This is a recipe for Bành Xèo – Crispy Vietnamese Pancakes. These pancakes are easy to make, include a few sample ingredients and ready in 30 minutes. They are perfect to serve either for an easy and delicious weeknight dinner or when you’re having friends or family over for dinner. These pancakes are gluten free.
Bánh Xèo is a Vietnamese dish that usually is filled with pork, shrimps, scallion and bean sprouts. The name Bánh Xèo means sizzling pancake/crepe, and comes from the sound that appears when the pancakes batter hits the hot pan. The pancakes batter is made with rice flour, coconut milk, water and some turmeric powder to give it the lovely and colorful look. This dish is perfect to serve for a big dinner with your family or friends or when you just want to make a fun dinner where you get to put your own food together. I made my own version of Bánh Xèo including a few more toppings than an original Bánh Xèo usually have. I ate a wonderful Bánh Xèo while visiting Vietnam and it really was one of my best food experience ever. This dish is really easy to make, even though you have to prepare the batter in advance and then do come cutting and frying. But it’s totally worth it. The pancakes are vegan and gluten free, hence the topping is really easy to adapt according to taste and food preferences.
A few tips:
- The pancake batter should be prepared at least 30 minutes before frying. But you can prepare it up to one day in advance.
- An original Bánh Xèo usually include the filling when frying the pancake. But I chose to fry my pancakes plain and then just top them with the filling I liked and preferred. This way everyone can add the topping they like and prefer instead of having already prepared pancakes. This also makes the dinner more fun and interactive since everyone is involved, putting their own food together.
- If you want to prepare it in a more classic way then fry the scallion in the pan and add the pancake batter to it. When the pancake starts to set add the rest of the topping and fold in.
- I chose not to include pork in my Bánh Xèo, but if you want it more classic just add some pork to the dish.
- I would recommend you not to prepare the vegetables or shrimps before just ready to eat the dish. They should be fresh and crispy when eating them.
Ingredients for these Bánh Xèo – Crispy Vietnamese Pancakes:
- Rice flour
- Coconut milk
- Water
- Turmeric powder
- Salt
- Prawns
- Salad
- Bean sprouts
- Carrot
- Scallion
- Sugar snaps
- Cilantro
- Mint
- Fish sauce
- Tamari
- Lime
- Rice vinegar
Bánh Xèo – Crispy Vietnamese Pancakes (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
For the pancakes
- 2,5 dl Rice flour
- 250 ml Coconut milk
- 1 dl Water
- 3 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Salt
For the topping
- 24 Prawns
- 12 Salad leafs
- 2 dl Bean sprouts
- 2 Carrots peeled and coursley grated
- 1 Scallion (both white and green parts) thinly sliced
- 6-8 Sugar snaps thinly sliced
- Cilantro
- Mint
For the dips sauce
- 3 tbsp Fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Tamari
- 1 Lime juiced
- 1 tbsp Rice vinegar
Instructions
- Start by combining the ingredients for the pancake batter in a bowl. Whisk together until you have a smooth batter. Set aside and let it rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Combine the ingredients for the dip sauce in a small bowl.
- Cut and slice all the vegeables and place in bowls.
- Preheat a small nonstick pan over medium heat with some olive oil.
- Preheat another pan over medium heat with some olive oil.
- Pour about 1/2 dl of batter into the small pan and distribute the batter evenly, making sure you have a very thin (about 2 mm) pancake. Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Fry the prawns in 2-3 batches in the large pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Don't fry for too long so they don't get dry and over fried.
- Serve pancakes with topping, prawns and dip sauce.
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