Royal Snack Trio · Steamed Rice Discs
Bánh Bèo
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Each disc is steamed in its own tiny individual dish — a single serving in Huế can arrive as a stack of a dozen or more little saucers on the table at once.
A thin batter of rice flour is steamed in small shallow dishes until it sets into delicate, slightly concave discs, then topped with ground dried shrimp, crispy pork cracklings, and scallion oil, eaten straight from the dish with a thin sweet-savory fish sauce. Huế street vendors and market stalls stack the little dishes high, refilling them as fast as customers empty them.
Why it's made this way: Bánh bèo is one of a trio of small steamed rice cakes — alongside bánh nậm and bánh lọc — that Huế's cooks refined into elaborate, bite-sized dishes, a style often linked to the meticulous, multi-course habits of the old imperial court's kitchens.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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