Hi all you lovely people,
Here's a recipe to "throw" most of you, a Vietnamese one. It isn't the easiest to make, but I assure you, it's special. One from a collection of recipes I'm putting together, perhaps I'll publish a book one day! I first tried these in a Vietnamese restaurant in Brisbane many years ago, but wasn’t too keen on it for some reason or other. But when I tasted it on a trip to Saigon (or HCMC as it is properly called these days), it was a superb meal at “Banh Xeo 46A” (check it out in LonelyPlanet) that really hit the spot. The crepes were filled with tender slices of pork and prawns and crunchy beansprouts, accompanied with an array of aromatic herbs. I have tried to re-capture that magic and this is a simplified recipe suitable for home cooking.
Oh, any of you experienced Vietnamese cooks, please give me some feedback!
Bánh Xèo (Vietnamese crepes)(Makes approximately three 25-30cm crepes, serves two persons as light meal/entrée)
Ingredients:
Batter:
¾ cup of rice flour
1 tbsp plain wheat flour
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp curry powder
1 cup water
1 small shallot (green onion), sliced finely
Filling:
45ml cooking oil
100g lean pork shoulder or loin, cut into thin slices
150g medium uncooked prawns, peeled and deveined
½ small onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1½ cup mung bean sprouts
Dipping sauce:
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp lime/lemon juice
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
few strands carrot, very finely julienned
To serve:
½ bunch each mint and basil, or mixed Vietnamese herbs
2 bunches soft lettuce, leaves separated
Method:
Make batter first: in a medium bowl, whisk the rice flour, wheat flour, turmeric powder and curry powder, adding 1 cup water slowly. Whisk to a smooth batter, add sliced shallot then set aside.
To prepare dipping sauce: in a small bowl, put in crushed garlic and brown sugar, then add hot water to dissolve sugar. Add lime/lemon juice and fish sauce, then dilute to taste with cold water, adding more sugar, lime/lemon juice or fish sauce to balance as desired. Add julienned carrot strips to garnish, set aside.
To make the crepes, heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add 15ml cooking oil and then add 1/3 of the sliced pork, prawns and sliced onions. Fry for 1-2 minutes until pork and prawns are nearly cooked, then season with salt and pepper. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into frying pan, swirling it up the sides of the pan and evenly over the surface of the pan, then lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 5-6 minutes until the sides curl up and the underside is a deep golden yellow-brown colour. Scatter ½ cup bean sprouts over one half of the crepe and cook for 1 minute longer. Fold the crepe in half and slide it onto a serving plate. Repeat with remaining filling and batter.
Serve crepes hot with herbs, lettuce and dipping sauce. Diners help themselves by cutting a small piece of the crepe, wrapping it in lettuce with herbs and adding the
dipping sauce as liked.
And this is what they look like, or at least my own version from the kitchen (my own amateur photography)
Additional notes & hints (apologies in advance to experienced cooks, this is to help everyone achieve perfect results):
All measurements are Australian metric measures: 5ml teaspoon, 20ml tablespoon and 250ml cup.
The batter can be made well in advance and kept in the fridge. If liked, a dash of coconut milk can be also added, replacing part of the 1 cup of water.
For ease of cooking, set the crepe fillings (pork, prawns and onions) in three little mounds so the correct amount can be added for each crepe.
Dipping sauce should be made to taste, with a lightly sweet and sour note, but emphasizing the salty. The salt should dominate more, as it is needed to season the blander crepe and salad-type ingredients. A few slices of cut (bird’s eye) chilli can also be added if liked.
Beansprouts can be tailed for neatness, but this is not essential.
To make fine julienne of carrot, peel a 5cm section of a small carrot, then using the vegetable peeler, take strips of carrot. Stack a few strips together and cut them finely with a sharp knife for fine julienne.
Use a good-quality non-stick pan, approximately 30-35cm in diameter. If your pan is significantly larger or smaller, adjust the number of crepes and apportion the batter and filling ingredients accordingly.
Stir the batter well before making each crepe to make sure the flour hasn’t settled to the bottom.
Don’t overcrowd the pan with the filling ingredients. One of the possible points of failure is having not having sufficient pan surface left or too low a heat when the batter hits the oil, resulting in soggy crepes. If necessary, reduce the quantity of filling ingredients used. The finished crepes should be very crisp to contrast with the softer herbs and lettuce, which is essential to the character of the dish. Adjust the heat so that the crepe cooks in 5-6 minutes and has fully cooked through; there should be a trace of sizzling oil on the surface towards the end, indicating the heat has evaporated the excess moisture.
The ideal type of lettuce is the soft “local” lettuce available in local markets. Otherwise try using soft “butter” or “bib” lettuce. All the salad-type ingredients should be well-washed and then dried thoroughly in a salad spinner. Other herbs to try include pennywort, shiso leaves or laksa mint (polygonum hydropiper).
