Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Crepe)

This is the first of many Vietnamese recipes to come. Vietnamese food is gorgeously fresh, flavoursome and draws similarities between ingredients from China and Indochina. The flavours are very much South East Asian but it’s the combination of ingredients that puts Vietnamese food in a league of its own.

This dish has to be one of my all-time favourites. Banh xeo (pronounced ban sell) is a very popular Vietnamese savory crepe dish. It’s filled with prawns, pork slices and beansprouts, wrapped with fresh herbs and lettuces, and drizzled/dipped in a genius-creation of a sauce, ‘nuoc cham’. I serve this with large mustard lettuce leaves, oriental mint and perilla herbs (all can be bought from specialist oriental stores/chinatown); however, this can easily be eaten with normal lettuce, mint and Thai basil.

The ingredients must be fresh – this is what makes this dish, as does the dipping sauce. So here’s my family recipe. The real deal! Enjoy…

Recipe (Serves 4-6)

 

For the dipping sauce (nuoc cham):

• 1 large clove of garlic, diced
• 1 birds eye chilli, diced
• 150 g of sugar
• 300 ml of hot water
• 110 ml clear vinegar
• 150 ml of fish sauce
• juice of 1/2 lime

Note:  The dipping sauce should be made to taste, so feel free to adjust the ingredients to your preference. The recipe makes approximately 500 ml. The left over dipping sauce can be stored in the fridge in a jar with a tight fitting lid and can be used with an array of Vietnamese foods.

Firstly, mix the sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, lime juice together with the hot water. The water is hot to dissolve the sugar quickly. Once this cools, add the diced garlic and chilli – this is to avoid wilting of the fresh chilli.

Here, for extra texture and flavour, you can grate 1 carrots and 1/4 of a mooli (Asian white radish) into thin, long strips and leave to soak in vinegar. Then grab a small bundle and place into your dipping sauce.

For the crepe:

• 500 g rice flour (can be found in specialist oriental stores)
• 800 ml of water
• 400 ml tin of coconut milk
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp of ground tumeric
• 2 heaped tbsp of corn flour
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced

Place all ingredients except the coconut milk and spring onions into a large bowl and mix. Then add the coconut milk and the spring onions, mix throughly again. You should be looking for the consistency of double cream, if too thick add a little water.

For the filling:

• 1 kg prawns, sliced in half lengthways
• 1 kg pork belly strips, thinly sliced
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• Beansprouts

Frying:

 

Add a splash of oil to a hot frying pan. Fry off a small handful of onions, a few prawns and pork slices. Ladle in the crepe mixture so that there is just enough to cover the base of the pan. Leave for 30 seconds then add a handful of beansprouts. Cover with a lid for about 2 minutes to allow the meat to cook through. Once the edges of the crepe begins to crisp and lift from the pan, you are ready to fold over. Repeat this process until the mixture has been used up.

To serve, layer the lettuce with a few herbs, pull apart a piece of the banh xeo and place on top.

 

 

Then roll up/fold over the lettuce and dip into the sauce.

 

 

Alternatively, place all into a bowl and drizzle with the sauce. Yum!