The pan makes the sound: Vietnam's golden crepe
You pour yellow rice-flour batter into a frying pan with a thin film of oil. At once it hisses against the pan, and only the edge dries first and starts to curl like thin paper. If you panic here and cook it thick, you get an ordinary soft crepe. If instead you wait until it makes that sound and spread the batter in one go, the edge lifts lightly and becomes a bánh xèo that cracks crisply when wrapped in lettuce.
Bánh xèo is a thin Vietnamese griddle dish made from rice flour and turmeric. The xèo in the name is explained as coming from the sound of batter hitting hot oil. It is folded into a half-moon around shrimp, pork and bean sprouts, then at the table wrapped in lettuce and herbs and dipped in nước chấm, a fish-sauce-based dip.
The hard part in a home kitchen is not the ingredients but the cooking. Rice-flour batter can't rely on the gluten of wheat, so poured thick it is heavy, and with too little oil it sticks. This article cooks one at a time in a pan of about 26 cm, using batter with coconut milk in the manner of the southern style. Three rules: don't overfill, spread the batter within 30 seconds, and finish by cooking the edge dry. Keep to them and even a home stove produces a very satisfying crack.
Among Vietnamese dishes, phở gà is about the aroma of a clear broth, bánh mì about assembling bread and filling, and bún chả about charcoal-grilled pork and rice noodles. Bánh xèo adds the pleasure of "breaking it fresh and wrapping it." The cook bakes in the kitchen and the diners wrap at the table, a slightly busy dish.
Bánh is the Vietnamese word broadly for dough-based foods made of flour or rice, and xèo is explained as the sound of cooking. In English it is sometimes translated as Vietnamese sizzling crepe or Vietnamese pancake, but it is not a wheat-flour pancake; it is a dish of rice flour baked thin and eaten with herbs.
At the local table: a southern dish eaten by sound, oil and herbs
Bánh xèo is not a dish fixed in a single form locally. In the south it is often a large thin crepe 25–30 cm across with a hint of sweet coconut milk, and the table is set with plenty of lettuce, mustard greens, mint and a fish-sauce dip. Around Huế in the center, a smaller and thicker version may appear, sometimes spoken of in the same breath as bánh khọt, the small round rice-flour griddle cakes.
Trying to reproduce all of these regional differences outside Vietnam would take a special flour, local leafy greens and even small iron molds. What to keep first at home is the thin rice-flour batter, the umami of shrimp and pork, the moisture of the bean sprouts and the way of wrapping in herbs. Because the nước chấm is sweet and sour, don't make the crepe itself strongly flavored. Keep the salt in the batter low and give the outline with the fish-sauce dip at the end, and the flavor won't scatter when you wrap leafy greens.
Street stalls use big griddles or special flat pans, but at home a nonstick frying pan of about 26 cm is easy to handle. It is not that you can't make it in an iron pan. But rice flour suddenly sticks the moment the oil film breaks, so getting the feel of spreading thin first, rather than taking on iron from the start, makes reproduction more reliable. Once you're used to it, it is also fun to move toward baking small ones like bánh khọt.
Ingredients: serves 4, 6–7 pieces in a 26 cm frying pan
This uses shrimp, pork and fish sauce. If you avoid shrimp, cut 120 g of chicken thigh into strips and cook it over medium heat for 3 minutes or more until cooked through. If you can't use fish sauce, combine 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp rice vinegar and 2 tsp sugar, and treat it as a separate sauce.
For bánh xèo, use non-glutinous rice flour. Glutinous rice flour is derived from sticky rice, so it becomes gummy when cooked and doesn't crack crisply. When buying, choose rice flour or joshinko whose ingredients list non-glutinous rice. If you use a special mix, check whether the bag already contains turmeric or coconut flour, and start with a little less salt and water than this recipe.
Shopping: look at flour and fish sauce more than ordinary meat and vegetables
Shrimp, pork, bean sprouts and lettuce are fine from a nearby supermarket. What is worth seeking out are the ingredients that decide the aroma of the dish, such as coconut milk, turmeric and fish sauce. Fish sauce especially varies widely in saltiness and aroma, which changes the impression of the nước chấm.
Coconut milk creates the southern-style sweet aroma and the lightness of the edge. The fat can separate in the can, so shake it well before opening, and if it is set, stir it in a bowl before measuring.
Turmeric is mainly for color. Substituting curry powder pushes the cumin and coriander aroma forward and moves away from the lightness of bánh xèo. If you buy a small jar, you can reuse it next time for coloring in dal bhat or japchae.
Nước chấm gets its flavor from the saltiness of fish sauce. If you don't have fish sauce at home, buying a small amount lets you also use it in chả giò and bún chả.
Method: keep the batter thin and don't overfill
Bánh xèo looks like a dish you eat as you cook, but in the kitchen, organization matters. First put 200 g rice flour, 1 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl, and mix in 200 ml coconut milk and 230 ml cold water in 3 portions. The guide is a thickness that, when you lift the whisk, flows in a thin stream and leaves a mark for about 2 seconds before vanishing. Add the scallions and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Meanwhile pat the shrimp dry, cut the pork belly into 4 cm lengths, and wash and thoroughly dry the bean sprouts and herbs. With that done, once you start cooking, concentrate on one at a time.
