Banh Cam and Banh Cong (Glazed Sesame Balls and Rings), No Added Refined Sugar
Sweets and drinksFried CakesVietnam30 minutes preparation, 1 hour cooking
Banh cam and banh cong with a sugar glaze come out of the pan with a crisp, airy shell, a smooth mung bean filling and a coat of sesame and syrup outside. Banh cam is the round filled one, banh cong the unfilled ring, and one batch of dough makes both.
The hardest part is the frying, since high heat from the start burns the shell while the inside stays raw. A portion of the dough is boiled and then kneaded back into the raw dough, and that is the step that makes the shell both crisp and chewy. Low heat cooks them from the inside out, with the heat raised right at the end to push some of the oil back out.
This batch weighs about 853g, at roughly 272 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak 100g of mung beans in warm water for an hour, then rinse them again.
Put 300g of glutinous rice flour, 150g of rice flour, 22.5g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 350ml of water in a bowl and knead for about 10 minutes into a smooth, pliable dough.
Take a third of the dough, boil it for 3 minutes, then knead it back into the original dough until fully combined.
Add 15g of tapioca starch and 15g of all purpose flour and knead again until smooth and pliable.
Cook the mung beans in water to cover, boil hard for 5 minutes, drain the water off, then cook over low heat for another 20 minutes.
Add 54g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and stir constantly over low heat until the beans come together as a smooth, pliable mass. Take it off the heat and mix in 2g of vanilla.
Roll the dough into balls, press a hollow in the middle, add the bean filling, seal the edges shut and press each one slightly flat. Roll the leftover dough into a rope and join the ends into a circle to make the banh cong.
Fry the cakes in a pan of gently bubbling oil, turning them over low heat until the shells are golden brown. Lift them into a colander to drain.
Cook 60ml of water with 108g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend over low heat until dissolved and, once the mixture thickens, stir in 25g of roasted sesame seeds.
Dip the face of each cake into the syrup and set them on a colander for the glaze to set.
Tips
Kneading raw dough together with a portion of boiled dough is the step that gives a shell both crisp and airy while staying chewy.
Low heat cooks the cakes from the inside out, and raising the heat just before lifting them drives the oil back out.
For a deeper colour, a little caramel sauce or dark soy sauce does the job, as kOBE Monk Fruit Blend adds no colour.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves more slowly, so the syrup wants low heat and constant stirring until no grains remain.
Dipping while the syrup is still warm and the cakes still hot gives the most even coat.
Sealing the edges tightly before frying matters, since an open seam lets the filling burst out in the oil.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.