Bánh Canh
(literally "soup cake")

Not a steamed cake but a kind of noodle. Thick, round, almost translucent noodles (made of tapioca flour) with a springy texture.

Bánh canh (literally "soup cake") is a thick Vietnamese noodle that can be made from a mixture of rice and tapioca flour. In bánh canh soup dishes, the noodles are combined with one of several soup bases, such as:

• Bánh canh cua - a rich, thick crab soup
• Bánh canh bột lọc - a more translucent version of the noodle
• Bánh canh chả cá - the dish includes fish sausage and is popular in the South Central, Vietnam.
• Bánh Canh Giò Heo Tôm Thịt - includes pork knuckle and shrimp
• Bánh canh Trảng Bàng - bánh canh made in the southeastern Vietnamese town of Trang Bang, served with boiled pork, rice paper, and local herbs
• Bánh canh tôm - a shrimp-flavoured broth that is also mixed with coconut milk

The Vietnamese word bánh refers to items such as noodles or cakes that are made from flour, and canh means "soup."

Bánh hỏi

Extremely thin noodles, sometimes called rice vermicelli, that are woven into intricate bundles and often topped with chopped scallions and a complementary meat dish.

What is Bánh Hỏi?
Bánh Hỏi w/ Grilled Beef (Bánh Hỏi Thịt Bò Nướng)
Bánh Hỏi w/ Beef in Wild Betel Leaf
Bánh Hỏi w/ Grilled Shrimp on Sugarcane

Bánh phở

Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

Flat rice noodles used in phở.

While most non-Vietnamese associate the word pho with Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup), banh pho actually refers to the flat, thin rice noodles. There are two types of banh pho noodles, which are sometimes called rice sticks: fresh and dried. The fresh rice noodles only have to be plunged in boiling water for mere seconds before they are soft. The dried noodles need to be boiled for several minutes longer.

Banh pho is made with just rice and water, suitable for the gluten-free trend that seems to be popular lately. The width of the noodles may vary from very thin to about 1/4-inch, but banh pho will always refer to flat rice noodles. Round rice noodles are called Bun.

These are also the same noodles used in Pad Thai and sometime substituted in Hu Tieu Saigon (Vietnamese Clear Noodle Soup with Barbecued Pork and Shrimp), although some prefer clear tapioca noodles for that.

Recipes that feature banh pho:

Pho Ap Chao Bo (Vietnamese Pan-Fried Rice Noodles Sauteed with Beef)
Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)
Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)

Bánh Bao

Same thing as char siu bao. Filling is usually lap chung, char siu and egg.

Bánh bao (literally "covering cake") is a ball-shaped dumpling with pork or chicken meat, onions, eggs, mushrooms and vegetables inside, in Vietnamese cuisine. The steamed bun often has ground pork or chicken, Chinese sausage, and a portion of a hard-boiled egg inside. This delicacy originated with the baozi from China but was adapted by the Vietnamese and is also available in most other countries with Vietnamese populations. Bánh bao are generally smaller than baozi, and are filled with savory fillings, the most popular of which is seasoned ground pork. As in China, pork is the most popular kind of meat in Vietnam.

Bánh Bèo ("water fern cake") - appetizer
(rhymes with meow)

Silver-dollar disks of rice flour. Topped with mung bean powder, ground shrimp, and oil-moistened green onions. Served with nuoc cham.

A bánh bèo (literally "water fern cake") is a variety of small steamed rice cake or rice pancake finger food in Vietnamese cuisine. It is white in color and typically features a dimple in the center, which is filled with savory ingredients including chopped dried or fresh shrimp, scallions, mung bean paste, crispy fried shallots, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and oil. It is considered most typical of the cuisine of Huế, the ancient royal capital located in the center of Vietnam. The dish's name is believed to derive from the fact that it is shaped like a water fern (bèo in Vietnamese).

Banh Beo Xu Hue (Hue bloating fern-shaped cake - finger food)

Banh khot, aka Banh can

Mini-cupcakes made of a batter of rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric and topped with shrimp and green onion. A southern specialty.

Bánh Xèo

Half moon crepes made of rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric. Fried until crunchy and filled with bean sprouts, pork and shrimp. Almost similar to Indian dosa.

A type of crepe made out of rice flour with tumeric, shrimps with shells on, slivers of fatty pork, sliced onions, and sometimes button mushrooms, fried in one or two teaspoons of oil, usually coconut oil, which is the most popular oil used in Vietnam. It is eaten with lettuce and various local herbs and dipped in Nước chấm or sweet fermented peanut butter sauce. Rice papers are sometimes used as wrappers to contain banh xeo and the accompanying vegetables.

Banh Cuon - breakfast dish
(sounds like kwon, intoned like you're asking a question: kwon?)

Literally: rolled cake. Steamed rice flour sheets around a filling of ground pork and wood ear fungus. Banh cuon thanh tri are the sheets served scrunched in a pile without filling.

