Bánh Xèo (Vietnamese sizzling crepes)

One of the most unique and delicious Vietnamese foods that is not commonly known to most non-Vietnamese people is a savory meat-filled Vietnamese crepe called bánh xèo. Bánh xèo looks like a large omelette, but it actually does not contain any eggs at all! It is a rice flour-based crepe that is filled with mung beans, ground meat, shrimp, and bean sprouts, and served with fresh lettuce and herbs and nước chấm (fish sauce dipping sauce). The yellow color of the crepe comes from turmeric powder mixed into the batter, and from the mung beans added during cooking.  

If you've never had it, I REALLY encourage you to venture out from the usual noodles, pho, and spring rolls to try this. You will experience something truly unique and tastefully rewarding that you will be sure to brag about to your friends. 

I've never made bánh xèo myself, but my grandma and mom have and I've had it at restaurants. During my short break back at home with my family, my mom asked me what I wanted her to make for dinner. I suggested bánh xèo and she got real excited. She has only made it once before and was eager to try it again. Plus, we both knew how tasty the final product would be. Crispy pancake edges, creamy mung beans, caramelized sweet onions, salty-sweet nước chấm, umami meat, and refreshing greens! So many flavors! I'm surprised the food trend people and renowned food critics are not gushing over this yet!

The nước chấm for this Vietnamese dish is slightly sweeter than normal nước chấm used for things such as noodle salads (bun). To make the dipping sauce, you add fresh lime juice and minced garlic to sugar, let the acid and garlic permeate the sugar, add a lot of water, then add a good amount of fish sauce till you reach the right balance of sweet, salty, and umami. One site you can find some ratios for ingredients is VietWorldKitchen. 

To make the crepes, we used a pre-made bánh xèo mix. Here are some suggested bags to grab:

They are basically rice flour, self-rising flour, and turmeric, which are easy to make at home if you do not have access to these mixes. They also instructions in Vietnamese and rough English translations on the back.

Here is what me and my mom did:

Bánh Xèo (Vietnamese Sizzling Crepes)
Ingredients
1 bag of bánh xèo mix, 1 can coconut milk (8 oz), and 3.5 cups of water
2-3 stalks of green onion, green and white parts, chopped
1 lb of ground meat (normally pork, but we used chicken to be healthier)
1 lb of shrimp, cleaned, deveined (usually the hard skin/shell is left on, but we removed it because i don't like the sharp crunch)
2 whole yellow onions
Lots of garlic cloves, minced and divided
1 bag of mung beans (I think most bags are around 12 oz.), soaked for an hour
1 bag of bean sprouts, washed and dry
To serve
2-3 heads of lettuce
Lots of Vietnamese herbs (purple perilla, Vietnamese mint, fish mint)
Prepared nước chấm

Directions

1. Take the soaked mung beans and boil them in water for a few minutes. You only want to add enough water and to boil it long enough for the beans to soak up the water and not get mushy. Put into a bowl and set aside (drain excess water if any).
2. Dice 1 whole onion, mince the garlic. 
3. Saute the onion in oil until it starts to turn yellow, then add half of the garlic. Once that begins to turn brown, add the ground meat. Season with a bit of sea salt and black pepper. Use your spoon or chop sticks to break up the meat and cook through. Pour into a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Saute the remaining garlic till just brown then add the shrimp. Add black pepper. Cook through (do not over cook). Remove to a separate bowl and cut the shrimp in half lengthwise (the shrimp as they are are too thick to fold nicely into the crepes). Set aside.
5. Slice remaining onion into thin strips. Saute in lots of oil until caramelized. Remove to a bowl lined with paper to soak up excess oil.
6. Prepare the crepe mix. Add the turmeric powder to the rice flour mix. Pour in coconut milk and water. Stir. Add in diced green onions. Let sit for ~10 minutes.
7. Wash the lettuce and herbs. Put into colanders to drip dry. Prepare the nước chấm if not done so yet.
8. Now prepare to make the crepes. Take the individual bowls of crepe batter, meat, shrimp, mung bean, and bean sprouts and place them near the stove. 

