Sandwich Shop Goodies 19 – Bánh tiêu (Chinese sesame beignet)
Little Mom and I… we just have different tastes. She likes seafood. She prefers crunchy to soft. She doesn’t like sticky rice (!) She thinks the mini sponge muffins (bánh bò bông, the Vietnamese kind) are sourer than the white chewy honeycombs (bánh bò, the Chinese kind). I beg to differ. The mini sponges can be eaten alone; the honeycombs are almost always stuffed inside a hollow fried doughnut that is more savory than sweet: their sourness needs to be suppressed by the natural saltiness of oil and the airy crunch of fried batter. That doughnut, brought to us by the Chinese and called by us “bánh tiêu“, saves the honeycombs.
The honeycombs could go hang out with the dodo for all I care, but this Saigonese would always appreciate a well-fried bánh tiêu. At any time of the day, one would be able to spot a street cart with the signature double-shelf glass box next to a vat of dark yellow oil. The oil gets darkened from frying too many doughnuts too many times. Sure, it isn’t healthy. But should you really care about health when you eat fried dough?
“Fried dough has appeared in different forms – round, square, triangular, twisted – under many different names. The Dutch settlers had olykoeks (oily cakes); the French in Louisiana had beignets; the Spanish from Mexico made puchas de canela; and the Pennsylvania Germans made fastnachts around Lent.” (Jill MacNeice, “Doughnuts“, in the Roadside Food collection) Now I may add that the Vietnamese in California and Texas have bánh tiêu. One quality of bánh tiêu to make it superior over the other fried doughs: it isn’t coated in powder sugar. Studded with white sesame on one side, it tastes subtly salty of dough, fat, and roasted grain.
An excerpt about Vietnamese vendors making dầu cháo quẩy and bánh tiêu:
Vốc một nhúm bột khô rải đều trên bề mặt miếng gỗ đã trơn bóng – cốt để bột nhồi không bị dính – tiếp tục ngắt một cục bột đã ủ cho lên men, nhẹ nhàng vuốt dọc rồi dùng cây lăn cán qua, miếng bột đã được kéo ra thành một dây bột dài mỏng đều. Người bán lại tiếp tục dùng một thanh tre cật mỏng, xắn bột thành từng miếng đều nhau. Xếp chồng hai miếng bột lên rồi dùng một chiếc đũa ấn mạnh ở giữa, thế là đã được miếng bột “chuẩn” để làm bánh quẩy. Còn bánh tiêu thì phải qua công đoạn vốc một nắm mè vất ra giữa miếng gỗ để mè tự rải đều, sau đó mới dùng bột đã ủ đã nhồi cán thành miếng tròn dẹp, một mặt dính mè, một mặt không.
[…]
Bánh quẩy và bánh tiêu thường bán chung, có lẽ chủ yếu là vì hai loại bột làm bánh này không khác nhau là mấy. Cũng bột mì nhồi với bột khai là chính. Nhưng với bánh quẩy, người ta cho thêm chút muối, chỉ một chút thôi đủ để bánh không lạt lẽo, nhưng vẫn còn giữ được độ ngọt nguyên thủy của bột mì.
Còn với bánh tiêu, người ta lại cho thêm ít đường, cũng rất ít, đủ để làm dậy hơn vị ngọt của bột. Vị ngọt của bánh tiêu vì thế rất nhẹ, không như những loại bánh ngọt khác. Với bánh tiêu, người mua cũng không đòi hỏi phải giòn đến như bánh quẩy. Cái hấp dẫn ở bánh tiêu lại là ở những hạt mè thơm ngậy. Những hạt mè trắng li ti sau khi chiên trở nên căng mẩy, quyện với mùi thơm của bột mì chiên giòn trở nên hấp dẫn kỳ lạ. Nếu như bánh quẩy thường được cho vào dùng chung với cháo, với phở thì bánh tiêu thường được dùng kèm với bánh bò. Xẻ đôi chiếc bánh tiêu, kẹp vào giữa miếng bánh bò nữa là được một loại hương vị khác hẳn. Cái mềm xốp của bánh bò khiến bánh tiêu – vốn hơi khô – trở nên dễ ăn hơn, đỡ ngán hơn. Các loại nhân ăn kèm bánh tiêu cũng khá phong phú, tùy sở thích mỗi người. Có người mách nhau kẹp xôi vào giữa, ăn cũng rất ngon, lại có thể thay quà sáng. Có người lại thích nhân “cadé”, là loại nhân làm bằng trứng gà có vị béo ngầy ngậy, rất hợp với bánh tiêu.
Translated and abridged:
[The vendor] scoops up some flour and sprinkles them on the shining flat wooden board, to keep the dough from sticking, then he pinches off a ball of fermented dough, gently pulls it and runs the rolling pin once over to stretch the ball into a thin strip. Then he grabs a sharp bamboo stick, swiftly cuts the strip into smaller, even strips. Putting two strips on top of each other, pressing a chopstick down in the middle, and he gets a “standard” piece of bánh quẩy ready to fry. For bánh tiêu, he would need to sprinkle a pinch of sesame seeds on the board, then flatten the dough into disks, one side studded with seeds, the other side having none.
