Saigon Special: Banh xeo!

Saigon, another territory colonized by the French people. It has been considered as a largest city of Vietnam. Vietnam has never been an unknow territory for us from the childhood. Why? simple, my dad got an opportunity to live in Saigon, Vietnam. Many times, he shared his memories of Saigon, Laos, Cambodia and some surrounding places.The most important thing, he introduced to us the Vietnamese food. I always enjoyed eating pho (soup) Nem (Deep fried egg roll) with Nuoc Mam (fish sauce). But pretty much, all the meals were meaty! Now, I cannot even utter Fish sauce, a small bottle of Nuoc Mam can explode another Vietnam War between me and my hubby :( AWED, event created by Divya, is pretty interesting. She wants to explore in vegetarian way all the world cuisine. First, I thought I would bring the egg roll :) But later, I make up my mind to go beyond and explore any other new vegetarian cuisine that I haven’t tasted before. Voila, I found the recipe of Vietnamese crêpe /Banh xeo. But, the crêpe is filled with small shrimp and stir-fried minced pork. I decided to omit non-veg and make my own filling. Next the crepe batter is similar to our Appam batter but with a slight variation accompanied by a Vietnamese sauce is Nuoc cham

Banh Xeo/Vietnamese crêpe






Recipe source:
Recipebazaar (modified according my need)

Ingredients: 

For the Crepe batter
Rice flour: 1 cup
Coconut milk: ½ cup
Water: 1 cup
Turmeric: ¼ tsp
Salt: ½ tsp less or more 

For Filling: 
Mushroom: 1 cup slice
Oil: 1 tsp
Green onion: ¼ cup
Bean sprout: 1 cup 

Table Salad Plate :
Lettuce leaves: few 
Fresh mint: few 

Method:

Making the batter Mix rice flour, turmeric, salt with coconut milk & water. The batter should be quiet liquid! Let it rest. 
Making the filling Take a pan, drop some oil and sauté the mushroom with little dash of salt. Add the spring onion sauté few more seconds and remove keep aside. 
Making the Crêpe Wipe clean the pan & spray some oil. Pour a big ladle of batter in middle and tilt the pan to form a crepe. Cook slightly covered under medium heat for 1 minute or 2, or until the edge start to be golden brown and start pulling out of the pan. Place the sauté mushroom filing in half of your crepe sprinkle some bean sprout and fold over. Slide in plate and serve with vegetarian sauce and salad. How to eat: Tear off a piece of the crêpe, add some fresh mint, roll in lettuce and dunk in Nuoc cham is a vietnamese sauce and savor Vietnam cuisine! Nuoc Cham dipping sauce "Vegetarian":

Ingredients: 
Soy light (low sodium): 1 tbsp 
Vinegar (white): 1 tbsp 
Sugar: 1 tbsp 
Green chili: 1 diced 
Minced Garlic: 1 tsp (optional) 
Salt: pinch 
Water: 1/2 cup 

  NON-Vegetarian: Replace soy sauce to Nuoc Mam (fish sauce) which is a classic dipping sauce for egg roll too :) 

  Method:
Whisk all together until the sugar is dissolved, you are free to adjust the spice and sweet level in this sauce.
If you want to make a big batch of sauce, the first 3 ingredients should be equal part! *The Vietnamese crepe can be served as a brunch/breakfast, or even a light dinner :)

 I would be glad to send this vietnamese entry for WBB (Grains in my breakfast)- hosted by Aparna, event originated by Nandita.
Important Note: None in my family are Vietnamese descendant; just coincidentally I got the crêpe and sauce recipe name “Nuoc cham” which has my name!
Have a great weekend!

Comments

anudivya said…
Cham, how on earth did you manage to get the crepes paper thin? It looks exquisite.
Lot of little accompaniments makes it look precious.
Cham said…
Div: The batter is extremely liquid! If you are confortable with rava dosa/appam this one is quiet similar :)
Swati said…
Wow.. these look so good!! Perfect crepes!!
Finla said…
The creape looks so yummy delicious. Just looking to that pic i can imagine how delicious it will be if i can have a bite from it.
I have a friend from vietnam. And she makes these small deepfried egg rolls and they are just superb.
The only thing is i am not a fan of fish sauce.
Usha said…
The crepe looks so delicate and both of these sound incredible.....
CurryLeaf said…
Looks delicious cham and a 'chaming' nuoc cham.The crepes are crisp.nice entry to the event.Thanks for the modification in the original.
Uma said…
Ha, ha now I am sure that you and your family are not vietnaese descendents Cham!

