Category Archives: Vietnamese

Vegetarian/Vegan Bánh Bèo – Savory steamed rice cakes

17 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in dahl, gluten free, party bites, rice noodles, Sauces, snacks, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

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banh beo

I thought I’d try my hand at some Bánh Bèo since I picked up a bag of the flour mix recently. By accident–I thought I had grabbed banh xeo flour. These are a mini steamed rice cake. They are soft and light, made of rice and tapioca flour, and a bit of potato starch.

I love Vietnamese food, but I’m a self-taught (youtube-taught) American vegetarian who is probably brutalizing these wonderful traditional Vietnamese dishes in my quest for maximum flavor vegetarian food. But I’m learning a lot, and this is what I want to eat.

Bánh Bèo are traditionally filled with mung bean paste and dried shrimp, and of course served with fish sauce. Here’s youtube video of a more traditional method. And this blog here: Runaway Rice. Mung daal/dried mung beans are great to have knocking about your pantry. They are an important ingredient in Indian food (yummy daal, sambar, and idli), as well as Vietnamese food. I used mung bean, chopped egg, and fried garlic as our toppings this morning, whipped up an easy vegan ‘fish sauce’. By all means, if you are vegan, leave out the egg and replace with crumbled tempeh, mushroom (or whatever you fancy).

As you can see, I now have another use for my idli steamer!

Recipe below:

Ingredients
For approximately 36 steamed mini rice cakes
1 bag Bánh Bèo flour
4 cups warm water
1/2 tsp salt
Steamer (mini muffin tins or small little bowls placed in a stove-top steamer will work)

For fillings/toppings
1 cup dried mung beans/mung daal/dried split yellow lentils
2 cups water
salt and white pepper
olive oil
6 green onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
Other toppings such as chopped tempeh, mushrooms, or egg, pickled carrot or daikon

Quick sauce
1/2 cup light soy sauce (light in color, not light in sodium!)
1/4 cup water (or 1/8 water, 1/8 pineapple juice)
1 tsp agave syrup
1/2 tsp sliced chili and green onion

1) Mix the bag of Bánh Bèo flour with water and salt and place in fridge to rest for a bit. (some recipes say let the batter rest for two hours, but I let mine rest for about ten minutes and was fine.)
2) Cook the mung daal with water till it is a mushy paste. Not soupy. If you have an instantpot, this takes about ten minutes. On the stove, about 20. Add in a bit of salt and white pepper.
3) Make the sauce by mixing those ingredients together. Adjust proportions to your own taste. Should be a nice mix of salty sweet. I like chili but it’s not necessary if you don’t want the heat.
4) Heat up 3 tbs olive oil and gently fry garlic on LOW heat till just golden brown. Turn off heat and toss in the green onion while the oil is still warm. Set aside.
5) Fry mushrooms, egg, or other toppings in oil w salt and pepper. Set aside.
6) Now that your toppings are all ready, time to steam the rice cakes! Bring steamer to boil, then turn down to medium.
6) Brush idli trays, muffin tin, or little bowls with oil. The batter would have separated so whisk it back together. Do this every time you use it. Put 1 tbs of the batter in each holder, then place trays in the steamer and cover with lid.
7) Cook 4 minutes for 1 tbs-sized portion of batter.
8) After 4 minutes, remove trays. Wait a minute for them to cool down, and with oiled spoon or spatula, gently remove and place on tray or plate.
9) You can now steam more, assembly-line style. The batter will make dozens, and one serving size is about 6 per plate. Or fill a large platter and serve party style.
10) Place a bit of the mung bean paste in the center of each cake. Then sprinkle the rest of the toppings over all the cakes. The garlic/green onion oil will help these stay moist if you are not eating right away. The dipping sauce can be served on the side as well, or poured over the top.

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Bánh xèo – Vietnamese crepes

28 Friday Oct 2016

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

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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.