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Toasted Sesame Rice Crackers
Banh Da ~ "Bun Dah"
Banh Trang Nuong ~ "Bun Trang Noong"

Although these rice crackers are an integral part of Vietnamese cooking, for many years our family substituted the Mexican tortilla chip, which offered a nice toastiness to certain foods. I grew up not really knowing what banh da (a.k.a. banh trang nuong) was because we just didn't have it.

Eventually, Vietnamese delis and markets started carrying them pre-toasted in large, cumbersome packages. (The crackers were about 12 inches in diameter.) Broken most of the time, they weren't worth the expense. The Vietnamese entrepreneurial spirit recently brought the crackers to market in a dried and un-toasted form, which allows you to do the breaking yourself.

In the package, these crackers look like a stack of semi-translucent vinyl records dotted with white or black sesame seeds-rather unappetizing. Once toasted, however, banh da are incredibly delightful to simply munch on as a snack, broken into shards to scoop up food (a lá the tortilla chip and salsa mode; substitute it for toast points in a tuna or salmon tartare), or crumbled into a bowl of noodle salad to add crunch and a light nuttiness.

Central Vietnamese cooks have a wealth of applications for these toasted crackers. They may soften them in water and then use the chewy result as the filling for a hand roll wrapped in rice paper. I've also eaten a dish where the toasted cracker was enrobed in a steamed rice crepe and served with a special dipping sauce made with fermented fish and pineapple. At a noodle restaurant in San Jose, California (where the second largest community of Vietnamese Americans reside), shards of the toasted cracker was added to a bowl of noodle soup. To my sister Linh and her family, they're a healthy low-fat alternative to commercial chips.

There are many uses for these crackers, but first and foremost, you must toast them. In our family, we've debated which is the best method. I've tested them all out, and below are your options:

Oven Method: Position a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 400F degrees. Place the rice cracker directly on the rack and heat until golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. The cracker will blister as it toasts. This method produces a consistently beautiful color and does not warp the cracker much, resulting in a relatively flat cracker that's lovely when broken into shards and impaled into food for an edible and arty garnish.

Toaster Oven Method: My father and my husband prefer this approach because it's fast. Place the cracker into a toaster oven and hit the "toast" button. With the bi-directional heat from the top and bottom elements, the cracker toasts extremely fast. You must carefully monitor the toasting process as the cracker may burn if it's left lingering too long near the heat source. Dad and Rory keep their watch with chopsticks or metal tongs to flip and turn, as necessary. Preheating the toaster oven to 400F makes for a less dramatic experience.

Grill/Open Fire Method: For me, this is the most fun of all the methods. Just grill the cracker over a moderate flame, turning it over several times to equally expose both sides to the fire. You get big blister bubbles (extra crunch), unusual warping of the cracker, and a little char to lend more character to the finished cracker. Plus, there's the thrill of directly observing the transformation of the cracker as it goes from a hard to pliable state, blisters, makes small popping noises and then settles into a crisp finish.

NOTES & TIPS

Advance Preparation - These crackers may be toasted up to a day in advance, and kept in a plastic Ziploc bag.