Pancake is a popular cake in many regions of Vietnam, but making a specialty pancake is only at Cam mountain, the highest mountain in the Seven mountain cluster (An Giang).
By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | All Best Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc
1. Better to Know as a Food Lover
Find them: Chau Doc City
Best time: Dusk-Dawn
Don’t miss: sweet and sour fish sauce, and jungle vegetables.
Local’s pick: small restaurant in Nui Cam (Cam Mountain)
Tourist’s pick: Tam Thanh Pancake restaurant
Blog: https://vemekong.com/nui-cam-pancake-chau-doc-food/
Facts: Cam mountain pancake does not know when, compared to very different from plain pancakes.
2. Better to Know Nui Cam Pancake
The rice for making cakes is Soc rice, which is soaked and milled with a stone mortar, the flour is stored in a bowl and heavy cutting boards are used to drain. Dried coconut is also grated by hand with a scraping table over the years, fresh turmeric dug out in the garden, and squeezed water mixed in.
The accompanying vegetable dish is very rich, the advantage is that the natural green vegetables are tender, and the aroma is passionate, spicy, sweet, and pungent, seducing diners to feel secure when using it without fear of pollution.
Let’s go with crabs, cabbage, kimchi, cloves, plantain, guise leaves, rubies, convex sand… There are leaves that must be picked to increase the attractiveness of the pancakes such as figs, mango, sesame buds, forest cups and many local leaves…
Mixed fish sauce not only chili, garlic, lemon, sugar, vinegar … to make sweet and sour fish sauce. The sour taste here is replaced by the typical local “bamboo” fruit. The charming bamboo fruit and the dipping sauce create an irreplaceable scent.
Then, the dipping sauce attracts customers, a little sour, a little sweet, a little fleshy, a little salty, a little pungent, a little strong… prepared by the shop owner in a clear ratio so that gourmets always stick to the tip of their tongue.
3. Nui Cam Pancake in An Giang
Pancakein Cam mountain stands out in its deliciousness from common ingredients to make its reputation. Thanks to that, most of the pilgrims coming to Cam Mountain do not forget to stop by the pancake shop to enjoy the food that is very close, rustic and simple.
The flour of the cake mix is full of fat, sweet and salty, the dough is not pasty, not dry, and the taste is both fat and rich with Soc rice.
The cake is thin and round, the cover is crispy, but the inside is just green beans, the shrimps are fresh and sweet, the cake is still soft, modified to be both beautiful and delicious. For medium heat, double the cake and wait until the cake is completely crispy, golden on both sides.
There are two types of pancakes here, vegetarian and savory. When enjoying pancakes, the extremely interesting sight is that many tourists eat with their hands.
Tear a piece of cake to put it in the palm of your hand, what kind of vegetables you like to put in the roll to make the dish reach the zenith of harmony, which powder, protein, smoothie … roll to round, dipping sauce.
When eating, the spirit is relaxed, the action is leisurely, one by one, to enjoy the richness and sweetness of the food mixed with the wild wind.
Nui Cam Pancake is now famous everywhere, foreign tourists know and enjoy it when coming to Cam mountain.
4. How to Make Nui Cam Pancake
Ingredient
200g pancake flour, 50ml coconut milk, 300g tiger shrimp, 300g bacon, 300g straw mushrooms ,2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 white radish Lettuce, collard greens, herbs, bean sprouts, green onions Seasoning: seasoning, monosodium glutamate, salt, fish sauce, turmeric powder, vinegar
Making
Process materials
Buy fresh bacon, the meat is light in color, not sticky to the touch, and has good elasticity. Bacon is only bought, washed, and cut into thin pieces.
When buying shrimp, you should only choose those that are alive, have a smooth shell, live between fresh and clear bodies, which are fresh, firm shrimp. Black tiger shrimp peel off the shell, cut off the hard antennae, remove the black thread on the back and wash.
Put shrimp, pork belly in a clean bowl, marinate with ½ teaspoon seasoning, 1 teaspoon pepper, mix well to absorb the seasoning and marinate for about 15 minutes.
Peel the onion, wash it and cut it thinly.
Pick the root of the spring onion, wash it, and cut it into small pieces.
Carrots, white radish peeled, washed, grated.
Wash herbs, bean sprouts, soak in dilute salt water for about 15-20 minutes, then take them out to dry.
Mix flour to make pancakes
Dissolve the coconut milk with 400ml of water, then add the pancake flour, add 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder, a little seasoning, salt, sprinkle with scallions and stir until the powder is smooth and there are no lumps. Let the dough rest for about 20-30 minutes for the dough to fully rise.
Since packaged pancakes are usually pre-seasoned, you don’t need to add too much seasoning. Pay attention not to mix the dough too thick, it will make the crust thick and difficult to cook. You can add 1 cup of beer to the flour mixture to make the crust more crispy when fried. This is a way to make crispy pancakes that many people summarize and apply.
Stir-fried pancakes
Put the oil pan on the stove, when the oil is hot, add the meat and sauté it on low heat. When the meat is cooked, take it out, continue to add the shrimp, and stir-fry for about 5 minutes until the shrimp is fragrant.
