 Bánh xèo (translation: Sizzling Pancakes) are crispy, golden, thin-as-can-be savoury pancakes filled with a selection of umami-loaded prawns, tender poached chicken, crunchy sprouts, salad greens and fragrant herbs, then served with the classic Vietnamese dipping sauce, nước chấm. Read that description to yourself again, then take a moment to absorb the words and all the promises they hold. Good, huh? And yet it still doesn't come close to describing the flavour experience this simple recipe delivers. This dish is all at once lively, sharp, crunchy, fresh, spicy, cooling, sweet, comforting and satisfying. When someone tries it for the first time, their reactions range from exclamations of “OMG. Why didn't I know about these and why isn't everyone everywhere eating them all the time?!” through to quietly weeping in joy and wonder. There are several elements to this dish and at first glance you might think it's too much work. And while it's not a 20 minute mid-week meal, it's actually not so much effort. The trick is this: if you're going to make it, make a lot. This recipe makes about 12 pancakes, which is great for 3-4 people. For 2 people, it's even better because the batter keeps for up to 5 days in the fridge. While you will want to use up the prawn filling on the first day, it takes 5 minutes to make a different filling when you go in for round two a day or two later. About the batter ingredients: Flour: traditionally these pancakes are made using rice flour only. I added wheat flour after reading up on different Bánh xèo techniques, because the consensus is that adding wheat flour makes for a more robust pancake, less prone to tearing. The crispiness comes from it being mostly rice flour. Egg: I add an egg to my batter, again in the interest of increased robustness. You don't have to. Many don't. But you'll need to be delicate with your flipping skills. Resting: Some Bánh xèo recipes instruct you to rest the batter for 3 hours or even overnight. I went rogue and didn't do this. I found that the 45 mins of resting I gave it between mixing the batter and preparing my fillings was sufficient. The next day I made more pancakes with the leftover batter, and I didn't see any marked difference. Mung beans: note that I don't include mung beans in my recipe. They're a traditional filling in a lot of Bánh xèo recipes. I'd like to tell you that I omit them due to a strong or informed opinion, but honestly it's just that I can't be bothered. The dish is perfect as is, and why boil mung beans on top of the other fillings that need to be prepared if you don't have to? My stovetop is busy enough. Let's get cooking! Ingredients: Neutral cooking oil, like sunflower, for frying Batter: 1 ¾ cup white rice flour (loose, not tightly packed) ¾ cup all-purpose flour (loose, not tightly packed) 2-3 tsp turmeric 3 ½ cup water 400ml coconut cream if unavailable, use coconut milk 1 tsp salt 2 green onions/shallots chopped 1 egg (optional) Filling: 1 chicken breast ½ tsp chicken or veg stock powder 1 Bay leaf 500g peeled uncooked prawns, roughly cut up into 3 or 4 pieces 1 shallots, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 2 carrots, grated or spiralled Lettuce leaves like cos, baby cos or iceberg, left whole. 1 packet bean sprouts 2 shallots, chopped 2-3 handfuls altogether of fresh herbs like mint, coriander and Thai basil Dipping Sauce: ¼ cup hot water 2 tbsp caster, brown or palm sugar 1 ½ tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice 2 tbsp fish sauce 1 clove garlic minced 1 red chilli, finely chopped Method: Make pancake batter: Place all ingredients (including the egg if you are using it) into a large bowl or jug and whisk until mixture is smooth. Set aside Poach chicken: Place chicken breast in a small saucepan with a good fitting lid. Chop the stems from the coriander and mint. Set aside the leafy part of the herbs for serving. Add the stems to the poaching water. Add stock, and enough water to almost cover the chicken. Put the lid on and bring to boil. As soon as it boils, turn the heat down to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes. Once done turn heat off and keep the lid on. Leave chicken to steam with the heat turned off for 10 mins. Test chicken to see if it's cooked through by cutting through to the middle. If it's not pink*, it's done. Remove chicken from the cooking water and set aside for 10 mins. *(If it’s still a bit pink, pop it back into the water and put the lid back on and sit it again for 2 - 3 mins.) While the chicken is cooking: Prep salad and herbs: Roughly Chop the herbs and place in a small bowl. Place chopped shallots in another bowl. Stack lettuce leaves in another bowl. Place carrots in another bowl. Pop them all in the fridge until ready to serve. Make dipping sauce: Whisk hot water and sugar in a jug until sugar is dissolved. Add all the other sauce ingredients and whisk some more. Place dressing in the fridge. Back to the chicken: Now thinly slice the slightly cooled chicken. (make sure you slice it across the grain for tender chicken!). Put chicken in a small serving bowl and set aside. Cook prawns: Heat frypan and add drizzle of oil. Add chopped prawns, garlic and shallots. Stir fry for 1-2 mins or until prawns are opaque. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a small serving bowl and cover. Set aside. Make pancakes: Use a crepe pan, or a large frypan or wok. (You might have a couple of false starts like I did: I tried my wok first but the pancake batter completely stuck to it. I moved on to my non-stick crepe pan and had success!) Heat pan over a medium-high heat. Drizzle a little cooking oil onto the pan and spread it around with some wrist action. There's quite a bit of wrist involved for these pancakes so consider that your warm up. Pour about ¼ cup of batter into the hot pan. Immediately swirl it around the pan in as close to a circle shape as you can. The shape isn't as important as getting the batter to spread out as thinly as possible without creating holes in it. Leave it to get crispy for a couple of minutes. It can be tempting to want to remove it too early but hang in there. If the pan is smoking, turn the heat down. (You may need to adjust the heat every couple of minutes; I need to do this constantly). Lift one side of the pancake - is it lifting easily? Is it golden and sizzling and crispy? If yes, it's done. (We don't flip these pancakes, only one side needs cooking). Slide your spatula under the pancake and carefully move it to a plate. Now you're ready to move on to the next pancake. Keep stacking the cooked pancakes one on top of the other. Note: add a drizzle of oil before every new measure of batter you pour. And when you're ready to remove your cooked pancake from the pan and it's being difficult, you might want to run a little more oil around the outside edges of the pancake to help it along. To serve: These pancakes are best served immediately. Place all of those bowls of prepared goodies on the table for everyone to help themselves. Once you stack your pancake with fillings, roll it up then place it on a lettuce leaf - it provides excellent edible scaffolding and makes eating a whole lot easier to dunk into that glorious dipping sauce! Pimp My Recipe The fillings I use in this recipe are by no means essential. You can use just chicken, or just prawns, or go rogue with fillings of your own choosing! Ideas for vegetarian/vegan fillings:
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
September 2024
|
RSS Feed