In mixing bowl, add the pork, fish sauce, and sugar and mix. In separate bowl add the water, tapioca flour, and baking powder and mix. It will foam and bubble up--that's normal. Fold this into the pork mixture. It will be quite moist. Cover and allow to rest at least 6 hrs, but preferably over night in the fridge. When ready to cook, grind the mixture one more time in small batches in your food processor. The texture should be very smooth--this is the consistency of gio song (stop here if you're just making gio song for bun moc). You can either wrap it up in banana leaf or in plastic wrap. While it's prettier and you get a slightly more fragrant cha lua with banana leaf, wrapping the cha lua in plastic wrap is much faster and easier. We made both sausage and round shaped cha lua. Remember the cha lua rises a bit when cook so take that into account when forming your cha lua. Steam for about 20-25 minutes (will vary depending on size). *Cooks note: The amount of Alsa baking powder and tapioca starch will determine the cha lua's "bounciness" and chewiness. Other single acting brands of baking powder should work, although we have never tried. |