Banh Xeo Food

BANH XEO

Steps:

• Make the batter: In a small bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, salt and turmeric. In another small bowl, combine boiling water with coconut milk, then slowly drizzle into dry mixture, whisking constantly until smooth. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.
• Make the pancakes: Divide the shrimp and bacon into 4 equal portions and season with salt. Season bean sprouts separately with salt. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Add a single portion of shrimp and bacon and cook, stirring, until no longer raw, about 2 minutes. Spread shrimp and bacon in a single layer.
• Whisk scallions into batter until well blended. The batter should be slightly thicker than heavy cream. Add a little water, if needed. Pour 1/2 cup batter into skillet, distributing over and around the filling. Tilt pan to coat the bottom of the skillet. (Pancakes should be 8 to 9 inches wide.) Fill in holes with more batter, if necessary. Scatter 1/2 cup bean sprouts over the pancake, cover skillet and cook until sprouts soften, about 2 minutes.
• Uncover and cook over medium-low until pancake is golden and crispy underneath, about 3 minutes longer. Slide a spatula underneath the pancake and fold it in half to enclose the filling. Transfer pancake to a serving plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and fillings.
• Serve pancakes with lettuce leaves, herbs and nuoc cham. Using scissors, cut pancakes into small pieces. Lay out a lettuce leaf and fill with a piece of pancake. Top with herbs, wrap and dip into nuoc cham.

BáNH XèO (VIETNAMESE SIZZLING PANCAKES / CREPêS)

Steps:

• Combine all batter ingredients except scallions in a large bowl for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Add scallions only right before making the crêpes.
• Steam or soak mung beans in water until soft.
• Boil pork until cooked through and soft, then slice thinly.
• Wash bean sprouts and veggies.
• On medium-high heat add 1-2 teaspoons of oil and some onions
• Immediately add a few pieces of pork and shrimp. Sauté, lightly mixing until very lightly browned and fragrant.
• Pour in some batter and quickly tilt & rotate the pan so the batter is evenly spread. Add more batter if it wasn't enough to cover the pan. There should only be a thin layer of batter that almost flakes off at the pan edges where it's thinner. If your batter doesn't do that and is too thick, add a few tbsp water to the batter and mix to thin it out.
• Lower the heat to medium. Add some mung beans, bean sprouts, and cover with a lid for about 3 minutes, or until bean sprouts are slightly cooked. The batter should also be slightly cooked and transparent around the edges. This step cooks the top side of the ingredients and batter while it steams since we won't be flipping the crepe.
• Remove the lid, lower heat to medium-low and wait for the crêpe to become crisp. This takes about 5-7 minutes. This step lets the ingredients fully cook through, including the batter. It also lets steam escape so the batter can crisp up. Brush on a little oil around the edges if you're not seeing or hearing enough batter to pan contact. Fold in half, transfer to a plate and serve immediately. For batter troubleshooting please see the troubleshooting section in the post above.

TRADITIONAL BANH XEO WITH NUOC CHAM SAUCE

Steps:

• For the nuoc cham sauce: Pound the garlic and chile in a large mortar with a pestle until pasty. Whisk in the fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, and 1 cup water until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a serving bowl for dipping.
• For the banh xeo: Whisk the flour together with the scallion, salt, turmeric and 1/4 cup cold water in a bowl until completely smooth. Set aside.
• Heat a well-seasoned 9-inch carbon steel skillet over high heat until smoking hot. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan generously and swirl to lightly coat the sides, too. Add the shrimp and bacon, and cook, stirring and tossing, until the shrimp start to curl but before they become completely opaque, about 1 minute.
• Whisk the batter again to mix in any flour that has settled on the bottom, then ladle a spoonful into the pan. Swirl the pan to coat the bottom and an inch or so up the sides with a thin layer of the batter. Repeat two more times. Let the batter set, about 30 seconds.
• Drizzle the egg over the crepe and swirl the pan to evenly coat the crepe with egg. The crepe should have released from the sides of the pan; squirt oil between the crepe edges and the pan. Gently shake the pan to keep everything moving. Poke a hole in the crepe with a fork or spoon to keep it from bubbling up -- you want a flat crepe. Oil should be sputtering at the edges of the crepe; if it isn't, add more.
• Cook the crepe, oiling and shaking until the egg has set on top and the bottom of the crepe is dark brown around the edges and speckled on the bottom. Pile the bean sprouts on one half and fold the other half over with a spatula. Hold the folded omelet against one side of the pan and tilt the oil out the other side into a heat-safe bowl; discard.
• Lift the omelet out of the pan with the spatula and immediately serve with the shrimp and bacon, lettuce and shiso leaves, herbs and nuoc cham. Tear off a piece of omelet with a bunch of bean sprouts and tuck it into a lettuce leaf with a shiso leaf and some bacon and shrimp. Pluck a few fresh herb leaves of basil, cilantro, dill and mint, and stuff them in there, too. Then roll it up and dip into the nuoc cham. Eat. Repeat.

