The Great Journey

Passport & Plate - Traditional Vietnamese Crepe - Banh Xeo

Vietnam | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | flickr photos

Ingredients
Banh Xeo Serving for 4-5 people.

12 oz (340g) Saigon Pan Cake Flour Mix
1 tsp Curry Powder
300g Peeled Split Mung Bean
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Coconut Milk
Pinch of Salt
250 ml of Beer (7% alcohol)
1/2 lb Shrimp
6-10 Strip of Bacon cut into inches
Vegetable Oil
1/2 lbs Bean Sprouts
1 bunch of Green Onion
1 Red Onion
1 head of Green Lettuce Leaves
1 bunch of Basil
1 bunch of Mint
1 bunch of Cilantro

Nuoc Chum (Fish Sauce)
1 peeled & pressed garlic
1/2 fish sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 table spoon of fresh lime juice
diced up red pepper (for spice)
1 cup Hot water

 

How to prepare this recipe
Banh Xeo - Serves 4-5 people

12 oz (340g) Saigon Pan Cake Flour Mix
340g of Saigon Pan Cake flour mix would be added with 1 tsp of curry powder.
to give it that extra curry flavour
giving it some thickness to the crepe
my mom taught me to grab a handful of these beans and slowly soak it with hot water and gently massage it to extract the bean flavour / soften it up.
1 Cup Milk
The beans would go in a blender with a cup of milk and blend until its pastey
1 Cup Coconut Milk
coconut milk would be added in a large pot along with the crepe batter and bean paste mixture
Pinch of Salt
salt and beer would be added and would be slowly stirred around for 5 mins.
250 ml Bottle of Beer

Cooking Prep

From the pot of crepe batter, I would continue to stir the batter so the bean paste would not settle to the bottom of the pot due to its density
using a Large cooking pan, I would drizzle vegetable oil onto the pan to soften up the pan so it the batter would fry properly.
First adding the diced red and green onions, bacon and shrimp to fry cook
Halfway through cooking the bacon and shrimp, I would then use a large spoon and evenly spread the batter in the middle of the pan.
Using the pan’s handle I would take it off the oven and roll my wrist around to evenly spread the extra batter and making the crepe thin as possible.
I would let it cook for a 1 minute and then put a lid on top to make sure the top cooks as well.
Wait about 5 mins to make sure its crispy
In the last few minutes of cooking, adding a handful of bean sprout would do the trick
I would flip half of the crepe onto itself to make sure the bean sprout is being cooked / steamed properly
Serve onto large plate in a half moon style to keep the bean sprout warm and juicy.
The crepe would be eaten with green lettuce leaves mixed with basil, mint and cilantro.
The crepe would be rip into tiny pieces and wrapped with lettuce.
Then dipping into our traditional nuoc chum, fish sauce if desire. and

VOILA! BON APPETITE

 

The story behind this recipe
This Banh Xeo recipe all started happened when I travelled all around South East Asia this past summer. My mission of the trip was to see my grand father who past away from lung cancer 12 years ago. He is buried in a temple in Saigon, Vietnam. I have never once step foot in Vietnam nor haven't seen my grandfather since I was 7 years old when he visit my family in Toronto, Canada. However since my grandfather, who was a Beijing decedent and raised in Vietnam, never once saw the Great Wall of China. On the first day, during my layover I decided to travel to the Wall to obtain a loose rock which I would place at my grandfather temple. After waking up 3am, getting scammed from a black taxi and left at the great wall while we had to a connecting flight at noon. I finally obtained the rock, a fellow friend who was camping at the great wall of china helped us escape our taxi driver who was looking for us for more money and helped me take an hour public transit ride back to the airport. I made it only 1 hour left to catch my connecting flight to Hong Kong. After traveling 7 countries and visiting 9 cities this story couldn't beat any other stories I gathered throughout the trip. As I arrived in Vietnam, one of the first things I did was visit my grandfather for the first time in 15 years. I visited his temple and placed the great rock and lit up a few incense for him and my uncle which also past away. It was the day I have given the rock which made this recipe so special to me because it was the meal that my aunt helped me cook for my family of 16 for dinner. It was so special to me because my aunt who took me to his temple taught me how to cook banh xeo and whip up nuoc cham. It was great experience because my mother too knew how to make these as my aunt and mom long time ago would cook this meal back in the old days before the Vietnam war started. I hope you enjoy this special story and recipe that came along with it. Banh Xeo is my favourite plate in the world.