Vietnamese Sizzling Crepe- “bánh xèo”
Bánh Xèo - This Vietnamese favorite and celebrated during Lunar New Year is simply translated as a “sizzling cake" which refers to the sizzling sound when the crepe is cooking. The crepe is actually eggless and simply consists of rice flour, dried mung beans, and seasoned with turmeric and coconut milk.
This pancake/crepe originated in South Vietnam but you can definitely see the French influence on this crepe dish. Growing up my dad would cook these crispy crepes and would stuff them with bean sprouts, pork, shrimp, seasonal herbs and lettuce. These are to be made hot and served hot.
I made mine veggie so no pork or shrimp for Julian so you can omit these too if you want a lighter meatless meal!
TIP: A well-seasoned wok or good nonstick pan is very important to getting a nice crispy crepe. The secret to these is making the batter the night prior and letting the flour expand and the yellow color will also be intensified as it all marinates over night.
Crispy Banh Xeo Tips:
1. Beer is added into the batter which helps make the banh xeo batter more airy and thinner thus resulting in a more crispy texture.
2. Technique. Heat control and oil is key as well. Cook with a higher heat and a generous amount of oil to create an extra crispy crust on the banh xeo’s!
3. Avoid steaming: don’t let your Banh xeo’s get soggy from steam. Just put a lid on for the initial cooking but finish and cook it without a lid for that extra crisp. Don’t also fold it too early, make sure it’s crispy before making the fold.
4. Mix batter each time before pouring batter into pan (flours and starches will settle quickly).
5. You need a lot of oil to cook these, at least 1 tbs if you are concerned about oil intake. But in restaurants they can use 1/2 cup to almost a full cup per crepe!
To use premixed banh xeo flour (approx ratio):
Use 1 bag premixed banh xeo flour, 700ml water, 1/2 can of beer, 1/2 can of coconut milk.
Below are instructions to make batter from scratch, skip the batter instructions below if you are using the pre-made Banh Xeo flour:
INGREDIENTS (1:2 ratio for flour : liquid)
1 3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
3 1/2 cup water (we will purge 1.5 cups later)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 tsp curry powder (my parents always used a lil curry powder which helps with the color but pairs so good with the coconut milk. If you don’t have curry powder sub this with 1/16 more of the ground tumeric)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup cold beer
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
½ cup thinly sliced scallion tops
FILLINGS
1 lb bean sprouts (washed and drained)
1/2 lb thin pork belly, cut thing
1/2 lb raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined
1 bunch cilantro, washed, and drained (remove bottoms root stems)
FILLING INGREDIENTS
Canola or Vegetable oil for frying
1 large yellow or sweet onion (thinly cut into ¼-inch-thick half moons)
2 bunches of scallions (cut into diagonal 1” sections)
20 medium-size shrimps (about 2 cups), peeled, deveined, and halved lengthwise (optional if you’re doing veggie)
1/2 lb pork belly or lean pork shoulder
3 cups bean sprouts
GARNISH
24 red leaf lettuce or butter lettuce leaves
6 large spearmint/mint sprigs
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 handful of peppermint
1 handful of of perilla leaves
1 handful baby mustard green leaves
DIPPING SAUCE
Nuoc Mam Cham: recipe -here-
PREPARATION
Prepare all veggies and place in separate bowls or containers
Making crepe batter: Whisk together rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder and mix in water (a little at a time) until there are no lumps and clumps of flour. Then let batter rest for 30 - 45 min.
After 30 minutes, carefully pour out 1 1/2 cup of water from the batter mixture (do not mix this, you want the water and flour to separate) and discard that 1 1/2 cup of water.
Add in your turmeric, curry powder, and 1 tbs vegetable oil. Mix well and keep in fridge overnight.
On crepe day: Mix well and then pour in the coconut milk, beer, salt, sugar, scallions and whisk until well combined. Allow batter to rest for 1-2 hours at room temperature (ideally this should be made night prior and stored in fridge).
In a 10-inch nonstick frying pan, heat 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of the oil over high heat. When the oil is thin and shimmering (don't let oil smoke), add pork, add touch of salt and pepper and 1tsp fish sauce and cook till meat is cooked through then transfer to bowl. If not using pork skip to #7 below.
In a 10-inch nonstick frying pan, heat 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of the oil over med high heat and cook shrimps until shrimps are almost opaque in color and cooked through (about 2-3 min, or until your shrimps are cooked through) add a little salt and pepper, and transfer to a clean bowl.
Stir the batter well. Heat about 2-4 tbs of oil in nonstick skillet over medium high heat until hot and glossy (Use a lot of oil like 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil for a super crispy pancake). If just using a couple tbs of oil you can add few slices of green and sweet onions to pan (just a few to add color and texture to the outside of the crepe) and stir veggies around for a few seconds. Turn heat up to med-high.
Then pour about 1/4- 1/3 cup of your crepe batter into the hot pan with a large spoon ladle over the onions (your pan must be very hot for this step). Lift your pan slightly and swirl your pan so batter moves moves to the outside edges of your pan and the batter is completely covering the bottom of your pan.
Cook for about 30 seconds then add 4-6 pieces of shrimp and about a 1/4 cup of bean sprouts, onion, green onion then put lid on and let cook for a few minutes. Remove lid, add a lil oil around edges if it looks dry in oil, then fold crepe in half after bottom has browned a little bit and let cook for about a minute with no lid until it’s fully cooked through. On average it should take about 5 min per crepe.
Then transfer onto serving dish (if you are more skilled at cooking you can also try drizzle some oil under the crepes during cooking to make it crispier (if you notice there’s no oil when checking under the crepe).
Repeat above steps until remaining batter is used up.
Serve the crepes hot with fresh lettuce leaves, mint, and a nice heaping side of fish sauce or Nuoc cham.
*On a separate note, some street vendors in Vietnam would mix filling ingredients and crepe batter together in pan and fold over versus filling the ingredients to the middle of the crepe separately. This takes a little more time and skill to perfect.
Traditionally this is eaten by cutting a small piece of the crepe and sandwiching it between a lettuce leaf with a few mint leaves, rolled up, and dipped into the fish sauce