Bánh bò

Bánh bò

Bánh bò hấp (steamed bánh bò)
Type	Sponge cake
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	Vietnam (see text)
Main ingredients	Rice flour, water, sugar, yeast, coconut milk

Bánh bò is a sweet, chewy sponge cake from Vietnam. It is made from rice flour, water, sugar, and yeast, and has a honeycomb-like appearance on the inside due to the presence of numerous small air bubbles. Coconut milk is also usually a part of the batter, imparting a slight flavor and aroma of coconut. The cake is of Southern Chinese origin, although the Chinese version, called bái táng gāo (), does not contain coconut milk.[1]Bánh bò are generally eaten as a dessert, although they may also be consumed as an accompaniment to a meal.

In the Vietnamese language, bánh means "cake", and can either mean "cow" or "to crawl". According to Paulus Huỳnh Tịnh Của's 1895 dictionary Đại Nam quốc âm tự vị, the dessert is named for its resemblance to a cow's udder, implying that the name was shortened from bánh vú bò. However, according to a popular folk etymology, bò refers to how the cake "crawls" up to the rim of the bowl when steamed to completion.

Bánh bò is to be distinguished from the less common bánh bó ("pressed cake"), a fruit cake found in Quảng Ngãi Province; bò ("cow", "beef") is pronounced with a falling tone, whereas bó ("pressed") has a rising tone.

There are varieties of bánh bò:

The South Indian steamed rice cake called idli is similar in texture, although idli are never sweet. However, the dish is quite similar to the Vattayappam (a type of appam from Kerala, India.)