1. Using a large nonstick skillet with a wide base (~10 inches) over high heat, pour in a generous amount of oil to cover the surface. Throw in some meat, shrimp, and onions on one side, then pour a small ladle of the batter into the pan, distributing the batter into a thin layer. Plug up any holes with extra batter. Immediately throw onto the half with the meat and onions, generous spoonfuls of mung bean then bean sprouts. 

1. Fry until the edges are lifting and the crepe is crispy. Fold the crepe and remove to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter and fillings.
2. To serve: place crepe on a plate, serve with lettuce, herbs, and nước chấm. Provide bowls for the dipping sauce. Use chopsticks and spoons to eat. 
3. Traditional way to eat (messy): break off a piece of the crepe. Take a full lettuce leaf, top with fresh herbs and the piece of crepe. Fold over like a little lettuce burrito, dip into the nước chấm and eat. 
4. Alternate way to eat (clean): break up crepe into a bowl, top with ripped lettuce and herbs. Drizzle in however much nước chấm you want. Eat with chopsticks.

I hope this is helpful to anyone looking to try a new ethnic dish. It is very time-consuming for sure, but the results are rewarding and the presentation is fabulous. Everyone will be oohing and aahing at your next dinner!

Giant California Rolls

My senior year of undergrad at Berkeley, my best friend there taught me how to roll sushi. It was a really fun experience and tasty. I also tried this raspberry beer called Framboise and I was genuinely surprised that there was a beer out there that I liked. Sometime after that, I invited a bunch of my Vietnamese Student Association friends over to my apartment for a sushi rolling party. We made a lot of different rolls, but primarily imitation crab meat filling if I remember correctly. Every time, we made maki rolls, which are sushi rolls with the nori seaweed sheet on the outside. Recently I wanted to try my hand at making California rolls, where the rice is on the outside, then the nori, and then the fillings on the inside.

Maki sushi on left. California-style sushi on right. source

I prepared the crab filling using canned crab meat this time instead of imitation crab sticks. I simply drained the water from the can of (sustainably caught!) crabmeat, and added 2 Tbs of mayo and about 1/2 to 1 Tbs of Sriracha. I also sprinkled in some lemon pepper seasoning and ground black pepper. Seeing as it was still too moist (I did not drain it that well) and my eyes thought it was not enough meat, I sprinkled in vegetarian pork floss (something like this).

source

For vegetable fillings, I sliced some avocado, cucumber, and carrots into thin strips. I also washed fresh alfafa sprouts. I just looked up the health benefits of alfafa sprouts. One cup of alfafa sprouts contain about 10% women's DV of vitamin K. It also contains vitamin C and phytoestrogens, which can help reduce risks of heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. Alfafa sprouts also contain saponins, compounds linked to reducing LDL cholesterol and raising HDL cholesterol - although the site did not say how much saponin a cup of alfafa sprouts contain nor how much saponin is needed to be effective. Nevertheless, alfafa is a green vegetable and is definitely healthier for you than filling up on fatty, meaty fillings!

Ingredients all prepped.

I made the sushi rice using Kokuho Rose brand sushi rice. I washed a cup of rice under water for a while (they recommend doing it till the washing water is clear, but this brand says "No washing necessary", so I only did it briefly), then spread it out to dry for ~30 min along the walls of a colander. After cooking the rice, I mixed 1-1/2 Tbs rice vinegar, 1 Tbs sugar, and 1/2 Tbs salt. I poured the vinegar mixture over the rice and mixed it in with chopsticks. To add something a little extra, I toasted white sesame seeds in my toaster oven and mixed some in as well.

To assemble, you spread the rice in a thin layer on top of a sheet of nori, completely covering the nori. Sprinkle more sesame seeds if desired. Place a plastic sheet on top then flip it over. Place it on a sushi rolling mat and then put the fillings inside. I spooned on 1/4 of the crabmeat, then generously added all the vegetables. I tried rolling it over, but my rolls were not tight and I had forgotten how to correctly roll these, since I had done it so long ago. My rolls ended up looking like sushi burritos! HUGE! I ate two that night, because my friend and I made 3 altogether. I know sushi is not good the next day and did not want to waste those last 4 slices of my sushi.