And the vietnamese food looks so delicious ofcourse the veggie way for me! The crepe loooks sooo thin. Great job dear!
Deepthi Shankar said…
thatz totally delicious .. I am glad u made the veg version, I can try it now :) crepes look soo perfect. .. a total yummy dish
kamala said…
You are so innovative Cham...the crepes look paper thin..Delicious
mitr_bayarea said…
Cham-

Very authentic Vietnamese dish, was intrigued at the title of your post too :)- Thanks for posting veg and non-veg versions.
CurryLeaf said…
Chm,I think since u used only rice flour,you can send it to WBB and JFI.check the rules if possible.it will be three birds with one stone then
Cham said…
Curry leaf: usually i tried to shoot many events, but both events (wbb & JFI are whole grain) I used rice flour (white and non glutinous), I think it is not classified !
Sum Raj said…
It looks u have taken a gud efforts of making this recipe so calmly...great job...i really appreciate u....
CurryLeaf said…
thanks for the info.I was depending on rice flour for both events,cheers
Cham said…
Curry leaf I checked again WBB event she "accepts" rice but even though I left a comment and waiting a reply from her to update my post, Thank you to enlightening me Dear :)
Unknown said…
good one..i love the stuffing.the crepes looks so beautiful and thin
Laavanya said…
Oh that crepe looks so light & airy.. what a fabulous dish and I love that it is vegetarian.. :)
Lakshmi said…
Cham, we always feast on Vietnamese green bean cake here in Singapore. One of my boss in the office is from Vietnam and he always buys for us. It is nice to see other vietnamese dishes too..
Unknown said…
Wow.. looks So good.. nice entry.. yummy ..thxs for sharing..
Rachel said…
your pic and presentation is just amazing!
Vani said…
What a lovely recipe! Picture is awesome
Vaishali said…
Just gorgeous, Cham. Thanks for two lovely recipes.
Sujatha said…
Looks absolutely delicious, Cham!
Vietnamese cuisine is one thing that I have neither explored in my kitchen nor tasted outside.. Your ingredients seem so common and familiar and I can pretty much feel the taste too :) Will soon give it a try.. good recipe, Cham!
Siri said…
I did thought for a second that ur name came from that Vietnamese sauce..;) - 'Nuoc cham'..*wink*.. the crepes look yumm Cham and they are so thin like a paper! must have tasted awesome.

Hugs,
Siri
Anonymous said…
Wow, Never heard of it. Looks yummy though. There is something special waiting for you in my blog.
Madhavi said…
Now this is real deal gal, crepe looks divine, and delicious!!!
Shreya said…
hi Cham, amazing ! It looks so good:-) I have a surprise for you at my blog
Sunshinemom said…
Cham, Same as Divya! I can never manage neer dosa - how on earth do I do this!! It looks sheer:)
Dori said…
I love the flavor fish sauce adds to food... but your vegetarian version looks awesome!
Indian Khana said…
Looks nice and crispy...the filling is gud too...nice entry for the event :)..and gud info abt the name ;)
ST said…
Ur very creative cham :)The crepe looks very very thin. Great job dear! Looks Fabulous.....
Unknown said…
reat to know you are already acccustomed a bit to Vietnamese cuisine..And the name CHam in it is too coincidental.Loos absolutelu delicious Cham
raaji said…
looks like a paper .so thin.......how did u get it?????gr8
Sangeeth said…
lovely recipe featuring Vietnamese.Thanks for sharing cham.
Unknown said…
wowowo, tht is a very new variety of crepe. really creative.
Miri said…
The dipping sauce looks awesome and those crepes are so delicate and light!
Pravs said…
interesting dish and looks delish !
Richa said…
Gorgeous!!! loved the crepes, so light and fine!
Nuoc cham ....hmmm..thanks for clearing any doubts there..lol ;)
Deepa Kuber said…
this is amazing.. crepes are so much like paper.. thinner than paper i should say...i am wondering where can i find coconut milk :)
This is lovely Cham. I really do love the variety of food you cook up and this is no exception.
Always thought of crepes for dessert.:)
Thanks for sending it in to WBB.
Sorry I took so long to acknowledge this, but I made a mistake while typing my email id in the announcement and so never got your mail.:(