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Category Archives: Street food

Bánh xèo – Vietnamese crepes

28 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by Zoli in breakfast, crepes, gluten free, healthy, peanut free, salad, Sauces, Street food, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

banh xeo, crepes, vegan recipes, vietnamese crepes, Vietnamese food

banh xeo with mushrooms

banh xeo with mushrooms

with tofu

with tofu

banh-xeo-2

banh-xeo-4

banh-xeo-5

Why yes, now that you ask, I AM obsessed with vietnamese food. Especially these babies. I probably make bánh xèo at least once a week. Crispy pancakes that taste of creamy coconut and turmeric, wrapped up with fresh herbs and vegetables and dipped in a savory spicy sauce. YUM!

Traditionally, these are made with shrimp and pork, which I do not eat. I use tofu, mushrooms or sliced vegetable sausage instead. Other important things that you should not forgo are mint, cucumber, and bean sprouts. But the other fillings are flexible.

Ingredients
Makes about five crepes/bánh xèo
1 cup Bánh xèo flour (or rice flour mixed with a tsp of corn starch) from asian market
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
pinch of salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (or more if batter is too thick. the batter should be thin like crepe batter) or coconut cream but this is thicker than coconut milk so add a little water
a splash of light beer or lager (really helps with the crispiness)
a light vegetable oil
1/2 white onion, sliced finely
mushrooms, vegetable sausage or tofu, sliced

For the filling:
bean sprouts
sliced cucumber
fresh herbs like mint, basil, cilantro
sliced carrot (optional)
large lettuce leaves like romaine, green leaf or mustard greens to wrap up everything, (optional)

For the vegetarian sauce (traditionally fish sauce, not soy sauce is used):
3 tbs soy sauce (or vegetarian fish sauce)
1 tbs lime juice
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced onion, carrot and cilantro
slivers of fresh chili for spiciness
1 clove minced garlic
1 tbs of water (if needed)

To make:

1) Prepare all the vegetables and the dipping sauce first. Then you can fry each crepe and eat it hot as it comes out of the frying pan.
2) Make the batter by whisking the banh xeo flour with turmeric, pinch of salt, coconut milk and splash of beer–about 1/4 cup–until smooth.
3) Heat up a good dollop of oil in a small to medium non-stick frying pan. Banh xeo is named after the sizzling sound the batter makes when it hits the frying pan so you want enough oil to hear it sizzle!
4) Add a few pieces of thin sliced onion and a few of the mushroom or tofu slices. Fry on medium-high heat until starting to cook, then ladle in the batter. How much will depend on the size of your frying pan/crepe. I use a small ceramic frying pan to make fairly small crepes. The trick is the same as normal crepes–ladle in the batter, and then swirl around so that the batter coats the pan evenly. You may need to practice this a few times to get it right.
5) Cover the crepe with a lid to cook the top of it. Keep the heat on medium high to crisp up the edges of the crepe and make the bottom nice and golden brown.
6) When done cooking –only a minute or two–fill half with fresh bean sprouts and then fold over. One crepe is done! Now add more oil and cook the next.
7) To eat: either stuff the crepes with cucumber and herbs and eat with knife and fork (and the dipping sauce!). Or cut in half and use a large lettuce leaf as a wrapper to eat the crepe halves with the fresh herbs and dipping sauce.

Here is one youtube video about cooking and eating banh xeo.
And here is another youtube video to help.
I recommend watching both to get a good idea of this recipe.

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Vegetable tempura tacos with chimichurri

21 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by Zoli in Mexican, peanut free, Sauces, Street food, tacos, tex mex, vegan, Vegetarian

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

chimichurri, tacos, vegan, vegantacos, vegetable tempura, vegetarian mains

chimichurri sauce

close up tempura with herbs and lime in background

tempura tacos-4

tempura tacos-3

Poor Hubby has had to endure several insanely delicious taco-eating sessions this week while I pursue experimental taco enlightenment.

“Which one’s the best?” I pestered him. “The tofu banh mi ones? The white bean tacos or these ones?”

“I don’t know,” he said, inhaling the last bite of yummy tempura taco. “Make them all again so I can do the pepsi challenge.”

I was a little worried about these at first, I have to admit. Would there be enough flavor with only two (albeit, quite special) components to stuff the tortillas? Would chimichurri sauce be too strong? I encourage you to make these tacos for yourself and see how yummy vegan tempura in a taco can be.

(Vegan) Tempura vegetables
makes enough for about 6-8 tacos
Various vegetables of your choice, washed and chopped into large pieces, such as: broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, sweet potato, mushrooms, snap peas, cauliflower, carrots, etc.
1/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup seltzer or club soda
oil for deep frying

Chimichurri sauce for tacos
Makes just over a cup of sauce
Juice of one lime (or 1 1/2 limes)
1/2 – 1 whole jalapeno chili, with some seeds for spice, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot or 1/4 red onion, minced
large handful of fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped
small handful of fresh parsley, chopped
sprig of fresh oregano (about a tbs), chopped
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
good grinding of sea salt (to taste)

1) Make the chimichurri sauce first, since it will need a bit of time to relax and mellow. Mix all the ingredients together and taste to see if you need to adjust seasoning. It may seem all super garlicky and limey at first but after 10 or 20 minutes, the flavors will mellow and combine nicely. Yes, it is a strong sauce–I had garlic breath–but this is excellent for keeping away vampires.

Making the batter. Since this is vegan and has rice flour, these tempura crisped up but didn’t really brown much. Also, the batter doesn’t stick like glue to the veggies but it sticks enough. And it’s good. I ate half the first batch while I was deep-frying the next batch.

2) Mix the flours together with the salt. Then add the club soda or seltzer and whisk till no lumps. There. You did it.

3) Heat up oil for deep frying in a heavy-bottomed, deep pot. It is hot enough when you drop a bit of batter in and it immediately sizzles and floats up. Around medium should be good. Medium high may be too hot. (I used a medium-sized pot and did a small batch of veggies at a time, using about half a bottle of vegetable oil.)

4) Mix the chopped vegetables thoroughly in the tempura batter till completely coated. Set a large tray down with paper towel or clean cloth (better for the environment!) to soak up the grease. Then carefully drop each battered vegetable into the oil, taking care not to splatter yourself. Use a utensil to make sure the veggies don’t drop to the bottom of the pot and stick there (I found that carrots tended to stick).

5) Fry for 2 or 3 minutes, turning to cook all sides. It doesn’t take long to cook the batter and you don’t want to over cook the vegetables. They need a nice bite to them. Carefully lift them out of the oil and drain. Repeat until you have cooked all the tempura.

6) Serve the tacos. These do not have to be served hot, so no rush. Warm up the tortillas (I prefer corn tortillas), fill with the tempura and top with the chimichurri sauce. Delicious.

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