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Banh Xeo

Banh Xeo are beautifully light and crisp savoury Vietnamese pancakes stuffed with pork, prawns and beansprouts. They are then wrapped in lettuce leaves with fresh herbs and dipped in a salty sweet dipping sauce.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 663kcal

Ingredients

Pork and Prawn Filling

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 12 spring onions halved lengthways
  • 250 g leftover roast pork chopped small
  • 200 g cooked small prawns
  • 2 teaspoon 5 spice powder
  • 3 handfuls of beansprouts
  • A handful of mint leaves roughly chopped
  • A handful of coriander leaves roughly chopped

Nuoc Cham

  • tablespoons lime juice about 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 60 ml water
  • 2 tablespoons Vietnamese fish sauce
  • 1 garlic clove crushed
  • ½ red chilli seeds removed and chopped

Pancakes

  • 200 g rice flour
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 300 ml coconut milk
  • 150–250ml soda water
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • Iceberg lettuce each leaf removed individually for wrapping
  • Extra chilli fresh mint and coriander to serve

Instructions

Pork and Prawn Filling

  • Heat the olive oil in a large flat bottomed saucepan.
  • Add the spring onions, the pork and the 5 spice powder and fry gently for a 3-4 minutes.
  • Add the prawns, beansprouts and herbs, mix together and fry for a couple of minutes until the prawns are heated through.
  • Remove from heat and serve inside the crepes.

Nuoc Cham

  • Mix all the ingredients together and set aside until the pancakes are ready.

Pancakes

  • Whisk the rice flour with the egg, salt and turmeric in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
  • Pour the coconut milk into a jug and whisk with 150ml of the soda water until completely combined.
  • Pour the coconut milk mixture gradually into the rice flour mixture until it forms a very smooth and light batter, about the consistency of single cream. If the mixture is too thick add more soda water.
  • Heat a frying pan with 1 tablespoon oil. When hot pour in about ½ ladle of batter. You want to pour the batter into a thin layer so start pouring carefully into the middle of the pan, then move the ladle around in a circular motion as you pour out the batter, increasing the circle of batter in the pan. Don’t worry if there are a few holes in the batter, it just means the pancake will be crisper.
  • Bubbles will immediately form in the batter, leave for the heat to do its work for a few minutes, the batter is quite resilient and won’t burn easily. Wait until the edges of the batter are curled up, then flip carefully over with a metal spatula. The bottom of the crepe should just be turning golden brown.
  • Cook for 2-3 minutes on the reverse side until it is also just turning golden brown.
  • Remove from the heat, pile the filling onto half of the crepe then fold over on itself to serve.
  • Let everyone cut their own crepes in half, wrap into a large lettuce leaf, adding more fresh mint and coriander and a bit of chilli if you like. Dip with glee into the nuoc cham. And repeat.

Notes

Pancake recipe adapted from Plenty by Ottolenghi

Nutrition

Calories: 663kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 211mg | Sodium: 1462mg | Potassium: 633mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 470IU | Vitamin C: 21.5mg | Calcium: 149mg | Iron: 6.1mg