Bánh cuốn (literally "rolled cake") is a dish from northern Vietnam. It is a crêpe-like roll made from a thin, wide sheet of rice flour filled with ground pork, minced wood ear mushroom, and other ingredients. Sides for this dish usually consist of chả lụa (Vietnamese pork sausage) and bean sprouts, with the dipping sauce called nước chấm.

Unlike shahe fen, the rice sheet in bánh cuốn is extremely thin and delicate. It is a light dish, and is generally eaten for breakfast everywhere in Vietnam. A different version of bánh cuốn, called bánh cuốn Thanh Trì and bánh cuốn làng Kênh, may be found in Thanh Trì, a southern district of Hanoi and Kênh village of Nam Định, an ancient village in the centre of Nam Định city. Bánh cuốn Thanh Trì or Bánh cuốn làng Kênh are not rolls, but just rice sheets eaten with chả lụa, fried shallots, or prawns.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolling Cake)

Bánh Mì

Vietnamese sandwiches

Bánh Mì Sandwich
Pork Meatball Bánh Mì Sandwich
Pork Meatball in Tomato Sauce Sandwich (Banh Mi Xiu Mai)

Bánh Bò - a dessert
(rhymes with raw)

Literally: cow cake. Spongey/springy muffin made of leavened flour and coconut milk. Usually colored and steamed in Jello molds.

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 (白糖糕), omits the coconut. Bánh bò are generally eaten as a dessert, although they may also be consumed as an accompaniment to a meal.

There are two varieties of bánh bò:

1. Bánh bò nướng (literally "baked bánh bò") - (Vietnamese Honey Comb Cake). This variety of bánh bò is cooked by baking in a pan in an oven. It is generally off-white or yellowish-white in color on the inside and golden on the outside, although it may be colored green with pandan. Individual cakes are often large in size, in which case a serving will consist of a slice rather than the whole cake.
   
2. Bánh bò hấp (literally "steamed bánh bò") is similar in appearance to the baked version, and the outside is not golden-colored. These cakes are often small in size, similar in size to a dumpling. Bánh bò hấp may be white in color, green (colored with pandan), pink, yellow, or purple. They are generally served with coconut sauce (made with coconut milk, sugar, salt, and tapioca starch), and/or toasted sesame seeds and crushed roasted peanuts.

Banh bot loc - hors d'œuvre
(sounds like boat lock)

Translucent, almost gelatinous tubes of sticky tapioca flour. Filling consists of whole shrimps and sliced boiled fatty pork.

A Huế food, consisting of tiny rice dumplings made in a clear rice flour batter, often in a small flattish tube shape. Stuffed with shrimp and ground pork. It is wrapped and cooked inside a banana leaf, served often as Vietnamese hors d'œuvres at more casual buffet-type parties.

Banh chay
(sounds like chai tea)

Literally: vegetarian cake. Mochi balls made of sticky rice flour, filled with sweetened mung bean paste, in sugar syrup.

A cake with layers consisting of pressed grains of sticky rice, fatty pork and ground mung bean. Traditionally eaten at Tet.

Banh dau xanh
(sounds like doh! sang)

literally: green bean cake
Not a cake, but more like a candy.� Sweetened powdery ground mung bean pressed into tiny little blocks.

Banh day
(sounds like zey)

literally: thick cake
Thick flat rounds of sticky rice flour. Usually sandwiching a thick slice of steamed pork bologna.

Banh it

Very sticky rice flour balls. Filling of ground or cubed pork. Garnished with oil moistened green onions and sometimes fried shallots.

Banh it la gai
(sounds like guy)

Very dark green cake made of sticky rice flour with la gai leaf in the dough, filled with sweetened ground mung beans. Wrapped & steamed in banana leaf.

Banh nam

Flat rectangular packets of banana leaf. Inside is a base of steamed rice flour, ground pork, shrimp, and wood ear fungus.� Served with nuoc cham.

Banh phong tom

literally: puffed shrimp cake
Not a steamed cake.� They�re shrimp chips/ shrimp crackers, fried until puffed and crackly crisp.

Banh ran
(sounds like zan, intonation is like you�re asking a question: zan?)

literally: fried cake
Same thing as Chinese deep fried sesame balls.

Banh tom
(sounds like tome, a big book)

literally: shrimp cake
Thick yellow fried patties of whole shrimp and batter made of flour, egg, and turmeric. Cut into squares and served with lettuce, herbs and nuoc cham.

Banh trung thu
(sounds like chung too)

Just like Chinese moon cake.

Banh uot
(sounds like oo-ot)

Literally: wet cake. The name for the rice flour sheets in the dish called banh cuon. Or a variation that's thicker (not sure).

Banh xu xe

Sweet cake made of rice or tapioca flour and gelatin, with filling of ground mung beans. Wrapped in banana leaf shaped into a little box.