HUGGGEEE sushi roll

After slicing into 8 pieces.

The nori I got is not that good. I will have to buy a better brand next time. Do any of you have suggestions on good nori for sushi?

Next time, I will definitely read up on the proper sushi rolling technique and also cut my avocados thicker.

In all, after not cooking for a month because of being on winter break at my mom's fully stocked house, it was good to get back into preparing my own meals. And sushi is a great first meal back at school!

Oh, and Happy New Year, everyone!

Scallop Vegetable Risotto and Double Banana Muffins

Hello again.

"..."

What? Don't remember me? Oh yeah. We haven't spoken in a veerryyyyy long time. Well, between fun stuff, procrastinating, school, and other various distractions, Blog, you have been set at a lower priority. But, now I have returned to post!

"Really? A review, huh?"

Nope! I have my own recipe and it's delicious! Although, I must admit, I do have a long list of restaurants that I must review on Yelp, along with other foods I have made at home since my last post.

Today, I surprisingly had a lot of time. Also, surprisingly, I was not too tired in the evening despite staying up late to try and finish homework and getting up semi-early to go to research lab. After class was over, and after taking a fun stroll through Whole Foods, I was prepared to finally achieve one of my life goals!

Cooking risotto!!!

So I did it. And I was so psyched when I finished and even now. Haha. The finished product was really good, and SOOO much better than Pasta Pomodoro's special this month: Asparagus Risotto. That thing was bland and had no love put in it. Just kinda thick rice with asparagus. Nasty. Their El Cerrito branch will be receiving a bad review on Yelp soon...

Anyways, back to the risotto. A couple days ago, I made my own vegetable stock out of a bunch of vegetable shavings and leftovers. So excited that this dish is COMPLETELY from scratch. Makes it such a proud experience. It is a scallop risotto with red bell peppers, red onions, celery, and carrots. Apparently, the onion, peppers, celery, and carrots is the usual base mix of vegetables to start any dish. My roommate called it some fancy Italian or French word, but I forgot.

I based my risotto of the general procedure for "Our Favorite Risotto" from Cooking Light that was made with mushrooms and mascarpone cheese. Instead, I added my own vegetables, herbs, meat, and cheese. Below you will find the recipe. It came out very creamy and delicious, but must be served warm-hot to really enjoy it to its full extent. Before making the risotto, I made some banana muffins modified from a recipe my mom used. My mom baked for the first time last night!!! She made these banana muffins and added too many bananas and less butter, but it came out amazing. But she's back at home home and I'm in my college home, so I didn't get any. So I craved and made some myself - with my usual changes of course (cinnamon, spices, wheat). The recipe for the banana muffins follow the risotto recipe. (Picture to be added tomorrow).

(Pardon the messy pot. It's the starch and cheese.)

Scallop Risotto (serves 4-5)
Ingredients
1 medium-large red bell pepper, large diced
1/4 large red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, including leaves, diced
1/2 lb small-medium bay scallops, patted dry
Various herbs (I used dried oregano, basil, thyme, and parsley, freely added)
3/4-1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/4-1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil for sauteing
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Heat stock in saucepan to a simmer but do not boil. Keep warm.
2. Saute the red onions till limp. Add garlic and Arborio rice. Saute for 5 min. Add 1/2 cup white wine and cook, stirring, until absorbed.
3. Add 1 cup of stock and cook, stirring until most of it is absorbed. Meanwhile, begin to saute the carrot and celery (reserve the celery leaves). Add the red bell peppers and continue sauteing. Remove from heat once cooked. Add stock to rice 1/2 cup a time, stirring constantly, until absorbed each time.
4. Season the scallops with salt, black pepper, oregano, and basil. On a hot pan with olive oil, sear scallops till cooked through on each side. Kinda stir-fry it. Add in vegetables to reheat, then remove from heat.
5. Once rice is thick and starchy, and fold in scallop-vegetable mix. Add in rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper, to taste. Add in Parmesan cheese, and fold through rice.
6. Spoon into bowls and top with chopped celery leaves. Enjoy!

