Hue-style Bánh Bèo

Mix the rice flour, tapioca starch and salt. Pour in room-temperature water, stir until smooth, then add boiling water and mix again. Cover and let the batter rest for 4–6 hours.

Before cooking, skim off the white sediment from the surface of the batter, replace it with the same amount of room-temperature water and stir gently.

Boil peeled shrimp in shrimp stock for 2–3 minutes, remove, pat dry and finely chop. Strain the stock and set it aside for the dipping sauce.

Heat oil in a pan, sauté garlic for 20–30 seconds, add the chopped shrimp and a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat for 5–7 minutes, stirring, until the shrimp turn dry and crumbly.

Mix fish sauce, sugar and the reserved shrimp stock, warm through until the sugar dissolves, then add sliced green chili. Do not add garlic, lime juice or vinegar: for the Hue version the sauce should be sweetish, fishy and spicy.

Grease small ceramic cups with oil. Pour a thin layer of batter into each, about 1–2 tbsp, and set the cups in a steamer. Cover and steam for 7–8 minutes, until the cakes turn white and set.

Mix chopped scallions with oil and warm for 30–40 seconds to make scallion oil. Cut the pork cracklings into small pieces if they are large.

Serve the bánh bèo hot straight from the cups: sprinkle each cake with shrimp floss, drizzle with scallion oil, add pork cracklings and a few drops of the sauce; eat with a small spoon or a flat bamboo pick.