WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS Named for the sound these crêpes make when the batter hits a hot wok, sizzling Saigon crêpes are best described as paperthin Vietnamese pancakes. These crispy, yellow, rice-flour crêpes are wrapped with lettuce and fresh herbs and dipped into a sweet-tart dipping sauce. Though pork and shrimp are often used for the stuffing, we created this lighter vegetable-based version with a simple filling of bean sprouts, shredded carrots, and sliced onions. The batter for the crêpes is simple: just water, rice flour, and coconut milk. To give them a subtle savory flavor, we added scallions and turmeric. To make the flipping and folding of these delicate crêpes easier, we cooked them in a 10-inch nonstick skillet instead of a traditional wok. For the dipping sauce, we combined fish sauce with lime juice, sugar, minced fresh chiles, and garlic. You can find rice flour in the baking aisle of most well-stocked supermarkets; you cannot substitute regular flour or cornstarch for the rice flour. If you can’t find Thai basil, you can substitute regular basil. To allow for trial and error (just in case), the recipe yields nine crêpes.
Serves 8 (makes 9 crêpes)
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- ⅓ cup fish sauce
- ¼ cup warm water
- 3 tablespoons lime juice (2 limes)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 Thai, serrano, or jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 heads red or green leaf lettuce, leaves separated
- 1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 2¾ cups water
- 1¾ cups rice flour
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 4 scallions, sliced thin
- Salt
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
- 1 pound carrots, peeled and shredded
- 6 ounces (3 cups) bean sprouts
INSTRUCTIONS
- FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE AND GARNISH:
- Whisk fish sauce, warm water, lime juice, sugar, chiles, and garlic in bowl until sugar dissolves.
- Divide dipping sauce among 8 small dipping bowls.
- Arrange lettuce, basil, and cilantro on serving platter.
- FOR THE CREPES:
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet.
- Whisk water, flour, coconut milk, scallions, 1 teaspoon salt, and turmeric in bowl until combined.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
- Add onion and ½ teaspoon salt and cook until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to bowl.
- Add carrots to skillet and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer to bowl with onions and let cool slightly.
- Stir in bean sprouts and set vegetable mixture aside.
- Wipe out skillet with paper towels.
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.
- Whisk batter to recombine, then pour ½ cup batter into skillet while swirling pan gently to distribute it evenly over pan bottom.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook crêpe until edges pull away from sides and are deep golden, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Gently slide spatula underneath edge of crêpe, grasp edge with your fingertips, and flip crêpe.
- Cook until spotty brown on second side, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Slide crêpe out of skillet and onto prepared wire rack and transfer to oven to keep warm.
- Repeat with remaining oil and remaining batter.
- Divide vegetable mixture evenly among crêpes and fold crêpes in half.
- Serve crêpes with dipping sauce, passing garnish platter separately. (To eat, slice off wedge of crêpe, nestle basil and cilantro in lettuce leaf, wrap wedge in lettuce, and dip into sauce.)