Double Banana Muffins (14 normal muffins, or 12 muffins + 6 mini muffins)
Ingredients
4-5 ripe, medium bananas, mashed
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sugar (mix white and brown)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 TBS canola oil
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, to taste
1/4 cup chopped banana chips, toasted in oven

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare muffin tins with grease of liners.
2. Beat bananas, egg, sugar, vanilla, butter, and oil.
3. Mix dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredients. Fold in banana chips.
4. Pour into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Note: Make sure to check on the mini ones just to make sure they don't cook too much before the big ones.

A lot of Things I've Made

So, I've done a lot of cooking since the last post. What with school starting and all, there's been less time to post. I took pictures of the food and planned on blogging about them, but then a day would pass and then suddenly it'd be a week since I'd made that dish! Here's a listing of what I've done in the past couple of weeks:

Sesame Fish Sticks

 

Paprika Pepper Salmon

Cilantro Pesto Pasta (with Pork Fu and Lettuce)

I've done a couple of other random things, but didn't take a picture. I also made Sauteed Vegetables and Turkey in Bechamel Sauce, and today I made French Onion Soup. It's been fun trying out new recipes and experimenting at will with whatever ingredients I have on hand. I don't really have exact measurements for any of my recipes, but here is the basic ingredients for the Salmon and Pesto. To make them is fairly quick and simple - contrary to making the fish sticks, which required deep-frying. I put them in a low-rim pan and hot oil was spraying all over me! It was not fun, and I was in a rush to take it to my friend's Disney Movie Marathon. But, people liked it, so I guess it was worth it.

Paprika Pepper Salmon:

Salmon, Paprika, Pepper, Onions, Garlic

Pan-fry in olive oil until cooked through.

Cilantro Pesto:

1/4 cup Almonds, Bunch Cilantro Leaves, 3 Garlic Cloves, Enough olive Oil to desired consistency, Salt + pepper (to taste)

Blend in a food processor.

Procrastination and Ginger-Steamed Fish

I've done quite a bit of baking and cooking and visited a couple of restaurants since my last post. I've been meaning to post, but I just keep putting it off. Procrastination. Not just in doing schoolwork, but even in easy hobbies such as this blog. I suppose I just need to get into the habit of it. I'll first start out with the first thing I made since my last post.

Seafood really isn't my thing, except for fish. While up at the University last year, I would make an effort to go to the dining commons when they said they would have their Japanese Ginger Baked Fish. There are some things that the dining halls do right, and this was one of them. I can't remember exactly how it tasted, but the sauce was good in that dark salty way, and the fish was tender. I wanted to reproduce it at home.

The dish at the dining hall was usually served with rice. If you know me, I would usually choose rice over noodles just because it makes everything easier to eat. You just toss everything together, shove a spoon in, and you get a neat round of everything in the dish. With noodles, you have to pick at everything separately because things don't stick as well. Despite my pickiness, I had been wanting to use up my soba noodles I bought a couple years back. I still had 3 bundles left and thought it would go all right with the dish since it's Japanese.


The recipe is Ginger-Steamed Fish with Stir-Fried Veggies. I replaced zucchini with broccoli and doubled the sauce so I could marinate the fish in it as well. I also, thanks to my mom's help, mixed chopped ginger with the fish to give it more of that warm flavor. My mom was such a big help. I could never have cut everything as skillfully and quickly as she did. If I had done everything myself, I probably wouldn't have eaten that night until 10 pm! In the end, the fish came out SUPER juicy because I steamed it in a bowl inside the steamer. It came out in a pool of its juices mixed with the sauce and ginger. Each bite released the flavorful liquid, which was reinforced with the sauce in the vegetables. It was all right with the noodles, which were a bit too slippery. Next time, I think I'll stick with rice.