How to pour delicious pancakes
Put 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a non-stick pan, wait for the oil to boil. Pour in a patch of batter, tilting the pan to coat evenly. Add shrimp, meat, onion and a few sprouts, cover for about 30 seconds until the dough is cooked. Fry until crispy, fold in half and fry the rest until crispy on both sides. Repeat until you run out of dough.
If you can’t eat the raw bean sprouts, put the bean sprouts on the island with oil or cook until cooked. You can use lard to fry pancakes, the cake will be more crispy and more fragrant. Pay attention when making pancakes, don’t let the heat be too high, the crust will be easily scorched, the meat will be tough and not delicious.
How to make dipping sauce
The pancake dipping sauce is mixed according to the following ratio: you dissolve 3 tablespoons of sugar with ½ cup of fish sauce, ½ cup of warm water, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Add minced garlic and chili to taste.
Making sourdough
Put the shredded white radish and carrot in a bowl, marinate with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 5 tablespoons of vinegar, 200ml of filtered water, mix well and let stand for about 10 minutes for the radish and carrot to soften.
Present and enjoy
Pick up the cake on a plate, present the pancakes with lettuce, green vegetables, herbs, sour food, dip it with sweet and sour fish sauce and enjoy it while it’s still hot.
5. Pro tips:
Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.
Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.
Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.
Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.
If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.
Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho: Co Ut’s Cong cake, Ut Dzach Fine Rice Vermicelli, Thanh Van Grilled Pork Sausage, Crab Noodle Soup At Floating Market, Scorched Rice with Caramelized Fish Sauce, 7-Toi’s Duck Meat Pancake, Banh Mi Thuy, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Fetal duck egg (balut), Honeycomb Cake, Mini Sticky Rice Cake, Cassava Silkworm Cake, Grilled Banana Wrapped in Sticky Rice, Khmer-style Bun Goi Da Soup, Egg Coffee, Con Son Grilled Snakehead Fish, Bun Mam – Fermented Fish Noodle Soup, Lau Mam – Fermented Fish Hotpot, Grilled Snails with Pepper, Magenta Sticky Rice Cake, Duck cooked with Fermented Tofu, Rice Noodle Pizza, Vegetarian Noodle Soup, Snails Stuffed With Pork…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc: Chau Doc Fish Noodle Soup, Sugar Palm Fruit, Basa Fish Hot Pot, Mam (Fermented fish), Phu Huong Beef Noodle Soup, Broken Rice with Pork Chop, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Sweet & Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Caramelized & Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Soc Trang: Pia Cake, Cong Cake (Banh Cong), Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup, Soc Trang’s Bun Goi Da Soup, Duck Noodle Soup with black Pepper, Curry Noodle Soup, Grilled Beef on Tile, Khmer-style Tube Cake, Khmer-style Mung Bean Cake (Banh In), Dried Radish (Xa Bau), Stir-Fried Noodles with Seafood (Mi Sua), Soc Trang’s Green Rice Flakes…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ben Tre: Phu Le Rice Wine, Ben Tre’s Coconut Candy, Flat Banana, Coconut Rice, Snail Pancake, Sea Snail with Coconut Milk, Coconut Worm, Young Coconut Salad with Shrimp & Pork, Son Doc Puff Rice Paper…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Cai Be: Puffed Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Vinh Long: Elephant Ear Fish (fried giant gourami)…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in My Tho: Fried Sticky Rice, Snakehead Fish Rice Porridge, Hu Tieu My Tho (Noodle Soup), Coconut Banana Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Tra Vinh: Macapuno Coconut, Bun Nuoc Leo Tra Vinh’s Noodle Soup, Tra Cuon’s Sticky Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Sadec: Sa Dec Noodle Soup, Sadec Crab Hotpot, Lai Vung Spring Rolls, Sa Giang Shrimp Puff Pastry, Lai Vung Tangerine…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu: Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, Bac Lieu’s Three-striped Crab, White Radish Pies, Bac Lieu Thick Noodles & Creamy Coconut Milk, Bon Bon Pickles…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau: Banh tam ga cay (Silkworm rice cake with curried chicken), Grilled Vop clams with salt and pepper, Grilled Mudskipper Fish, Stone Crab Roast With Salt, Young Bee Salad, Nam Can’s Crab, U Minh Forest’s Honey, U Minh’s Fermented Fish Hotpot…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang: Cau Duc Pineapple, Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge, Hau Giang’s Bronze Featherback Fish Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ha Tien: Herring Fish Salad, Spider crab cake soup, Ken Noodle soup, Xoi Xiem (Siamese sticky rice), Steamed Noodle soup, Ha Tien Oyster porridge…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Rach Gia: Stir Noodle Soup, Kien Giang Fish Noodle Soup…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Con Dao: Bang nut jam, Vu Nang Snail, Roasted Pork Bread (Banh Mi), Coconut Ice Cream…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Phu Quoc: Phu Quoc Sim Wine, Phu Quoc Pepper, Phu Quoc fish sauce…
Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!
“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.
Thank you