Every once in a while, I like to spend a bit more time in the kitchen instead of my usual rushing around in the kitchen right after work, getting my meals ready on the dining table. I appreciate the leisure of having the time to enjoy every process from shopping for ingredients, prepping, peeling, chopping, stirring to adding the finishing touch to the dish I made. I love playing music in the background, talking to myself as I go as if I am cooking on the Food Network with the only difference being that my pet parrots are my audience, looking puzzled most of the time ha!
Banh Xeo or commonly known as the crispy Vietnamese crepe has been on my to-do list for a while. Despite I never had it before, I knew it was a dish I would love. I have likened it to the Vietnamese rice paper rolls but instead of the rice paper, the fillings was wrapped in the warm, crispy and coconut-ty exterior which is especially ideal for chilly spring weather in Orange.
While this recipe is not exactly fuss free, it is not overly complicated either. The only tricky part for me was not to overfill the crepes. Having said that, you’ll get a hang of it after the first two Banh Xeos or try go a little light handed with the filling.
You may notice that I browned the chicken mince with a cherry red pan. This was a gift from Kitchenware Superstore (http://www.kitchenwaresuperstore.com.au) – an Australian online store for kitchenware and cookware which carries many leading brands such as Kitchen Aid, Scanpan, Wedgwood, Global Knives and Le Creuset etc.
Thanks to the nice peeps from Kitchenware Superstore, one Fuss Free Cooking reader is going home with a 20cm Le Creuset Omelette Pan. All you have to do is to tell me in the comment box below:
“If you win this, what will you make with this pan” and your preferred colour of the pan, either cherry red or cobalt blue.
The food does not have to be omelette, it can be a dessert or savoury food since the pan is ceramic, halogen, induction, gas, oil/wood, oven, grill and freezer safe.
The giveaway is open to 30th September 2013. *Important* Please note that the entry is open to all Australian residents, aged 14 and over and the prize. Prizes are not transferable and cannot be taken as cash.
The most creative entry will go home with this gorgeous pan. 🙂
Banh Xeo (Crispy Vietnamese Crepes/Pancakes)
(adapted from September 2013 Issue of Super Food Ideas, minor tweaks)
Serves 6 as starter, or serve 2 as a meal
What you’ll need for the crepes + 1 hour of resting time in the fridge:-
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 pinches of ground white pepper
- 2/3 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup iced water
- 1 + 1/2 tbsps cooking oil
- 2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced diagonally, divide into 6 portions – add while cooking the crepes
What you’ll need for the filling:-
- 2 tsps cooking oil
- 200g chicken mince (or pork mince)
- 2 tbsps fish sauce
- Freshly milled black pepper
- 500g medium cooked prawns, peeled, deveined, chopped**
- 1/2 cup snow pea sprouts, trimmed
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
** I treated myself to 400g of large shell on Australian prawns. I peeled, deveined them but instead of chopping them, I sliced the large prawns in half and divide them into 6 portions.
Method:-
To prepare the crepe batter: Mix rice flour, cornflour, ground turmeric, salt and ground white pepper in a large mixing bowl, preferably a large measuring jug with a spout and then add the wet ingredients: coconut milk, water and cooking oil. Stir until smooth. Set aside in the fridge, covered with a cling wrap and rest for an hour. While the batter is resting, it would be a good time to prep the rest of the ingredients.
To prepare the chicken filling: Heat 2 tsps of cooking oil in a small pan. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken by cooking and break up the mince with a wooden spoon/spatula. Add fish sauce and freshly milled black pepper. Cook further until the fish sauce has evaporated. Set aside.
To make the Banh Xeo: Lightly greased an at least 20cm base non-stick frying pan. When the pan is hot, add one portion of the sliced spring onion and pour roughly 50ml (1.6 fl oz) of batter. Tilt pan, swirling batter to form a 20cm diameter crepe. Cook over the low heat until the base is golden. Lightly drizzle some cooking on the edge of the crepe while it is cooking. Place 1/6 portion of the mince chicken and prawns on half of the crepe. Top with sprouts and mint. Fold over to enclose. Repeat with the remaining batter and filling. Serve immediately with Nuoc cham or sweet chilli sauce.
