Banh Cong & Banh Tom Chien-(Fried Shrimp and Chips Cluster)

Fried shrimp cakes with clusters of fries.  Sorry, I have no idea what to call these in English.  But this is one of the traditional and lesser known Vietnamese dish.  Wiki doesn't even have a page for me to link you! :(  There is a video on Youtube showing you how to cook it, if you can understand Vietnamese.  It's much better if you can make it at home, because you get more filling, rather than dough.  I don't like when restaurants try to cheap out and give you more dough and a smaller grade of shrimp, which would dry up during the cooking. 

The coconut milk batter and mung bean filling is filled into small muffin shaped ladle, topped with a raw shrimp, and then lowered into hot oil to be fried.  The fried cakes kind of magically release themselves from the mold after they've been cooked for a while.  You know they're ready when they're crispy and golden brown!  These are eaten with seasoned, preferably spicy, sweet and sour fish sauce and wrapped in lettuce and herbs.  

Another version of the shrimp cakes would be replacing the muffin shaped cakes with clusters of potato sticks (or french fries).  I used sweet potato here, because they taste better.  The sticks of potatoes are coated in a tapioca-rice batter and a shrimp would stick to it, forming a cluster when fried up.  I actually love eating the battered cluster of fries sans shrimp, because they'd stay crispy for some time and then turn chewy after.  But chewy in a good way!   Great to snack with hot sauce.