Steamed shrimp rice cake (Bánh nậm/Bánh lá)

INGREDIENTS:
*For the shrimp powder:
- 100g dry shrimps (fresh shrimps work better)
- salt, sugar, fish sauce

*For the rice batter:
- 2 cups rice flour

- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 4 1/4 cup water
- 2tsp salt
- 2tbsp oil
- banana leaf( if using frozen leaves, they must be soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes before using) cut into triangles, thinly coated with oil

PREPARATION:
*For the shrimp powder:
- Soak the shrimp for several hours until solf( for fresh ones, rinse well and peel). Ground finely in a blender.

- In a medium pan, pour in oil, stir-frying grounded shrimp until dry, add in salt,sugar and fish sauce to taste.It should be a bit sweet and salty.

*For the rice batter:
- Mix everything together in small pot and rest for 10-15 minutes
- Stir constantly over medium heat until it starts getting thicken
- Remove from heat immediately and keep stirring well,make sure that's there is no lumps and the batter is soft and smooth

- Here is the process of wrapping the cake:








- Steam the cakes for 15 minutes
- Serving with sweet fish sauce