How to fix it when it sticks, goes limp or gets oily
The most common failure the first time is that the batter makes no sound when it goes into the pan and sticks to the bottom. This is usually insufficient preheating rather than insufficient oil. Rice-flour batter holds together less by stickiness than wheat batter, and on a cold pan surface it turns pasty before it spreads thin. Treat the first piece as a test and watch the sound, the spread and how the edge dries.
| Failure | Likely cause | What to change in the next piece |
|---|---|---|
| Sticks to the bottom | Pan is lukewarm, oil film has broken | Extend preheating by 30 seconds and spread 1 tsp oil thinly |
| Batter is thick and heavy | Too much per ladle, batter too thick | Keep to 80 ml or less per piece and add 1 tbsp water |
| Goes limp | Bean sprouts too wet, cooked through too briefly | Remove the lid and cook 30 seconds longer over medium heat |
| Bitter yellow color | Too much turmeric, oil scorched | Use 2/3 tsp turmeric and wipe the pan bottom before the next |
| Oily | Absorbed oil at low temperature, steamed when stacked | Cook at a temperature that sizzles and stand pieces on the plate without stacking |
If you want to make it in an iron pan, the first few pieces are difficult even after seasoning it well. At home, it is fine to use nonstick and put making a good result first. It also lets you concentrate on judgments such as not adding too much oil, spreading thin and not overfilling.
How to eat and store: the wrapping vegetables are part of the dish
Bánh xèo is not yet finished when it is on the plate. Break the fresh crepe into bite-size pieces, place on lettuce or sangchu, top with perilla, mint and cilantro, and roll. Instead of sinking everything in the nước chấm, dip only one side lightly, so some of the rice-flour edge stays crisp. More herbs make the oil feel lighter, so rather than holding back and adding just a few, prepare plenty of leafy greens and you won't tire of it.
For make-ahead, only the batter can be done the day before. Batter left overnight in the refrigerator settles, so stir well from the bottom just before cooking. Cooked bánh xèo is not well suited to storage. If you do have leftovers, cool them without covering, put them in a shallow container, refrigerate, and eat by the next day. To reheat, brush a frying pan thinly with oil and heat over medium for 90 seconds per side. Microwaving alone softens the crepe with the sprouts' moisture.
Differences between the southern style, the Huế style and bánh khọt
Southern-style bánh xèo is characterized by a large, thin crepe, the aroma of coconut milk and plenty of herbs. The large sizes you see at shops around Ho Chi Minh City can be even bigger than a 26 cm home frying pan. Forcing it larger outside Vietnam makes it hard to flip and leaves the center damp, so at home put thinness first, even if it is a little smaller.
The smaller style around Huế has a slightly different texture even under the same name of bánh xèo. It is thicker, with a stronger satisfaction per bite, and the filling may center on small shrimp. If you try it in a small pan after learning the southern style, reduce the batter to about 40 ml and shorten the steaming to about 1 minute.
Bánh khọt is a small round rice-flour cake known around Vũng Tàu in the south. A takoyaki pan can give you the mood, but the amount of oil and the way heat reaches it change. The filling is more visible on top than in bánh xèo, the outside is toasty and the inside stays slightly thicker. Once you've got the feel for the moisture and oil of rice-flour batter with bánh xèo, it is easier to move on to bánh khọt.
Frequently asked questions
Is it harder to tear if I add wheat flour?
It tears less easily, but the texture changes. If you put the light, cracking quality of bánh xèo first, make it with rice flour alone. If you really find it hard to handle the first time, replace just 20 g of the 200 g rice flour with all-purpose flour, then go back to rice flour from the next time and compare.
Are nước mắm and fish sauce the same?
Both are fish sauce, but saltiness and aroma differ by product. Vietnamese nước mắm is easy to use if you have it, but Thai fish sauce is easier to find. Start by making the dip with 2 1/2 tbsp, taste, and add more, and it is less likely to turn out salty.
Can I make it without shrimp?
Yes. Cut 120 g of chicken thigh into strips and cook it over medium heat for about 3 minutes in step 3 before pouring in the batter. If making it with mushrooms only, since they release water, fry shimeji or king oyster mushrooms over medium heat for 2 minutes first and drive off the excess moisture before use.
Can I make the batter the day before?
Yes. Batter left in the refrigerator overnight can actually settle and be easier to spread. However, left long with scallions in it the aroma gets strong, so if making it the day before, stir the scallions in just before cooking.
Is lettuce alone enough for wrapping?
You can eat it with lettuce alone, but herbs do a good part of the work of lightening the oil of bánh xèo. Try to have two of perilla, mint and cilantro. If you don't like cilantro, put together perilla, mint, thin scallions and cucumber.
If you want to go from rice flour baked in a pan to rice flour steamed into thin sheets, bánh cuốn is the next dish. In both, the thickness and moisture of the rice-flour batter decide the texture, but how you read the pan differs between a dish that builds browning and a dish that makes translucent sheets with steam.
Related recipes
- Bánh mì - a street-food staple combining baguette with Vietnamese fillings
- Bánh khọt - small round rice-flour cakes, also eaten with herbs and a fish-sauce dip
- Chả giò - fried spring rolls wrapped in leafy greens, close in how they are eaten
- Bún chả - a rice noodle dish that makes use of a nước chấm-style dip and herbs
- Pad Thai - a Thai staple that brings rice noodles together with fish sauce and sourness
Sources
- TasteAtlas. "Bánh xèo." https://www.tasteatlas.com/banh-xeo - checked for the dish name, regional differences and common fillings
- Epicurious. "Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Crepes)." https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ba-syn-banh-xeo-vietnamese-crepes - checked for rice-flour batter, wrapping in herbs and home cooking
- Serious Eats. "Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Sizzling Crepes)." https://www.seriouseats.com/banh-xeo-vietnamese-crepes - checked for how to spread the batter thin and cooking in a frying pan
- Wikipedia. "Bánh xèo." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_x%C3%A8o - supplementary check for spelling, etymology and related dish names
