What is Bánh Xèo?
Bánh xèo is a crispy, savory crêpe stuffed with grilled pork and shrimp. The crêpe is made from rice flour, coconut cream, and a little bit of turmeric to give it its iconic yellow color.
How do you eat it?
Bánh xèo is supposed to be eaten with your hands!
You take a piece of the bánh xèo, stuffed with pork and shrimp, and wrap it in a leaf of lettuce along with some mint and cilantro.
In order to eat it RIGHT, you have to dunk your wrapped bánh xèo into a nice bowl of fresh nước chấm for optimal flavor!
Bánh Xèo
Yields: 8-9 Crêpes (using a medium-sized skillet)
Time: ~ 5 hours
The list of ingredients needed is quite extensive, but as long as you prepare the batter, the rest of the ingredients is very customizable.
You can substitute and omit the herbs or proteins you don’t like. However, bánh xèo is traditionally eaten with pork and shrimp.
What You’ll Need:
For the batter:
-1 cup plus 2 tablespoons rice flour
-1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-3 teaspoons turmeric
-1 teaspoon salt
-3 1/2 cups water
-15 ounces coconut cream (I like the brand kara)
-1 stalk of green onion (thinly sliced)
For the filling:
-1 pound of shrimp (no shells and no heads)
-1 pound of pork (I used pork tenderloin)
-1 bunch of cilantro
-1 bunch of mint
-1 head of red leaf lettuce
-1/2 onion (white or yellow, thinly sliced)
-1 pound of beansprouts
-1/3 cup of dried mung beans
To cook the Bánh Xèo:
-Vegetable oil
For the sauce:
–Nước Chấm (Vietnamese fish sauce for dipping)
Instructions:
Create the batter and prep the filling
-Whisk together all the ingredients for the batter in a large mixing bowl. Mix until everything is combined, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 4 hours.
-While the batter is in the refrigerator, soak the mung beans in hot water for 1 – 1 1/2 hours until the mung beans have softened. They should look similar to this once they’re done soaking:
-You can choose to steam or boil the softened mung beans, but I typically like to steam them in a double boiler for about 20-25 minutes until the mung beans get very soft. Once they’re done steaming, they should look something like this:
-Once the batter is almost done in the fridge, you can start prepping the ingredients for the filling.
-Slice the pork tenderloin (or any cut of pork) into thin slices and place into a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
-Next, place the shrimp in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. On a medium-sized skillet, drizzle some oil and wait for it to get hot. Once the oil is ready, cook the shrimp thoroughly on both sides until there is no more gray color and only orange. Put into a separate bowl and set aside.
-Same as the shrimp, heat up the same skillet with some oil and cook the pork slices until completely cooked through. Put into a bowl and set aside.
-After all your proteins are done cooking, this is a great time to make your dipping sauce for the bánh xèo!
-You can find my recipe and instructions here!
Making the Bánh Xèo
-Take out the prepared batter from the fridge. If there are some ingredients that have settled to the bottom a bit, you can go ahead and give it a quick whisk. Add in the thinly sliced green onion and mix.
-Get a medium-sized skillet ready (you can also use the same one you used for the shrimp and pork) and turn the stove on to medium heat. Drizzle the pan with about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
-Wait until the oil is hot, and gently put in some pieces of the thinly sliced onion. Wait about 20 seconds, then using a big ladle, add the batter mixture to the hot pan.
-Circle and rotate the pan around so that the batter covers the whole bottom part. Sprinkle some mung beans into the pan and place a handful of bean sprouts onto one half of the pan.
-Keeping the pan at medium heat, cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes. The edges should start to firm up.
-Add the sliced pork and the shrimp on top of the bean sprouts. Lower the heat and bit and continue to cook the crêpe until it’s nice and crispy. This can take up to 6 minutes or longer depending on how crispy you want it.
-Once it has reached a nice crisp, gently fold over in half. Transfer to a plate and eat with the lettuce, herbs, and sauce! Enjoy!
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