In Vietnamese, the term bánh (Hanoi:[ɓaʲŋ̟˧˥] or Saigon:[ɓan˧˥], Chữ Nôm: 餅) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks.[1] With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savory, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat flour or rice flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.
Each variety of bánh is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that follows the word bánh, such as bánh bò (lit.'cow cake') or bánh chuối (lit.'banana cake'). Bánh that are wrapped in leaves before steaming are called bánh lá (lit.'leaf cakes').
In some cases, the word can also refer to inedibles that have a cake-like shape, such as wheels (bánh xe), bath soaps (bánh xà phòng, bánh xà bông), and compressed tobacco wheels (bánh thuốc lào).
Varieties
There is a nearly endless variety of named dishes with the prefix bánh. What follows is a list of the most typical traditional varieties of bánh.
Noodles
Bánh canh soup
Bánh canh – tapioca noodles which are cut from a large sheet.
Bánh hỏi – extremely thin noodles that are woven into intricate bundles and often topped with chopped scallions and a complementary meat dish
Bánh phở – The steamed flat and thin cake made from rice flour and water before being cut into strips. The strips are not only called Bánh phở but also "sợi phở" or "cọng phở," and are noodles used in phở. The width of the strips is usually around 1 cm or less.
Dumplings
Bánh tẻ
Bánh bá trạng or bánh ú – the Vietnamese term for zongzi[3]
Bánh bao – ball-shaped bun filled with pork and/or other ingredients
Bánh nậm – flat rice flour dumpling from Hue stuffed with minced pork and wood ear mushroom, and seasoned with black pepper and spices; wrapped in a banana leaf
Bánh phu thê – ({{lit|husband and wife cake"; a sweet cake made of rice or tapioca flour and gelatin, filled with mung bean paste; also spelled bánh xu xê)
Bánh phu thê bột bán (husband and wife cakes made with tapioca pearls)
Bánh rán – deep-fried glutinous rice sesame balls filled with sweetened mung bean paste; from northern Vietnam
Bánh tẻ, small steamed rice cake wrapped with Lá dong leaves into a long, thin cylindrical shape, and boiled thoroughly.
Bánh chưng – square-shaped steamed glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in a dong leaf (lá dong)
Bánh tét – log-shaped cylindrical glutinous rice cake, wrapped in a banana leaf and filled with a meat or vegetarian filling
Bánh trôi (lit.'floating rice cake') – served together with bánh chay
Bánh tổ – a round, golden/taupe colored, sticky cake served for new years. It's made of glutinous rice flour, sugar, water, and soybean oil. Like the Chinese new year cake, nian gao, the bánh tổ is cut into thin slices then dipped in egg and fried before serving. This is an uncommon pastry and it is said the shape represents a wheel. It is sometimes decorated with white sesame seeds and red food coloring. (cf. kue keranjang in Indonesia)
Bánh gai – made from the leaves of the "gai" tree (Boehmeria nivea) dried, boiled, ground into small pieces, then mixed with glutinous rice, wrapped in banana leaf. The filling is made from a mixture of coconut, mung bean, peanuts, winter melon, sesame, and lotus seeds.
Bánh giầy, also written as bánh dầy – white, flat, round glutinous rice cake with tough, chewy texture filled with mung bean or served with Vietnamese sausage (Giò lụa)
Bánh giò – pyramid shaped rice dough dumplings filled with pork, shallot, and wood ear mushroom wrapped in banana leaf[5]
Bánh hoa hồng – rice cake that is shaped like a flower and made with mung bean paste
Bánh kẹp – Vietnamese waffle cookies made from rice flour, like a pizzelle
