ottawa foodies

I've wanted to make banh trang nuong ever since hearing of it a couple years ago. Vietnam is the land of street food and this recent introduction to Saigon's street food scene is easy and cheap to make.

The ingredients are flexible, but I went with:

* Chopped scallions
* Sliced Thai (bird's eye) chili
* Cilantro
* Dried shrimp
* Quail eggs
* Butter
* Sriracha

You have to use some kind of egg for this, but the other ingredients could be pretty much anything. Some street vendors make it more like pizza by adding the La Vache qui Rit cheese triangles instead of butter. Most also include cooked ground pork.

Start by mixing the veggies and meat with a quail egg (you could easily use two) on a dry piece of rice paper (banh trang).

Spread the mixture right to the edges like I did in later attempts. :)

Grill the "pizza" over hot coals, using your fingers or tongs to move the rice paper around so it doesn't burn. Add a blob of butter and spread that around as you keep things moving.

It will crisp up quickly and the egg will set. Takes about 30 seconds total.

Squirt a circle of Sriracha sauce on it and fold it in half while it is pliable. It will become crispy like a chip almost immediately when you remove it from the heat.

Enjoy!

I loaded these pretty lightly so I ate four of them and was still hungry. I then grilled a smoked sausage and was full after that. They were a great appetizer though! :P

To make it more substantial, use two quail eggs or even a chicken egg, and ground pork or cheese to fill it out.

Yes. The butter is very important.