Easy and incredibly delicious: Vietnamese savory, crispy pancake
An com is a wonderful cookbook full of home-style Vietnamese dishes, with handy tips on ingredients and cooking methods. Phi-Yen and her parents’ recipes show you how to make street food classics, as well as Vietnamese home cooking, at home, such as the most delicious spring rolls, egg rolls, sweet-and-sour fish soup, dipping sauces and these crispy pancakes. The recipe makes approximately 10 pancakes.
‘Xèo’ means ‘sizzle’ in Vietnamese. When the yellow batter—made with rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric—comes into contact with the blazing-hot pan, you hear a wonderfully sizzling sound. This is the promising sound of a crispy pancake in the making. It used to be considered a luxurious dish because of the shrimp, pork belly and many vegetables served with it.
Popular street food dish in Vietnam
It has now become a popular street food dish throughout Vietnam. It is usually not a dish you eat alone, but one you share with friends and family while enjoying a nice cold beer or a glass of iced tea. Phi-Yen: ‘Bánh xèo is served with lots of fresh herbs, which is why we often eat it at home in summer. Our garden is then full of fresh plants and herbs. My parents enjoy it most with Thai basil and Vietnamese perilla.’
How to make Vietnamese crispy pancakes
Mix all the batter ingredients with 100 milliliters of water in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Pour through a sieve into a bowl so there are no lumps. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and let it rest outside the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
Before cooking the batter, add the spring onion rings and stir. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick pan, preferably a wok, over medium heat. Add a handful of white onion, pork belly and shrimp and fry for about 1 minute. Then pour some batter into the center of the pan and spread it across the entire base by swirling the pan back and forth. The batter should be as thin as possible.
Spread a handful of bean sprouts over the batter and cover the pan with the lid. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the lid and turn the heat to low. Cook the pancake for another 5 to 6 minutes, until the edges are beautifully golden brown. The crispy edges indicate that the bánh xèo is ready. Fold the pancake in half and remove it from the pan. Cook pancakes from the remaining batter and filling in the same way.
Serve the bánh xèo immediately with the fresh vegetables. Tear off a piece of bánh xèo, wrap it in a lettuce leaf, add the fresh herbs and dip it into the sweet-and-sour fish sauce dressing.
For the vegetarian version, replace the pork belly and shrimp with, for example, crispy fried tofu and oyster mushrooms.
Title: An com
Author: Phi-Yen Phan
Price: €29.99
Publisher: Nijgh & van Ditmar
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