Vietnamese Crispy Coconut Pancakes with Prawns & Fresh Herbs ("Banh Xeo")

Vietnamese Crispy Sizzling Coconut Pancake

Crispy savoury sizzling pancakes...

These golden crispy Bánh Xèo are the perfect base for a savoury filling made up of prawns, red peppers and bean sprouts.  There are no eggs in this batter, which is made from rice flour and coconut milk.  Instead, ground turmeric gives this pancake it's lovely golden colour.

Serve the pancake with lettuce of your choice and fresh herbs like mint and watercress.  Then, eat it with a tangy dipping sauce made from fish sauce and fresh lime juice.   

Vietnamese Crispy Sizzling Coconut Pancake

Vietnamese Crispy Pancakes with prawns

Serves 2 as a main

Ingredients

for the batter:
100g rice flour
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
150ml sparkling water
1/4 cup (60ml) coconut milk
2 spring onions, finely sliced
vegetable oil


for the filling:
100g prawns (raw)
100g bean sprouts
1 red pepper, sliced thinly


for the dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons (30ml) fish sauce
2 tablespoons (30ml) lime juice
1 tablespoon (15ml) water
1 red bird's eye chilli, finely diced
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon of sugar

for serving:
few leaves of sweet gem lettuce
few handfuls of mint and watercress

Method

1. In a bowl, combine rice flour and turmeric, then whisk in the coconut milk, sparkling water and spring onions.  Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, mix together all the dipping sauce ingredients in a serving bowl.

3. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Add prawns and fry for 2-3 minutes, turning them to cook both sides.  Set aside.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over high heat.  Add a ladle of the batter into the pan, swirling the pan to form a thin layer.  Add a little more batter so the surface of the pan is filled.  Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Place the cooked prawns, red peppers and bean sprouts onto one half of the pancake.  Place a lid over the pan, and cook for a further 1 minute.

Remove lid and cook for 1 more minute until pancake is golden brown.

Fold over the pancake and place onto serving plate.

Repeat using up all the batter mixture.

Tip: You can drizzle more oil along the outer edge of the pancake.

5. Serve with lettuce and herbs.

Thank you to Sainsbury's for sponsoring this post for Pancake Tuesday, which falls on Tuesday, March 4th, 2014.

We used the following products from Sainsbury's:
Sainsbury's basics red peppers and garlic
by Sainsbury's bean sprouts, sweet gem lettuce and watercress

Cook's Notes:   1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 15 ml; Pinch is equiv. to 1/8 teaspoon
Equipment used:  Non-stick frying pan (Tefal Jamie Oliver)

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