Bánh Cam - Sesame Balls Recipe
The sesame ball recipe (Vietnamese banh cam ) is a satisfying snack that fills you up by providing a crisp golden glutinous rice outer shell filled with sweet mung bean and topped with Sesame seed white.
Ingredients
- neutral cooking oil for frying
FILLING (NHÂN BÁNH CAM)
- 113.4 g (4 oz) dried mung beans
- 21.26 g (.75 oz) sugar
- A dash of vanilla extract optional
- 1/4 tsp salt optional
OUTER SHELL (VỎ BÁNH CAM)
- 1/2 cup warm water plus more on the side for later
- 45.36 g (1.6 oz) sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 113 g (4 oz) glutinous rice flour
- 21.25 g (.75 oz) rice flour
- 21.25 g (.75 oz) all-purpose wheat flour
- 5 tbsp potato flakes from boxed mashed potatoes works too!
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
Instructions
FILLING (NHÂN BÁNH CAM)
- Rinse the mung beans in running water, and then drain them exactly like you would rinse rice.
- Soak the Mung beans for at least an hour. Make sure to add enough boiling water to cover about 1/2" over the top of the beans. Let it cool, then transfer to the fridge for the night. If you wish to speed things up to the max, you can take it out after cooling (about 2 hours), and after which you can repeat the procedure two times).
- Cook the Mung beans. Utilizing a steamer at moderate heat is the simplest method to achieve the perfect cooking. It can also be cooked using a rice cooker, but with less water than you would to make rice, however there will be a loss of stickiness to the pan. The beans are ready when they're not as crunchy, they have softened, and are ready to be mashed. It took me around 25 minutes on the stovetop steamer.
- Mix the cooked mung beans with salt, sugar and vanilla. Mash them and add water if required to create an mash that is similar to thin and slightly dry potatoes that have been mashed.
Outer SHELL (VỎ BÁNH CAM)
- Pour half of the water into a large bowl. Add salt and sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves.
- Mix in the rest of the ingredients to mix (you could make use of a food processor for this if you wish). It should appear dry and should have an appearance of play dough. The dough should rest for at least two hours, and ideally eight for the best results. It will rise slightly and hydrate following rest which makes it much simpler to handle.
The BANH CAM is forming.
- Make a disc of the dough, then add the mung bean filling. The proportion of filling to dough is yours to decide! I prefer 1" in diameter, however you can increase it. Remember that they'll be slightly larger as they cook.
- Make sure you don't create air pockets within as the dough is already expanding and creating air in the center. Make sure to seal the dough so it doesn't have any gaps.
- Roll your hands lightly into a ball shape and then place it in the sesame seeds in a bowl to cover thoroughly. Put aside to cook.
FRYING
- In a large pot, heat neutral cooking oil until it reaches 285 F and then deep fry up the Banh Cam. Make certain not to overcrowd the cooking pot. It should take around 11 minutes for each batch. It is possible that you will need to change them around to ensure even cooking.
Notes
Increased measurements in grams instead of just Oz for accuracy. Clarified many of the recipe's instructions.