Saigon Crepes With Vietnamese Table Salad And Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce Recipes

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.

LEMONGRASS PORK WITH VIETNAMESE TABLE SALAD

Steps:

• For dipping sauce:
• Mix all ingredients in small bowl. Season sauce to taste with salt. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)
• For pork:
• Mix first 6 ingredients and 2 tablespoons oil in 11x7-inch glass dish. Add pork chops to marinade, turn several times to coat evenly, then crowd together in single layer. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
• For salad and noodles:
• Arrange cucumber, pineapple, bean sprouts, all herbs, and carrot around edge of large platter. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Cover; chill.)
• Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender and turning white, separating often with tongs, about 4 minutes. Drain. Arrange in center of platter. Mound lettuce leaves in large shallow bowl.
• Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush grill rack with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Grill pork with marinade still clinging to meat until slightly charred and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Transfer pork to cutting board. Let rest 10 minutes.
• Cut pork crosswise into 1/3-inch-wide strips. Place pork and any juices from board atop noodles. To serve, fill lettuce leaves with pork, noodles, herbs, and vegetables. Serve with sauce for dipping.

SAIGON NOODLE SALAD

Steps:

• Whisk water, lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and Sriracha together in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved.
• Bring a large pot of water to a full boil; remove from heat and soak rice noodles in the hot water for 1 minute. Stir to separate the noodles and continue soaking until the noodles are tender, about 3 minutes more. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water until cooled. Shake noodles in colander to drain as much water as possible.
• Mix noodles, cabbage, carrots, shrimp, bean sprouts, cucumber slices, green onions, mint, cilantro, and basil together in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Top with chopped peanuts.

SIZZLING SAIGON CREPES

Steps:

• Make the batter: place the rice flour, coconut milk, water, turmeric, sugar, salt, curry powder and scallions in a bowl and stir well to blend. Set aside.
• Make the filling: Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add 1/4 each of the onion, the pork and the shrimp and stir until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Whisk the batter well, and ladle about 2/3 cup into the pan. Swirl so the batter completely covers the surface. Neatly pile about 1 cup bean sprouts and 1/2 cup mushrooms on one side of the crepe, closer to the center than to the edge. Reduce the heat slightly, cover the pan and cook until the edges pull away from the sides of the pan, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low. Uncover and cook until the crepe is crisp and the pork and shrimp are done, another 2 to 3 minutes. Slip a spatula under the crepe to check on the bottom of the crepe. If it?s not brown, cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
• Lift the side of the crepe without the bean sprouts and mushrooms and fold it over the covered side of the crepe. Using a spatula, gently slide the crepe onto a large plate. Wipe the pan clean and make the remaining crepes in the same way. Be sure to oil the pan before beginning the next crepe.
• To serve, place the crepes, Vietnamese Dipping Sauce and some lettuces, mustard leaves, and herbs on the table. To eat, tear a piece of the banh xeo and wrap the lettuce or mustard leaves and herbs. Roll into a packet, then dip into the sauce and eat.
• Cut the chiles into thin rings. Remove one-third of the chiles and set aside for garnish. Place the remaining chiles, garlic, and sugar into a mortar and pound into a coarse, wet paste. Transfer to a small bowl and add the water, lime juice, and fish sauce. Stir well to dissolve. Add the reserved chiles and carrots. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving.

SIZZLING SAIGON CREPES-BANH XEO

Steps:

• For the dressing and garnish: Whisk the fish sauce, water, lime juice, sugar, chiles, and garlic together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves, then divide among 6 small dipping bowls and set aside. Arrange the lettuce, basil, and cilantro on a serving platter and set aside.
• For the crepes: Adjust 2 oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Whisk the water, rice flour, coconut milk, scallions, turmeric, and salt together until uniform.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the pork and onion and cook until the pork is no longer pink and the onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the shrimp and continue to cook until they curl and turn pink, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside.
• Wipe out the skillet with a wad of paper towels, add 2 more teaspoons of the oil, and return to medium-high heat until just smoking. Add 1/3 cup of the pork-shrimp mixture and let heat through, about 30 seconds. Scrape the pork-shrimp mixture to one side of the skillet. Quickly stir the batter to recombine, then pour 1/2 cup of the batter into the skillet while swirling the pan gently to distribute it evenly over the pan bottom, keeping the meat mixture to the side. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the crêpe until the edges pull away from the sides and are deep golden, about 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle 1/2 cup of bean sprouts on top of the pork-shrimp side of the crêpe, then gently fold the opposite side of the crêpe over the sprouts. Slide the crepe out of the skillet onto an individual serving plate and transfer to the oven to keep warm. Repeat five more times with the remaining 10 teaspoons oil, remaining batter, and remaining pork-shrimp mixture. Serve the crêpes with the individual bowls of sauce, passing the garnish platter separately. (To eat, slice off a wedge of the crêpe, wrap it in a lettuce leaf, and dip it into the sauce.).

THAI SALAD WITH CILANTRO LIME DRESSING

Steps:

• Finely grate enough zest from limes to measure 1 tablespoon. Cut limes crosswise in half; squeeze juice from limes. Place zest and juice in a blender; add cilantro, sugar, red chile pepper, garlic, salt and pepper. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream., In a large bowl, combine cabbages, cucumber, edamame, avocados, carrots and green onions. Drizzle with dressing; toss to coat.

SOY-LIME DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• 1. Place the garlic, chilies and sugar in a mortar and pound into a paste. (You can also chop the garlic and chilies by hand.) Transfer to a small bowl and add the soy sauce, lime juice and water. Stir until well blended. This sauce will keep up to 3 weeks if stored in the refrigerator in a tight-lidded jar.