* Exported from MasterCook *
Vietnamese Fresh Rice Paper Wrappers - Banh Uot
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 20 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : LowCal (Less than 300 cals) LowerCarbs
Unleavened
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/8 cup rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup tapioca flour -- or potato starch
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
To cook: -- vegetable oil for coating wrappers
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and whisk until smooth. Stain the batter through a sieve to remove any lumps, and let stand for 15 to 30 minutes. It will be very runny, like a very thin crepe batter.
Place an 8-inch skillet, with a tight-fitting lid, over medium-low heat. Place a baking sheet beside the stove and spread 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil on it, which you will use to coat the wrappers as they cool. (Keep the oil container handy so you can add more oil to the baking sheet when needed, probably when half the sheets are cooked.) Lightly oil a large place and set it nearby.
After the frying pan has heated for 5 minutes, add a few drops of oil to the pan, then rub the bottom and sides with a paper towel to distribute the oil. Wipe off any excess. Stir or whisk the batter well. Using a ladle, measure 2 tablespoons of batter, pour it into the pan, and swirl it around to coat the surface. Immediately cover with the lid and let cook for 1 minute. (Steam will build up and cook the top surface while the bottom surface is heated by the pan.) Lift the lid to see if the top of the rice sheet looks shiny, with small bubbles (do not let any moisture from the underside of lid drip onto the rice sheet); if not, wipe the underside of the lid dry, replace the lid, and let cook for another 20 to 30 seconds. When the rice sheet is shiny, lift out of the pan with a wooden spatula and place, shiny side up, on the oiled baking sheet.
Reheat the pan and dry off the underside of the lid. Whisk batter well, and continue making rice sheets (you don't need to oil the pan each time, just for every second or third sheet). as each cooked rice sheet cools slightly, flip it over on the baking sheet to coat the other side well with oil; then, once completely cool, transfer to the large plate. Until sheet are cool, they are sticky and may, even with the oil, stick together.
Once you get the temperature and procedure under control, you may want to speed up your production by using two pans in tandem. Make sure the baking sheets stays well oiled.
Once they have cooled, store the rice sheets on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. They will keep for 48 hours, but are at their best the day they are made.
TROUBLESHOOTING: Like crepes, fresh rice papers sometimes take a while to matter. Use the first one or two as test samples and adjust the pan temperature, batter thickens. and quantity as necessary.
If the batter immediately sticks to the pan when you pour it in, before you can swirl it around, lower the temperature slightly. If there is still a problem, whisk a little more water into the batter.
If the batter does not reach the edges of your pan, thus giving an irregular rather than a round shape, increase the quantity used each time to 2 1/3 to 3 tablespoons. The smaller your pan, the easier the rice papers are to handle. We often make 6-inch rice sheets in a 6-inch crepe or omelet pan (using slightly less than 2 tablespoons of batter for each).
Makes 18 to 22 thin round rice paper wrappers, 7 to 8-inches across
AuthorNote: More so than in any other cuisine we know, much of the preparation of any given meal in Vietnam takes place at the table, whether wrapping foods, grilling meats, assembling hot soups or even putting together sauces. The people dining, not just the cook, make choices about what goes well with what and about how something might be eaten.
Vietnamese cuisine has a particular genius when it come to wrapping foods. With fresh rice papers, called banh uot, or dried wrapper (which are rehydrated at the table by soaking them momentarily in water), many meals are put together as each person wraps bits of food with other bits of food and then dips the wrapped food into different sauces. Unlike a Central Asian flatbread meal, where substantial amounts of hearty breads are eaten, the rice wrappers are paperthin and anything but substantial. However, frequently wrapped inside are rice noodle - more carbohydrates - and bean spouts, a complementary protein. Meat is almost always served, but generally as a condiment, to add another flavor, not as the centerpiece of the meal.
Like fresh pasta, freshly made banh uot are quite different from their dried counterparts. Stacks of fresh rice papers are sold in markets in Vietnam, but elsewhere, you'll generally have to make them yourself. They're easy to prepare, and you'll enjoy their soft silkiness. But in truth, we usually use dried rice papers (ban trang); they are incredibly convenient and very inexpensive, and they can be kept almost indefinitely in the cupboard. Serve them with a wide, shallow bowl full of lukewarm water for moistening them. To moisten a wrapper, place it in the water for fifteen to thirty seconds - long enough for it to become moistened through and supple. Transfer to your plate or work surface and use immediately for wrapping.
Cuisine:
"Asian"
Source:
"Flatbreads & Flavors: A Baker's Atlas by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, William Morrow, 1995"
S(Formatted by Chupa Babi):
"Oct 2011"
Yield:
"20 7 to 8-inch wrappers"
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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 39 Calories; 1g Fat (31.2% calories from fat); trace Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Fat.
Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0