BANH XEO (VIETNAMESE CREPES)

Steps:

• Mix rice flour, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and turmeric together in a large bowl. Beat in coconut milk to make a thick batter. Slowly beat in water until batter is the consistency of a thin crepe batter.
• Heat 1 1/2 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot and garlic; cook and stir until fragrant but not browning, 1 to 2 minutes. Add shrimp; saute until cooked through and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with fish sauce and salt. Transfer filling to a bowl.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
• Wipe out skillet and reheat over medium heat. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoon oil. Stir crepe batter and pour 1/2 cup into the hot skillet, swirling to coat the bottom. Lay 3 or 4 of the cooked shrimp on the bottom half of the crepe. Top with a small handful of bean sprouts. Cook until batter looks set and edges start to brown, about 1 minute. Fold crepe over and slide onto an oven-safe plate.
• Place crepe in the preheated oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter and filling.
• Serve lettuce leaves alongside filled crepes. Break off pieces of crepe and roll up in lettuce leaves to eat.

BANH XEO - VIETNAMESE CREPES

Steps:

• Place pork loin in a saucepan; cover with water and bring to a boil over medium heat; simmer until cooked through, about 20 minutes.
• Allow pork to cool, then julienne into strips.
• Shell and devein shrimp; slice each one in half lengthwise.
• Rinse herbs and drain; set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, prepare batter by mixing rice flour, self-rising flour, water, coconut milk, curry powder, sugar, salt, and green onion until smooth.
• Divide pork, shrimp, onion, and bean sprouts into 5 separate little piles for easy access during cooking.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in non-stick frying pan until hot; cook pork shrimp and onion until it starts to sizzle; add 1/2 cup of batter and swirl to cover pan and get batter underneath.
• Place one pile of bean sprouts towards the center of the crepe, then cover the pan tightly.
• Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 2-3 minutes, then uncover and loosen edges of crepe and fold over with a spatula to form an omelette.
• Transfer the crepe to a serving platter.
• Repeat process with rest of batter.
• Do not cover the cooked crepes or stack them (they will lose their crispness- they should remain light and airy).
• To serve, place one crepe on a plate with some lettuce leaves, herbs also with a small bowl of nuoc cham.
• The person cuts a portion of crepe, wraps it in a leaf of lettuce with some herbs, and dips it in the sauce.

BANH XEO

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, water, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and thai chili until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine rice flour, turmeric, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together water, beer, and coconut milk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.
• In a small nonstick skillet, heat 2 T. canola oil over medium-high heat. When oil is shimmering, place four shrimp in a line down the lower half of the skillet. Fill bottom of skillet with crepe batter (about ¾ c.). Sprinkle with 2 T. bean sprouts and 2 T. scallions. Cover with a tight-fitting lid, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until shrimp are opaque, 3-4 minutes. Remove lid, return heat to medium-high, and continue to cook until crepe is crisp and golden brown on the bottom, another 1-2 minutes. Carefully transfer crepe to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat to make three additional banh xeo.
• To serve, fill banh xeo with pickled daikon and carrot, basil, mint, and cilantro leaves. Divide bacon among crepes, then fold in half and slice into strips. Serve with red leaf lettuce and nuoc cham.