Tapioca Boiled Vegetarian Cake (Bánh Bột Lọc Trần Chay)

"Bánh bột lọc trần chay" translates as tapioca boiled vegetarian cake. These little cakes come from the central region of Vietnam. Among the famous dishes for guests who travel to Vietnam, this little cake, which looks like Chinese dumplings, is also classified among traditional special dishes of Vietnam. Usually, there are two ways to prepare this cake. Central people often meticulously use banana leaves to wrap these cakes, very lovely, which indicates that the women from this part of our country are very dexterous or neat-handed. Then the cakes are steamed. The filling of the cake is usually pork and shrimp. After, perforce, this food item went to the South of Vietnam, it is no longer wrapped with banana leaves. It gets easier to prepare by only boiling the cakes. Because the dumpling now is without the wrapper, it also has another name, "Bánh bột lọc trần" because the word "trần" means naked. The filling is the same, but when the guest is present in these tapioca dumpling cakes, each little cake is only decorated on top of with scallion oil. Today, I will introduce this tapioca cake by using tofu to replace the pork so that those who do not eat meat will enjoy this as a specialty vegetarian dish. The primary difference from the cake wrapped in banana leaves is that the dough is softer than the cake boiled tapioca cake. As a personal preference, I myself enjoy making this dish the simpler way of the Southerners by not using banana leaves, and the filling is replaced with tofu, which is in keeping with the daily culinary style of my family.

Ingredients:
Dough ingredients:
14 oz. bag tapioca starch (Cock brand or Buddha brand)

1 1/3 cups boiling water
1 tbs oil
1 tsp salt
Filling ingredients:
8 oz. firm tofu, fried and finely diced
10 oz. fungus, soaked in water, finely diced (about 1/3 cup)
2 dried Shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1/2 cup jicama, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, minced
2 tsp ketchup
1 tsp paprika
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper

Scallion oil
1 cup chopped onions (with or without the white parts)
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
In a stand mixer, combine tapioca starch and salt. Ad hot water and Turn the machine on low add oil; . Turn machine on medium and beat the flour until forming a sticky mass. Cover dough and let sit for 10 minutes. Turn dough out on the counter top; dust hand with lightly flour and knead dough until elastic, about 5 minutes, Cover

In a sauté pan, heat oil. Add garlic and shallots. Stir until fragrant. Add ketchup and paprika, two kinds of mushrooms, carrot, jicama, and tofu. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Season with soy sauce, salt, sugar, and black pepper. Remove from pan. Let cool (the filling can be prepared ahead of time). Cover and refrigerate.

Heat the oil in a saucepan until smoking. Remove from heat and add scallion and salt. Let it steep at room temperature.

Divide dough into 2 equal parts.Cover the other part to prevent the dough from drying out. Sprinkle the counter lightly with flour. Roll dough out as a long rope about 1 inch in diameter. Cut rope into many small equal portions. Cover dough and work with one piece of dough at a time. Use a small rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a 3 inch circle.

Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the middle of the circle.

 Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together to seal.

Set the finished dumplings on a tray and cover with a damp cloth. Continue in the same way to finish the dough and filling. At this point, the dumplings can be frozen until ready to use.

When ready to use, bring a pot of water to boil. Prepare a large bowl with cold water on the side.

 Add about 10 dumplings at a time in rolling boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes or until dumplings  float and are clear. Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked cakes from the hot water and  drop them into cold water.

Let cool in this water for 1 minute. Remove from cold water. Place on a serving plate and top each cake with scallion oil. Serve with vegetarian dipping sauce or sweet soy sauce.