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We have fallen in love with these vegan banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes), I can’t even explain to you how delicious they are. Crispy, coconut-y rice flour pancakes stuffed with deliciously crunchy raw veggies and fresh herbs served along with the typical sweet, sour, spicy, salty dipping sauce. It’s giving me all the feels and making me salivate just thinking about it.
It might look like there’s a lot of things going on in this recipes, but don’t worry, it’s not at all as complicated as it seems. If you can mix together flour and water and chop some vegetables, you can make these crepes.
For the crepes you need just five ingredients: rice flour, coconut milk, water (does that count as an ingredient?), turmeric and salt. That’s right – no egg, almost fooled you, didn’t I? You can also throw in some chopped green onion tops if you choose to.
Fry them like a crepe (duh, that’s why they’re called crepes) and dip them in the sauce. If you want you can stop here. These Vietnamese crepes alone and unstuffed are so delicious with their sweet hint of coconut and crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside texture.
We were eating them so fast out of the pan that I’m surprised I had any left to stuff and take pictures of!
Alone they make a great snack but if you want to take it a step further and make it a full meal, then go ahead and stuff away.
The crepes make excellent vehicles for any combination of veggies and they were a great opportunity to use up some of the leftover asparagus and pepper I had from my spring vegetable paella and fresh garden radishes from my radish risotto.
Truth be told I probably overstuffed mine – a real banh xeo wouldn’t have so much spilling out of it (and they were a little messy to eat!) – but just look at all the pretty colours!
There are a couple of different ways you could eat these vegan banh xeo. Just as they are with a fork and knife (in which case you might not want to stuff them as much as I did or you’ll have bits of things falling all over), cut into pieces and wrapped in a lettuce leaf (as my lovely hand model demonstrates), or rolled in rice paper as suggested in The Asian Vegan Kitchen (where I first discovered a basic version of this recipe).
Any way you choose to stuff and eat them will be delicious so I won’t hold you back any longer from this delicious recipe! Crispy, coconut-y rice flour pancakes stuffed with deliciously crunchy raw veggies and fresh herbs served along with the typical sweet, sour, spicy, salty dipping sauce. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Vegan Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Crepes)
Ingredients
For the crepes
For the filling
For the dipping sauce
Instructions
Recommended Products
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12
Serving Size: 1 crepe
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 201Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 859mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 3gSugar: 12gProtein: 7g
Natasha says
I want to try this recipe but I am confused about the crepe itself. From the image on your site it looks like the crepe is more open (like a pita pocket). But from the directions ("folding crepe in pan over sprouts") it would seem more like a closed crepe. Can you clear this up for me? thanks.
Melissa says
For the photos I let the filling stick out a bit so that it could be seen better. It's up to you if you want to put less filling and cover it completely when folding the crepe over or if you want to let a bit of the filling stick out. Hope that clears it up!
Jamie says
It always amazes me how different all of the recipes and banh xeo in restaurants are Soo different from the actual vietnamese ones.
Generally in vietnam, the banh xeo pancake is more like an omelette with the various fillings actually cooked into the batter. You then wrap the banh xeo pancake inside rice paper with the salad and even sometimes if you're at the right place they might even have those lemongrass pork kofte things which I forget the name off too