Bánh canh is a thick Vietnamese noodle

Noodle

The noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of doughs, formed into long thin ribbons, strips, curly-cues, waves, helices, pipes, tubes, strings, or other various shapes, sometimes folded. They are usually cooked in a mixture of boiling water and/or oil. Depending upon the type, noodles...

 that can be made from a mixture of rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 and tapioca

Tapioca

Tapioca is a starch extracted Manihot esculenta. This species, native to the Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and most of the West Indies, is now cultivated worldwide and has many names, including cassava, manioc, aipim,...

 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
  Dong Nam Bo
  Đông Nam Bộ is a region in Vietnam. This region includes one municipality, Ho Chi Minh City; and five provinces: Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh. This region is the most economically developed region in Vietnam...
  
   Vietnamese town of Trang Bang
  Trang Bang
  Trảng Bàng is a district in Tay Ninh province, in southeastern Vietnam. It has a traditional artisan industry, and recently has opened an industrial zone for foreign investment...
  
  , served with boiled pork, rice paper
  Rice paper
  Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry...
  
  , and local herbs
• Bánh canh tôm - a shrimp-flavoured broth that is also mixed with coconut milk

The Vietnamese word bánh

Bánh

Bánh is a Vietnamese term, translating loosely as "cake" or "bread", that refers to a wide variety of prepared foods. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savoury, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and food items from Vietnamese cuisine,...

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

Commercial variants of Bánh Canh with soup

There are many variations of the Bánh canh with soup.

For example, in Tan Lac Vien, Melbourne (Australia),it's most popular dish is the Bánh canh cua, a thick crab soup is served with either mud crab.
At My Hanh Restaurant, South El Monte (CANADA), it's specialty is the Bánh Canh Giò Heo with a clear soup.

External links

• Trang Bang's famous boiled pork
• Crab Banh canh cua
• Alice's Guide to Vietnamese Banh