Steamed Rice Rolls (Bánh Cuốn)
Silky, almost see-through sheets of steamed rice batter rolled around a savoury pork and wood ear mushroom filling, finished with crisp fried shallots and a sweet-sour-salty dipping sauce. The classic breakfast of Hanoi's street vendors, made foolproof for the home kitchen.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Soak and chop aromatics
Put the dried wood ear mushrooms in a bowl, cover with warm water and soak for 15 minutes until soft and pliable, then drain and finely chop them. While they soak, finely mince the shallots.
- 6 pieces (about 15 g) dried wood ear mushrooms
- 3 shallots, minced
✅ Done when: the mushrooms are soft all the way through and easy to chop, with no hard or brittle spots
Cook the pork filling
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté the shallots until fragrant. Add the ground pork, breaking it up with a spoon as it browns, then stir in the chopped mushrooms, fish sauce, sugar, pepper and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the pork is fully cooked through (no pink remains, about 75°C/165°F) and the mixture looks fairly dry, not watery.
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 shallots (from step 1)
- 300 g ground pork
- 6 pieces wood ear mushrooms (from step 1)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 pinch salt
✅ Done when: the pork is cooked through, slightly golden in spots, and the filling holds together instead of looking wet
Mix and rest the batter
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Mix the dipping sauce
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Steam the rice sheets
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Fill and roll
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Top and serve
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Soak and chop aromatics
Put the dried wood ear mushrooms in a bowl, cover with warm water and soak for 15 minutes until soft and pliable, then drain and finely chop them. While they soak, finely mince the shallots.
- 6 pieces (about 15 g) dried wood ear mushrooms
- 3 shallots, minced
✅ Done when: the mushrooms are soft all the way through and easy to chop, with no hard or brittle spots
Cook the pork filling
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté the shallots until fragrant. Add the ground pork, breaking it up with a spoon as it browns, then stir in the chopped mushrooms, fish sauce, sugar, pepper and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the pork is fully cooked through (no pink remains, about 75°C/165°F) and the mixture looks fairly dry, not watery.
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 shallots (from step 1)
- 300 g ground pork
- 6 pieces wood ear mushrooms (from step 1)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 pinch salt
✅ Done when: the pork is cooked through, slightly golden in spots, and the filling holds together instead of looking wet
Mix and rest the batter
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Mix the dipping sauce
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Steam the rice sheets
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Fill and roll
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Top and serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Bánh cuốn grew out of the rice-farming communities of the Red River Delta, where cooks learned to stretch rice batter into gossamer-thin sheets over cloth-covered pots of simmering water. It was, and still is, a practical way to turn simple pantry staples — rice, pork, mushrooms — into something delicate and satisfying.
Over time the dish became closely tied to Hanoi's street food culture, where vendors set up steaming rigs before dawn to serve it warm to commuters and market-goers. It later travelled south with migration, picking up regional touches along the way, but the Hanoi style with its light fish sauce dip remains the reference point for most Vietnamese cooks.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Bánh cuốn is celebrated for the skill behind its sheer, silky rice sheets, which take practice to steam without tearing, and for the way they contrast with the savoury pork and mushroom filling and the sharp-sweet dipping sauce.
💡 Fun Fact
Many Hanoi vendors still steam the sheets one at a time over a cloth-covered pot, a technique that has barely changed in generations and takes real practice to master.
Hanoi and the villages of Vietnam's Red River Delta, especially the Thanh Trì area, long known for its paper-thin rice sheets.
21.03°N, 105.85°E
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