Sizzling Saigon Crepes 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.

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.).

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, pork, and 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 1 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 chicken 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 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 Table Salad 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. (If you don?t have a mortar, just chop with a knife.) Transfer to 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.;
• Arrange the greens in an attractive manner on one side of a large platter. Place the cucumber, bean sprouts and herbs on the other side. Place the platter in the center of the table and serve.;

SIZZLING CREPES

Steps:

• To make the batter, put the raw rice in a bowl and add water to cover by 1 inch. Let soak for 3 to 4 hours.
• Drain the rice and transfer to a blender. Add the cooked rice, mung bean, salt, turmeric, coconut milk, and water. Blend for about 3 minutes, or until very smooth and lemony yellow. Pour the batter through a fine-mesh sieve positioned over a bowl and discard the solids. Stir in the scallion and set the batter aside for 1 hour. It will thicken to the consistency of heavy cream. There should be about 3 cups batter.
• To make the filling, roughly divide the pork, shrimp, mushrooms, and onion into 8 portions. (Dividing the ingredients now will ensure less frantic frying and avoid overstuffing.) Put these ingredients along with the mung bean, bean sprouts, batter, and oil next to the stove.
• For each crepe, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a portion each of the pork, shrimp, mushrooms, and onion and sauté, breaking up the meat, for about 45 seconds, or until seared and aromatic. Visualize a line down the middle of the skillet and roughly arrange the ingredients on either side of the line. Anything in the middle would make it hard to fold the crepe neatly later.
• Because the rice will have settled at the bottom of the bowl, give the batter a good stir with a ladle. Pour 1/3 cup of the batter into the skillet and swirl the skillet to cover the bottom; a bit going up the side forms a lovely lacy edge. The batter should dramatically sizzle (making that xèo noise!) and bubble. When it settles down, sprinkle on 1 1/2 tablespoons of the mung bean, and then pile 1/2 cup of the bean sprouts on one side. Lower the heat to medium, cover, and cook until the bean sprouts have wilted slightly, about 3 minutes.
• Remove the lid and drizzle in 1 teaspoon of the oil around the rim of the pan. Lower the heat slightly and continue to cook, uncovered, for 3 to 4 minutes to crisp the crepe. The edge will have pulled away from the skillet and turned golden brown. At this point, use a spatula to check underneath for a crispy bottom. From the center to the edge, the crepe should go from being soft to crispy. Lower the heat if you need to cook it longer. When you are satisfied, use a spatula to fold the half without the bean sprouts over the other half. Use the spatula to transfer the crepe to a serving dish, or simply slide it out of the pan onto the dish. Increase the heat to medium-high and repeat with the remaining batter and filling ingredients to make 8 crepes in all. Use any left over batter to make a poor man's crepe without filling. When you are comfortable with the technique, you can try frying the crepes in 2 skillets at the same time. These crepes taste best straight from the skillet, so have diners at the ready.
• Serve the crepes with the vegetable garnish plate and dipping sauce. Pass around 1 or 2 pairs of kitchen scissors for diners to cut their crepes into manageably sized pieces. To eat, tear a piece of lettuce roughly the size of your palm, place a piece of the crepe on it, add cucumber slices and a few herb leaves, shape into a bundle, and dunk into the dipping sauce.
• To prepare a shortcut rice flour batter, in a bowl, stir together 2 cups rice flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric. Make a well in the center, pour in 1/3 cup coconut milk and 2 cups water, and whisk to create a silky batter. Add 1 scallion (white and green parts), thinly sliced, and set aside for 1 hour. Cook this batter in the same way.
• For these crepes and the ones on page 277, buy a pork shoulder steak, debone it, and slice the meat. You do not need to invest in a whole roast.