Banh bo or Cow cake is a popular food in Hoi An Vietnam. It’s simply made by rice flour, coconut milk, yeast, sugar and water and then steamed. In the world, this cake is nearly similar to Chinese Cantonese white sugar sponge cake. Now, let’s HoiAn Day Trip Company provide all information about Banh bo or Cow cake.
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• Content by Tam Le, founder of HOIAN DAY TRIP CO.,LTD
• Designed by Giang Cong Minh, co-founder of LS E&C LTD and his team
• Photo by Dang Cong Loi, Dao Xuan Son, Tam Le & others
Must Knows about Banh Bo (Vietnamese Cow Cake)
– Other name(s):
– Origin: southern Vietnam
– Similar dish: White sugar sponge cake (Bai Tang Gao) in Chinese Cantonese cuisine
– Where to find: local markets in Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue cities
– Ingredients: rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water, yeast
– Time: anytime during the day
– Price: 20,000 to 30,000 VND/cake
– Calories:
– Travel blog: https://hoiandaytrip.com/banh-bo-cow-cake-hoi-an-da-nang-hue
– Fact: There is no beef in Banh bo (Cow cake)
Name of Banh Bo
In Vietnamese language, Banh means ‘cake’ while Bo means ‘cow’ or ‘to crawl’. According to locals, because the cook looks like an udder (cow breast, vu bo), so they call it ‘banh vu bo’. Over time, it’s shortened to ‘banh bo’ which means ‘cow cake’. Another way of explanation is that when people steam the cake, it becomes bigger and then crawls out of the cake pan. Since then, it’s been called ‘to crawl cake’.
The Cow cake (Banh bo) originates from southern Vietnam and then introduced into Hoi An while this town served as a trading port.
Vietnamese Banh bo (Cow cake) has some similarities to Chinese white sugar sponge cake originating from Cantonese cuisine. The difference between these cakes is the usage of coconut milk in Vietnam.
Ingredients & How to Make Banh Bo (Vietnamese Cow Cake)
Banh bo or Cow cake is made by rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water and yeast. It has a white color and a soft and little chewy texture. Local people will add pandan leaf juice if want to have green colored cake, or magenta plant juice (la cam) if want to have purple colored cake, or palm sugar (duong thot not) if want to have a yellow colored cake.
Here are steps to make the Vietnamese Banh bo (cow cake):
Step 1: Put rice flour, yeast and sugar into a bowl and then fresh water to make a dough. Then, leave it for about 30 minutes.
Step 2: Boil fresh coconut milk with sugar and then let it cool down.
Step 3: Pour the cold coconut milk into the rice dough and then mix again.
Step 4: Put the dough into cake pans and then steam to eat.
How to Eat Banh Bo (Vietnamese Cow Cake) Like A Local
Local people will eat Banh bo (Cow cake) without anything else. Somebody likes eating it with sweet coconut milk or putting it in the middle of banh tieu (fried hollow donut). Compared to other times of the day, breakfast time is when visitors can see this local food most.
Where to Eat Banh Bo (Vietnamese Cow Cake)?
Visitors need to find street vendors and stalls near local markets to see and try Banh bo or Cow cake. No restaurants serve it. On streets around the Hoi An Central Market, it’s possible.
Better to Know about Eating Local in Hoi An
– Local family-run restaurants always serve better local foods than tourist restaurants. Places inside small alleyways potentially are hidden gems. The price is even more affordable at these lesser known spots.
– Restaurants where you can see a queue or crowds, food or drinks there are absolutely better or safer than others. Vietnamese people also avoid places without people eating, such as roadside eateries.
– Hot foods are often safe to eat for non-Vietnamese people. Refuse cold food (especially ones sold on the street, markets) or things you don’t see people cooking.
– Make sure that you learn some basic Vietnamese words or sentences to order foods, such as xin chao (hello, hi), cho toi mot (something) (I want one…), toi an chay (I am vegetarian), khong cay (no spicy), cam on (thank you), tam biet (goodbye) or numbers (mot/one, hai/two, ba/three, bon/four, nam/five, sau/six, bay/seven, tam/eight, chin/nine, and muoi/ten).
– Ask any local people you know (tour guide, driver, hotel receptionists, bellmen, etc) to receive their recommendation for good places to eat local.
– Raw vegetables are popularly used in local dishes, such as noodles or noodle soup or sandwich. They are often washed by tap water or unwashed. If can not drink tap water, remove or refuse them. Likewise, in most iced drinks (such as coffee or herbal tea), people add ice made by tap water also.
– On the 1st day and 14th-15th days of each lunar month, Hoi An citizens eat vegetarians. Many local restaurants and street businesses will be closed by that.
– If you don’t eat pork or beef, due to diet or religious restrictions, be careful when want to try local food here, if don’t see the ingredient description. Pork and beef are very popular meats, so they will be in numerous dishes. Street vendors may say ‘no pork’ or ‘no beef’ for better business, but please check before buying!
– Consider joining a food tour guided by locals who know much better about dishes in the city, including things never mentioned in guidebooks or on the internet.
– If have an allergy (milk, egg, peanut, wheat,…), ask anybody you know before trying or search for ingredients on the internet. By the way, fish sauce is popularly used to marinate Vietnamese foods, so make sure that you know this information if you’re fish allergic.
– Food portion (or size) here is often not really big (locals prefer eating with their family at home). You may try double or some different dishes for main meals.
– If don’t see the price on the menu, please ask in advance to avoid overcharging, especially when you are not a local. In Vietnamese, how much is bao nhieu.
– Most popular cutleries are chopsticks and spoons. To know how to use it, browse here
