What is Banh Cam?
Bánh Cam is a southern Vietnamese dessert. It’s a deep-fried glutinous rice ball with a sesame seed crust and a sweet mung bean paste filling. The shell is crunchy with a chewy texture and the interior is hollow. Sometimes you can hear the rattling of the filling ball inside if shaken.
Bánh Cam directly translates to orange cake because it resembles an orange fruit when deep-fried, and not that it has oranges in them.
You can find these treats as one of the offerings in Dim Sum.
What is Banh Ran?
In northern Vietnam, the same dessert is called Bánh Rán. The northern version can often be found coated in a thin crust of caramel sugar.
Filling
A traditional Bánh Cam filling is made from mung beans that have been boiled or steamed then mashed into a homogenous paste. It’s then mixed with sugar and sometimes freshly grated coconut. In other Asian cuisines, instead of mung bean paste, you can find red bean paste or lotus seed paste.
Rice flour and glutinous rice flour
Shell
The outside crispy shell of Bánh Cam is made from a combination of glutinous rice flour, rice flour, potato starch, and baking powder. The use of glutinous rice flour yields a chewy texture, exactly like Japanese mochi. And the small amount of rice flour and potato starch is what makes the outside shell crunchy when fried.
The dough wraps around the filling into a ball that fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. The balls get a sesame seed coating then deep-fried to golden perfection.
It’s crunchy, chewy, and semi-sweet. It’s delicious as a healthy snack or a quick sweet breakfast on the go.
Hand for size comparison
Sesame balls ready to fry
Vietnamese Fried Sesame Balls with Sweet Mung Bean Filling (Bánh Cam | Bánh Rán)
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
A crispy, deep-fried Vietnamese glutinous rice ball with a sesame crust and sweet mung bean filling. Crunchy, chewy, and lightly sweet, it’s perfect as a snack or quick breakfast treat.
Ingredients
Sweet Mung Bean Filling
- 1 1/2 cups dried peeled split mung beans
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Shell
- 1 bag glutinous rice flour (16 oz)
- 3 tablespoons rice flour
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups hot water
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and more for deep-frying
- 1 cup sesame seeds
Instructions
- Prepare and cook the mung beans: Rinse the mung beans in a colander until water runs clear. Transfer mung beans to a medium-size pot and add water to cover by 3 inches. Bring the pot to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer. Partially cover with a lid. Cook for about 1 hour or until you can easily smash a mung bean between your fingers. Once you reach this point, continue to cook on low heat, uncovered, to let the excess water evaporate off. No standing water should be in the pot.
- Make mung bean paste: Add sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and shredded coconut to the mung beans. Mix and mash the mung beans until you get a homogenous paste. Divide the mung bean into 24 golf-size balls (about 1-inch in diameter).
- Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together glutinous rice flour, regular rice flour, potato starch and baking powder until evenly combined. Add water, sugar, and vegetable oil and kneed until you get a smooth, slightly sticky but manageable, ball of dough.
- Assemble: Divide the dough into 24 balls (a tad bigger than the mung bean filling, about 1-½ inches in diameter). Flatten the dough and place the filling ball in the center. Pull the sides to the top and pinch together the seams. Roll the ball back and forth in the palm of your hands until the seams are no longer visible. Roll the ball in sesame seeds to cover.
- Deep fry: Fill a large wok or pot with 2 inches of vegetable oil and heat the oil until it reaches 350°F. Deep fry in batches if needed. Use a slotted spoon to lower the balls into the oil. Let it sit in the oil for 5 seconds then swoosh them around so that it cooks up round. Cook for 6-8 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to remove excess oil. Leftovers keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, pop them in the microwave, toaster oven or refry them in oil.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: dessert
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: asian, vietnamese, chinese
