Vietnamese Crispy Crepes - Banh Xeo

Banh xeo is a popular street food that is sold all over Vietnam. These thin and crispy savoury crepes are served with lettuce, herbs and nuoc mam dipping sauce. A great recipe to wow your friends for lunch or dinner.

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Vietnamese

Keyword Banh Xeo, Vietnamese Crispy Crepes

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 10

Servings makes approx 10 crepes

Calories 772kcal

Author Scruff

Equipment

non-stick fry pan with a diameter of roughly 25 cm / 10 in. (Note 1)

Ingredients

Banh Xeo / Crepe Batter

200 gm rice flour
50 gm corn starch
3 spring onions, chopped finely
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups water
1 cup coconut cream
2 tsp turmeric powder

Crepe Filling

300 gm pork belly / leaner cuts / chicken / leftovers cut into thin slices
300 gm prawns, deveined, peeled and cut into halves lengthways
1 medium brown onion, cut into thin slices
1 bag bean sprouts, washed
Vegetable oil for frying

To Serve

Vietnamese dipping sauce
2 baby cos lettuce or your choice
1 bunch coriander, (optional)
1 bunch Thai basil, (optional)
2 chillies, roughly chopped (optional)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce

Make the Vietnamese dipping sauce first and then place it in the fridge. Please follow this link for the Vietnamese dipping sauce recipe.

Crepe Preparation

Combine all the batter ingredients in a large bowl and whisk thoroughly. Cover with cling wrap and set aside until ready for frying.
Prep the pork, prawn, brown onion and spring onion.
In a fry pan on medium high heat, add a tablespoon of oil and sweat the brown onion for 2 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.
Add another tablespoon of oil to the fry pan and add the pork on medium high. Cook the pork until done then set aside in a bowl.
Repeat the same process with the prawns.
Place the 4 bowls containing the cooked pork, prawn, onion and batter next to your stove top.
If serving the crepes all at once, then preheat the oven to 100 C / 200 F. (Note 2)

Making the Crepes

Add a 1/4 tsp of oil to a fry pan on medium high and spread it out evenly. (Note 3)
Use the ladle to stir the batter and then use the 1/4 measuring cup to dip into the batter. Pour the measured batter into the ladle. (Note 4)
In one hand, hold the fry pan and tilt it away from you. Pour the batter on one side of the fry pan and swirl it around so that the batter is running around near the rims of the fry pan. Then tilt the fry pan so that the remaining batter flows into the middle. (See pictures and video demonstration)
Using your ladle, cover any holes that have formed in your banh xeo / crepe with batter.
After a minute add the onions, pork, prawns and bean sprouts on one side of the crepe and allow to cook for a further 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, check the bottom of the crepe by lifting one side up with an egg flipper. If it feels crispy and there is a tinge of brown on the crepe, then flip one side of the crepe over so that it looks like a half circle.
Serve the crepe immediately or place on a wire rack and into a preheated oven at 100 C / 200 F.

To Serve

Place the washed lettuce and herbs on a plate in the middle of the table.
Give everyone a dipping bowl filled with nuoc mam cham dipping sauce. Include a teaspoon in case your guests would like to spoon the sauce in instead of dipping.
Serve the banh xeo / crepes on individual plates.

Notes

If you are a beginner, then I strongly suggest you use a smaller fry pan with a diameter of about 25 cm or 10 in. This is because it is much easier to handle and control when swirling the batter around the pan.
It is possible to serve all the crepes at once by storing them in the oven. However, I strongly recommend serving each crepe fresh off the stove.
The first crepe should be a test run to practice your technique and adjust the amount of batter for the size of your pan.
If you have re calibrated the amount of batter needed for your fry pan size through the practice run(s) then use that measurement instead.

Nutrition