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

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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!