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. The Le Creuset pan was a gift to me.
If I were to be the lucky person to win this pan (cherry red please!), I would use it to make frittata for the family. Eggs from our chooks, asparagus because it is in season, goats cheese and cherry tomatoes and maybe a bit of prosciutto on top?. Everyone enjoys it and even my dodgy, 20 year old Chef upright oven can’t muck it up too much!
Hi Katy,
Thanks for your entry! I like what you had it mind….it screams Fresh Fresh Fresh! 🙂
xx Emily
Crepes for a Lady M mille crepe cake! Given the number required, it’s a good thing Le Creuset products are so sturdy 😉 Cobalt blue, please.
I love the cobalt blue pan and I’d make an omelette with goat cheese, chives, and zucchini!
I’d have double use from this (red) pan! My partner is the one responsible for eggs in our house. Every weekend morning he makes us scrambled eggs on toast with mushrooms & green onions, or scrambled eggs Mountain bread wrap with fresh herbs, or omelettes and frittatas. He’s a very good cook. Lucky me! We already have a red creuset casserole which he loves to use for stews, he’d be thrilled to cook eggs with this beautiful pan.
I would personally use it to make us crepes, blueberry buckwheat pancakes and stove top quick pizzas! And donate away my current pan hehe
xx
I love the cherry red one :). I would make so many things with it but I imagine a lovely simply baked eggs dish with feta and bacon (finished in the oven)
I have never had a pan as good as that so I would be doing a lot of learning with it,and hopefully something as delicious as the CRISPY VIETNAMESE CREPES YUM
i would cook a simple grilled salmon with dill & chive cream sauce…the thick pan would lend itself nicely to this dish and give it the perfect light crust…
and blue would look lovely in my kitchen!
I like crepes whether it’s a dessert or not. Your recipe is like another variation of crepes. I love it! Will copy the recipe. Thanks
Awww I want to make this! Looks goood
My kitchen theme is red so I would have to say the Cherry Red pan would fit in perfectly. The dish I would most like to make would be huevos rancheros for breakfast for my family. A Mexican dish of eggs, chili, tomato and capsicum and I would finish it off in the oven. I’d serve it straight out of the cherry red pan on our kitchens breakfast bar and surrounded by my red appliances my family will look like we are straight out of an advertisement for Kitchenware Superstore.
This is such a fun giveaway! I would love to use a cobalt blue omelet pan to make whole wheat apple pancakes. Yum. Of course I would makes lots of other things with it, but for starters, lots of pancakes.
I’ll be trying “OKONOMIYAKI” – savoury Japanese pancakes in my new (cherry red) Creuset. Our Japanese exchange student introduced them to us and I’ve been trying to perfect them ever since!
Then I’ll be heating sugar to make praline for SALTED CARAMEL ICE-CREAM. Summer is approaching!…
I love crepes!
The health-conscious part of me says I’d use this cobalt blue pan to make a double serve of saucy, spicy baked eggs. The dessert lover in me says I’ll try a tarte tatin!
Is this contest still going on?
Well, I would pan fry salmon with some soy sauce and brown sugar — and maybe try out another one of your recipes!
Cobalt blue, please!
Linder
Hi Linder,
Unfortunately the contest is now closed. Sorry about that. On the bright sight, to celebrate the ‘Love Australian Prawns’ campaign, I am running a giveaway of a $100 Woolworths Gift Card to one Fuss Free Cooking reader, open to Australian residents only. The link is as follows:-
http://www.fussfreecooking.com/meat-recipes/love-australian-prawns-campaign-marinated-grilled-prawns-with-green-rice-salad-a-100-woolworths-gift-card-giveaway/