← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 200 g Rice flour
• 1 tbsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 tsp Ground turmeric
• ½ tsp Salt
• 200 ml Coconut milk
• 400 ml Water
• 3 Spring onion, thinly sliced
• 50 g Split, skinned mung beans
• 300 g Pork belly, skin removed, thinly sliced
• 300 g raw prawns, peeled, deveined and halved lengthways
• 1 Onion, thinly sliced
• 300 g Bean sprouts
• 6 tbsp oil, for frying
• 4 tbsp Fish sauce
• 3 tbsp Sugar
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 8 tbsp warm water
• 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Bird's eye chilli, finely chopped
• 1 soft lettuce or mustard greens, leaves separated
• 1 bunch Mint
• 1 bunch Coriander (cilantro)

Method

1. Soak the mung beans in water for 1 hour. Whisk all the batter ingredients except the spring onions until smooth and thin like single cream, then stir in the onions and let it rest while the beans soak.
2. Drain the mung beans, cover with fresh water and simmer for 10–12 min, until soft but not mushy. Drain. For the nước chấm, stir the sugar into the warm water until dissolved, then add the fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and chilli.
3. Heat a 25 cm non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat with 2 tsp oil. Add a few slices of pork and fry for 1–2 minutes until lightly browned, then add a few prawns and onion slices and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Stir the batter (the flour settles), then pour in about 80 ml, swirling the pan at once so a thin layer climbs the sides. It should hiss loudly; that is the "xèo".
5. Scatter a spoonful of mung beans and a handful of sprouts over one half, cover and cook for 2 min. Uncover, drizzle a little oil around the edge and cook for 3–4 minutes more, until the bottom is deep golden and crisp and the edges lift away.
6. Fold the crêpe in half and slide it onto a plate. Repeat with the rest, keeping the pan hot; the first one is often a practice run.
7. To eat, tear off a piece of crêpe, wrap it in lettuce with herbs, and dip it in the nước chấm.

Tips

• Contains shellfish. The pork and prawns cook through in the pan; slice them thinly so they do.
• Coconut milk and a very hot, well-oiled pan are what make the crêpe crisp; a thick batter makes it soft and bready, so add water if needed.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Vicky Pham Hungry Huy Marion's Kitchen