Banh Xeo (Asian Crepe)

I LOVE a CRUNCHY asian crepe (Banh Xeo) ...I can honestly say that I can eat this once a week if  my family would allow me to ;)

Its so tasty and simple to whip up.  Today I am making a new recipe....not from a BAG mix. Even when I am using a bag mix...I usually add some rice flour to the mix...so I am trying this recipe without the already prepared BAG MIX that they sale at the asian market.

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cup RICE flour
1/2 cup CORNSTARCH
3 cup water
1 tablespoon ground turmeric powder
1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup thinly sliced GREEN ONION (just the green part)

***cooking oil---I used PAM
FILLING: 
8 oz boneless pork shoulder--cut very thinly
1 small onion--thinly sliced
1 lb shrimp (peeled and deveined---I like to use the small shrimp)
3 cup bean sprouts
***Pork Patty ---thinly sliced--optional

SERVED WITH:
***Fish Sauce --dipping
Lettuce
Sliced Cucumber
Cilantro
Mint
Basil


DIRECTION: 

CREPE BATTER: 
In a large bowl mix in your rice flour, corn starch, turmeric, coconut milk, water, salt and sliced green onion. MIX well.  Refrigerated the batter for at least 2 hrs.

PORK:
In a pot filled with water and 1 tablespoon salt I would boiled my pork shoulder for about 15-20 minutes . I usually season it with a little char sui powder (red package) or just some salt and pepper.  Once its cook ...I thinly sliced them. I don't season them to much because I usually eat the crepe with a fish dipping sauce.

SHRIMP: 
In a pan with some olive oil...I saute the peeled and deveined shrimp with just a little salt and pepper. Saute until it a pink color...you don't want to over COOK the shrimp because you will be cooking it again when you are making the crepe.

***what you put in this crepe is all up to you....some people make it strictly vegetarian and use all mushroom and bean sprout other  use JUST seafood (shrimp and squids). STRICTLY up to what your family likes ****


CREPE: 
In a 10in nonstick skillet..lightly grease the skillet ( I use PAM) heat until skillet is hot add in your a few pieces of the WHITE ONION ...wait about 30 seconds then ladle in 1/4 cup of batter. Lifting the pan and swirl so that all the batter cover the entire pan...TURN HEAT TO MEDIUM LOW and cover with a lid. After about 2 minutes...uncover and add in your cook pork sliced, shrimp and BEAN SPROUT on one-half of the crepe. Then cover again and cook for about another 5 minutes. Cooking it slowly on medium heat will give the crepe that crispy bottom. ***Making sure to wipe down your LID because the lid can cause some condensation and have water coming into your crepe which will make the crepe soggy. MAKE sure your lid is DRY when you are covering the crepe....I usually have to wipe down every time I lift up the lid.  

Once you see the edge of the CREPE pull away from the side of the pan and the edge looks like a golden brown color...and looks crispy.....then your crepe is ready.  Using a RUBBER spatula gently lift the EMPTY half of the crepe  and fold over the side with the FILLING.  Next gently transfer the cook crepe onto a place and serve IMMEDIATELY with lettuce, herbs and fish dipping sauce. Crepe is good when it is HOT.

**Every time you make a new crepe...remember to stir the batter WELL before each USE **


** some people prefer to just pour the fish sauce over the crepe and lettuce/herbs other prefer to cut up the crepe and put it on top of the lettuce long with the the herbs and DIP into the fish sauce...strictly personal preferences.

ENJOY!!!

Batter --Yellow from turmeric powder
Thinly sliced green onion

Sliced Pork 

Shrimp

Pork Patty (can get at your local asian market) 

Sliced Onion 

Pam 

Banh Xeo

Banh Xeo is one food that my WHOLE family loves and we can eat it every week.  It's also one of the food that I can get the veggies into their food and they will eat it.
I have so many different BANH XEO recipe that its so easy for me to wipe up a batch at  the spur of the moment...I don't need one of those PRE-PACKAGE mix from the asian market.


Today I will share with you one of the MANY  recipe that I have.

Ingredients: 

CREPE BATTER
2 cup RICE FLOUR
1/2 cup self rising flour
3 cup WATER
1 cup Coconut Milk
2 TBS turmeric
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced scallion--the green part only

FILLING:
8 oz boneless lean pork shoulder--cut thinly (I usually boiled mines up first)
1 small yellow onion--thinly sliced
2 cup bean sprout
1 cup medium shrimp--peel and deveined ( I blanch mines for about 5 minutes)
***optional: thinly sliced cabbage, different variety of mushroom if you want to make it vegetarian

Serve With:
romaine lettuce
mint
cilantro
basil
thinly sliced cucumber

Fish SAUCE 




DIRECTION: 
To make the CREPE BATTER:
In a large bowl stir together the rice flour, self rising flour, coconut milk, water, turmeric, salt and sliced green scallion. Mix really well to get all the clumps out.
Let the batter sit for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. You can make the batter 24 hours in advance...just covered and put in the refrigerator but don't add the scallion until you area ready to cook.
*** I didn't have time to put in refrigerator for 30 minutes so I added a few ice cubed to my batter ***

In a large NONSTICK skillet heat 1 teaspoon of oil ( I usually brush the oil onto the skillet so that it coats evenly) over MEDIUM heat. Once the oil is hot add the white onion and sliced pork. About 30 seconds pour in 1/2 cup of batter and swirl the pan so that it covered the whole SKILLET. Cover for 1 minute then open and add your shrimp and bean sprouts (veggies) to one side of the crepe...then cover again. Cook for about 2 minutes...when you see the edge start to crisp and turn brown pulling away from the skillet. Depending on how thick your crepe is...this process might take a little longer. You can check by lifting the edge with a spatula to see if it is brown and crispy.

Using your spatula gently FOLD over the crepe in half.   Wait for another 30 seconds then plate.
Serve the crepe with lettuce, cilantro, mint and cucumber. You can pour the fish sauce over or like me...just dip the crepe piece by piece rolled into the lettuce and veggies  into the fish sauce.

**The KEY is to cook it on medium ...nice and SLOW...you can't rush the cooking process by turning up the heat...it will burn the crepe.

ENJOY!!!

                         The CREPE BATTER 

I had thinly sliced cabbage, mushroom, bean sprout, thinly sliced yellow onion, thinly sliced pork patty (cha lua), thinly sliced pork shoulder, and shrimp. 

Cilantro, cucumber, basil, and romaine lettuce