Vegetarian Vietnamese Rice Crepes (Bánh xèo)

The first time I had these amazing flavourful crepes was in this small Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, USA with my cousin. The crepes came with this huge filling of sprouted mung beans and a colourful variety of julienned vegetables. And with it, yet another big plate of fresh herbs, few rice papers and of course the nước chấm. I was simply blown away with the taste and the simplicity of the dish. On my visit to Vietnam years later, I made it a point to have the authentic crepes in Hanoi and it just took me back to my first taste of this crispy goodness and fell in love yet again! Traditionally it is made with rice flour + plain flour and cooked like an omelette with meat+seafood and then served with heaps of fresh green herbs and rice paper.

The name, xèo, refers to the sizzling sound that you hear when the batter hits the pan. And the word, bánh loosely translated means cake/bread. But don’t let the cuisine or the name intimidate you though, I found the technique of cooking these crepes quite similar to our rava dosa or an appam. Striking resemblance to our own dosa or appam and yet so different.

The filling of these crepes is quite versatile, in fact take the opportunity to use whatever few vegetables you have lying around in the fridge turning it into a healthy meal or a snack.

In my recipe, I have added apple, asparagus and carrot as fillers but the choices are endless. Do experiment with any vegetables you have in your fridge. Some ideas:

1. Pineapple, cut in small cubes
2. Cucumber, julienned
3. Red or yellow capsicum slices
4. Mushrooms sautéed
5. Paneer, cut in small cubes
6. Red cabbage sliced finely

These crepes are generally served with nước chấm which is a sweet and sour almost watery sauce made with lime juice, sugar and fish sauce. My adaptation includes soy sauce to replace the fish sauce and few other ingredients thrown together to make a vegetarian dipping sauce.

There are couple of ways you can eat them. Stuff it and have it like a stuffed crepe or wrap it in a lettuce wrap or even roll it in the rice paper. It tastes delicious any which way you prefer to go. Didn’t I say these crepes are super versatile? 🙂

You may like some of these other recipes too.

1. Fried rice pad thai style
2. Egyptian pita bread with taameya 
3. Tahini ice-cream with black sesame halva
4. Masala penne with healthy cheese sauce
5. Nepalese vegetable momos