Vietnamese Sizzling Crepes (Banh Xeo)

Ingredients

• 15 g rice flour
• 125 ml water
• 125 ml canned coconut milk
• 100 g rice flour
• 20 g fine cornmeal
• 240 g water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 380 ml carbonated or sparkling water (keep it cold in the fridge before using)
• 2 stalks green onion (finely chopped)
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 200 g pork tenderloin, belly, shoulder (cut into thin strips)
• 200 g shrimp (medium or large, peeled, deveined)
• 1 small onion (peeled and thinly sliced)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups Fresh bean sprouts
• 224 g lettuce
• 1 cup Thai basil leaves (or other fresh herb like mints)
• 1 cup cilantro leaves
• 50 g sugar
• 100 ml water
• 50 g fish sauce
• 25 ml lime juice
• 2 red chilis (seeded if you like and finely chopped)

Instructions

1. 1

   --- Making nuoc cham ---

2. 2

   Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil and then lower the heat to let it simmer until sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool down

3. 3

   --- Cook the filling: ---

4. 4

   You can just boil the pork in water until cook, but I prefer to saute it a bit with some onion. So it's up to you if you don't want to do that

5. 5

   Preheat 1 tsp of oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until you start seeing smoke just starts to arise. Add the pork and onion and cook until the pork turns color and the onion is soft, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan

6. 6

   To the same pan, add shrimp and salt and continue to cook until the shrimp just turn pink, about 1 minute or so. Remove from the pan to a plate and set aside

7. 7

   --- Prepare batter 1: ---

8. 8

   Whisk the rice flour, water, and coconut milk in a saucepan until smooth.

9. 9

   Put this on the stove and start on medium-low heat and continue to whisk until the mixture starts to thicken. Switch to a flexible spatula and scrape the side of the pan and continue to stir until the mixture starts to bubble and thickens.

10. 10

    It should coat your spatula and have a consistency of a thick but slightly runny gravy. The whole process takes about 5 minutes or so. Set aside

11. 11

    --- Prepare batter 2: ---

12. 12

    Whisk rice flour, cornmeal, salt, turmeric powder in a large mixing bowl.

13. 13

    Add the sparkling water and whisk until combined.

14. 14

    Add the warm batter 1 into batter 2 and continue to whisk until smooth. You will see a bit of grains from the cornmeal and that's fine. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. You can keep it up to 24 hours in the fridge.

15. 15

    --- Cook the crepes: ---

16. 16

    Get the filling you have prepared earlier within your reach

17. 17

    Prepare a wire rack set on top a rimmed baking pan. Turn on the oven to "warm" function if there's one, otherwise, turn it to 200 F (93 F)

18. 18

    IMPORTANT TIPS: Wipe the skillet clean and preheat 1/2 tsp of oil over medium-high heat until smoke starts to arise. Don't use too much oil so the batter can cling to the side of the pan, creating crispy edges. If you use too much oil, the batter is just going to slide around on the pan

19. 19

    For a 10-inch skillet, I need a bit less than 1/2 cup of batter for each crepe. Give the batter a really good stir after resting to make sure everything is evenly mixed as the starches tend to settle down at the bottom. Add the finely chopped green onion and give it a good stir again

20. 20

    With one hand grabbing the handle of the pan, removing it from the heat, and the other hand pouring the batter into the pan and swirls the pan at the same time to distribute the batter to cover the surface of the pan and to have the batter reaches up the side of the pan a bit. That creates lacy crispy edges on the crepes later

21. 21

    Add some of the pork and shrimp over one half of the crepe (I didn't use any shrimp in the photo, only pork). Try not to add too much. Add some bean sprouts over the filling. Drizzle a bit of oil using a small spoon on the edges of the pan.

22. 22

    Continue to cook the crepe until the bottom of the pancake is firm and crisp, about 6 minutes over medium-low heat. The edge should be lacy and crisp and golden brown. Gently shake the skillet to loosen up

23. 23

    Gently fold the crepes over to form a half-circle. Remove from the pan and put on a wire rack and keep it warm in the oven. This helps to preserve the crispy texture on the edges until they are ready to be served

24. 24

    Continue cooking the next crepe. Wipe the pan clean if necessary before cooking the next. Remember to give the batter a good stir each time before you ladle it

25. 25

    --- To serve: ---

26. 26

    Serve the crepes as soon as possible with the dipping sauce, lettuce, and herbs