[…]
Bánh quẩy and bánh tiêu are often sold together because they have similar dough. Mainly, flour and baking soda. For bánh quẩy, they add some salt to make it savory, but not too much that it would diminish the flour’s natural sweetness. But for bánh tiêu, they would add a pinch of sugar to boost that sweetness. Bánh tiêu doesn’t have to be as crunchy as bánh quẩy either. Its goodness lies in the sesames’ fragrant nuttiness. As bánh quẩy is often eaten with rice porridge or noodle soup, bánh tiêu goes with bánh bò. Slit the bánh tiêu open, stuff in a piece of the soft white honeycomb bánh bò, and you get a whole new snack. Some people substitute bánh bò with sweet sticky rice or with egg custard, that really fattens it up.
In Saigon, Vietnam: 1000 VND each.
At Bánh Mì Ba Lẹ, Oakland: 1 USD each. (1 USD ~ 20000 VND)
Address: Bánh Mì Ba Lẹ (East Oakland)
1909 International Blvd
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 261-9800
Previously on Sandwich Shop Goodies: steamed taro cake (bánh khoai môn hấp)
Next on Sandwich Shop Goodies: Xôi khúc (cudweed sticky rice)
I got what you intend,saved to bookmarks, very nice internet site.
1As I website owner I think the content here is very great, appreciate it for your efforts.
2Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!
3There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain nice points in features also.
4I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this web site. I am hoping the same high-grade website post from you in the upcoming as well. Actually your creative writing skills has inspired me to get my own web site now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a great example of it.
5Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. It extremely helps make reading your blog significantly easier.
6This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
7Real superb visual appeal on this website , I’d value it 10 10.
8I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this site. Thank you, I’ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?
9Dead pent articles, Really enjoyed examining.
10so much great information on here, :D.
11I am perpetually thought about this, regards for putting up.
12hey there and thank you for your information – I have certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this web site, since I experienced to reload the website many times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon..
13Sweet blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Many thanks
14Perfectly composed content material, Really enjoyed reading.
15Loving the info on this internet site, you have done outstanding job on the content.
16It is actually a great and helpful piece of information. I’m happy that you simply shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
17Hello this is kind of of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
18Good post. I study something tougher on different blogs everyday. It should always be stimulating to learn content from other writers and observe a little bit something from their store. I’d want to use some with the content material on my weblog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll offer you a link on your net blog. Thanks for sharing.
19I have learn several excellent stuff here. Certainly price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you set to create such a fantastic informative web site.
20Whats up very cool site!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds alsoKI am satisfied to find so many useful information here within the submit, we want work out more strategies on this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
21It’s actually a cool and helpful piece of info. I’m satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
22Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. It extremely helps make reading your blog significantly easier.
23I have been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts on this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this website. Reading this information So i am happy to convey that I’ve an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to do not forget this website and give it a glance on a constant basis.
24Regards for this rattling post, I am glad I detected this web site on yahoo.
25Whoa! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!
26Hello are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you require any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
27What i don’t understood is if truth be told how you are no longer really much more neatly-appreciated than you might be right now. You are very intelligent. You know thus considerably in relation to this matter, produced me individually imagine it from so many various angles. Its like women and men are not involved until it is something to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs great. All the time maintain it up!
28Merely a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw great style.
29Pretty section of content. I simply stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to claim that I get actually loved account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing for your feeds and even I success you get entry to persistently rapidly.
30Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
31Its great as your other articles : D, thanks for posting.
32Thanks for sharing excellent informations. Your web-site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you’ve on this web site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found simply the information I already searched everywhere and simply couldn’t come across. What a perfect site.
33I was reading through some of your content on this site and I believe this internet site is rattling instructive! Continue posting.
34Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
35Regards for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting info .
36I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. I am quite certain I’ll learn plenty of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
37I like what you guys tend to be up too. Such clever work and exposure! Keep up the amazing works guys I’ve added you guys to blogroll.
38This really answered my problem, thank you!
39Sweet site, super design, rattling clean and employ pleasant.
40Great write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s site, maintain up the excellent operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
41I don’t unremarkably comment but I gotta tell thankyou for the post on this special one :D.
42This is the right blog for anybody who wants to seek out out about this topic. You understand so much its nearly onerous to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You positively put a brand new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, just nice!
43Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch since I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
44Just about all of whatever you articulate is astonishingly legitimate and that makes me ponder the reason why I hadn’t looked at this in this light previously. This particular piece really did switch the light on for me personally as far as this particular subject matter goes. However at this time there is actually one issue I am not too cozy with and whilst I attempt to reconcile that with the central theme of your point, permit me observe what the rest of your subscribers have to say.Nicely done.
45Thank you for every other excellent article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such an ideal manner of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
46Valuable info. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this accident didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
47F*ckin’ amazing things here. I’m very glad to see your article. Thanks a lot and i’m looking forward to contact you. Will you please drop me a mail?
48I like this blog so much, saved to fav.
49This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
50