Vietnamese crispy pancakes (bánh xèo) with mushrooms
Sizzling, lacy turmeric-coconut crêpes folded around mushrooms, tofu and crunchy bean sprouts, wrapped in lettuce and dunked in a sweet-sour lime sauce.
- 60 min total
- 45 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $5.62 a serving
- 880 calories
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 limes
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 serrano pepper, thinly sliced
- 7 oz extra-firm tofu, patted dry
- 8 oz white mushrooms, sliced
- ½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 1 head green leaf lettuce, leaves separated
- 8 sprigs fresh mint, leaves picked
- ½ cup cilantro, sprigs
From your pantry
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 880 calories, 30 g protein, 97 g carbs and 47 g fat, and costs about $5.62 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No extra-firm tofu? Firm tofu works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the flour, cornstarch, turmeric, ½ teaspoon salt, coconut milk and 1 cup water into a thin, smooth batter. Stir in the green onions and let it 10 minutes.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Rice flour is traditional. Flour and cornstarch make a crisp, lacy stand-in you can find anywhere.For the dipping sauce, stir the juice of both limes with the sugar, ⅓ cup water, garlic, serrano and soy sauce until the sugar dissolves.
Cut the tofu into thin strips.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch nonstick over medium-high heat and cook the tofu, mushrooms and onion with the rest of the salt until , 6 to 8 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Set aside.
Wipe the pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and heat until . Stir the batter, pour in ½ cup and swirl the pan right away so it coats the bottom thinly.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Dolly’s tip: You should hear a loud sizzle. That sound is where the name comes from, and it means the pan is hot enough.Scatter a quarter of the filling and ½ cup bean sprouts over one half. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Uncover and cook until the edges are and lacy and the bottom is deep , 3 to 4 minutes. Fold it in half and slide it onto a plate.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: Be patient here. Pull it too early and it’s soft instead of crackly.Make three more the same way, adding a little oil to the pan each time.
To eat, tear off a piece, wrap it in a lettuce leaf with mint and cilantro, and dunk it in the sauce.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
