dollop of mung bean, dried shrimp, a few pieces of green onion with a drizzle of scallion oil, and crispy fried shallots on top of each dish. Serve with dipping sauce and enjoy!

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⭐️ Tips for the Best Bánh Bèo

• If the mung beans are dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of hot water at a time and mix until the mung beans have the consistency of mashed potatoes.
• Save the shrimp water. Remember to save the shrimp stock after you cook the shrimp for the dipping sauce. This will create a more well-rounded umami flavor in the dipping sauce.
• Let the batter rest for a minimum of 1 hour. Letting the batter rest, gives time for the rice flour to absorb the liquid and fully incorporate it into the batter.
• Steam on medium-high heat. Make sure the steamer is not too hot because it may overcook and boil the rice cakes.
• Different sized containers will yield different cook times. I used small 3-inch wide and ½ inch thick plates for this banh beo recipe which took 4 minutes to steam. If you use thicker plates or muffin tins and fill them higher it may take up to 7-8 minutes to steam. You will know if they are done steaming when the entire plate is set and the tops are slightly sticky and springy.

🥡 Storage Instructions

You can store the banh beo, mung bean paste, scallion oil, dried shrimp and fish sauce individually wrapped in airtight containers for up to 5 days. To re-heat, simply steam the banh beo again to bring back the moisture into the rice cake.

💬 Frequently Asked Q’s & A’s

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