What started as a cheap after school snack for Vietnamese students has become a popular street food that attracts many tourists.

Vietnamese rice paper salad (Banh Trang Tron) is what Andrew Zimmern describes as “Vietnam in a bag.” This street food is what I like to call a hodge-podge salad. It’s a popular street food in Southern Vietnam, particularly Ho Chi Minh City. It includes leftover ingredients and condiments to transform unwanted broken rice paper into an unorthodox salad of amazing textures and flavors.

There are many ingredients in Banh Trang Tron but the most basic which are sold to school children is a small clear bag of broken rice paper with a few packets of flavoring agents such as MSG, chili powder, and tamarind sauce. Costing only a few cents, it is an affordable and tasty treat.

Nowadays, it has evolved to a made-to-order gourmet salad. You can find Banh Trang Trong sold by many street food vendors. You can get Banh Trang Trong with beef jerky, dried squid, dried shrimp, fresh Vietnamese coriander, unripe julienned green mango, chili oil, scallion oil, tamarind sauce, toasted peanuts, hard-boiled quail eggs, fried shallots and so many more. Everything is made to order and tossed together in a bowl. What you end up is a rice paper salad with an explosion of sweet, spicy, sour and savory flavors … all the essence of Vietnamese cuisine.

If you are eating at a street stall, you will be served Banh Trang Tron in a plastic bag along with a pair of chopsticks. It may not look so glamorous when eating out of a bag, but it is guaranteed refreshing and delicious.

1. To make the Shrimp Salt (Muoi Tom), in a medium-size skillet, heat vegetable oil to medium high. Add 100 grams of dried shrimp and pan fry until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add garlic,chili flakes, salt and sugar. Continue to pan-fry and toss evenly until the mixture is completely dry. Set aside in a small bowl.
2. Make the tamarind sauce. Reuse the skillet from the previous step. Add vegetable oil and heat on medium high. Add garlic and saute until fragrant (a few seconds). Add tamarind juice, fish sauce, sugar and bouillon powder. Mix until combined. Cook on low simmer for 1 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and set aside.
3. Wipe the skillet clean and make the sate sauce. Heat up annatto or vegetable oil. Add shallots. Pan fry for 1-2 minutes. Add lemongrass and pan fry for 1 minute. Then add garlic and pan fry for 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients: red pepper flakes, chili powder and fish sauce. Mix until thoroughly combined and heat on medium-low for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
4. Prep the dried proteins. To a medium-size skillet, add 1/4 cup vegetable oil and heat on medium high. Add the squid to the hot oil and fry for 30 seconds. It will curl up so use chopsticks or a wooden spoon to push down the sides to prevent curling and even frying. Flip and quickly fry the other side for another 30 seconds. Remove from oil. Once cooled, hand shred the squid into long strips and set aside. In the same oil, add the remaining dried salted shrimp (make sure it’s dry to prevent oil splatter) and pan fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from oil and finely chop. For the beef jerky, hand shred into thin strips and set aside.
5. To assemble, place the thinly sliced rice paper in a large bowl so that we can toss and mix easily. Start by adding a tablespoon each of the following: tamarind sauce , chili oil and scallion oil. Now add the spicy shrimp salt a teaspoon at a time. Toss rice paper evenly so the rice paper soaks up all the sauces. Give it a taste and continue to add shrimp salt and other sauces as needed. You will not need all the shrimp salt but you may use up all the scallion oil and tamarind sauce. Next, toss in dried proteins (beef, squid, and shrimp), green mango, and Vietnames coriander leaves. Garnish with hard boiled quail eggs, fried shallots and toasted peanuts and a few more Vietnamese coriander leaves for a beautiful green finish