Creating Flavorful Banh Xeo Across North, Central, and South – Mytour

Banh Xeo is a beloved dish enjoyed by many, spanning from North to South. It's easy to make, with each region having its own unique twist to suit local tastes. In this article, Mytour guides you through making Banh Xeo from the North, Central, and South that are super tasty and incredibly simple. 

1. Northern Style Banh Xeo Recipe

Prepare Ingredients

• Rice flour: 200g
• Filtered water: 250ml
• Minced pork: 200g
• Fresh shrimp: 200g
• Beer: 100ml 
• Mung bean sprouts, scallions, onions, shiitake mushrooms, ginger
• Special seasoning
• Lettuce, pineapple, herbs, cucumbers... for serving

Prepare Ingredients

Marinate pork with a bit of seasoning, fish sauce, and ground pepper to taste for 10 – 15 minutes. Similarly, clean shrimp, marinate with fish sauce, a bit of ginger to remove fishy odor.

Wash and drain all vegetables. Chop onions, shiitake mushrooms. You can prepare dipping sauce before making banh xeo to save time. Northern people usually have a simple dipping sauce, typically diluted fish sauce with sugar, seasoning powder, a hint of lime, papaya, pickled carrots, fresh chili.

Mixing the flour is a crucial step, ensuring the right consistency so it's neither too runny nor too thick. People from the North often add a bit of beer to make the crust crispier. Following the ratio above, for every 200g of rice flour, use 250ml of filtered water, 100ml of beer (you can also add turmeric powder for a richer color). Then add some seasoning for flavor, a bit of chopped onions, mix well, and you have your batter for frying banh xeo.

Northern Style Banh Xeo Cooking Process

Step 1: Stir-fry the meat and shrimp first until firm to avoid the filling being undercooked while the crust is already burnt. The meat and shrimp should be both firm and cooked, while onions and shiitake mushrooms can be used without being stir-fried.

Step 2: Heat a bit of cooking oil in a non-stick pan, ladle some banh xeo batter and spread evenly. Keep the heat low, once the batter starts to cook, add shrimp, meat. After about 30s, add onions, mung bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms inside, fold the banh xeo in half, flip to cook both sides evenly. The cooking time for banh xeo is about 2 minutes, so keep an eye on it to prevent burning!

Step 3: Enjoy the results and keep going until you've used up all the ingredients. You can also prepare some pickled vegetables to eat with to avoid feeling too full!

See also: Secrets to making fragrant and soft Hanoi-style com cake

2. Central Style Banh Xeo Recipe

Prepare Ingredients

• Rice flour: 200g
• Filtered water: 200ml
• Beef: 200g
• Coconut milk: 50ml
• Fresh shrimp or large prawns, even better with squid: 200g (inland regions prefer large prawns for a sweeter taste)
• Turmeric powder: 1 tablespoon
• Mung bean sprouts, onions, scallions
• Special seasoning
• Lettuce, pineapple, herbs, cucumbers... for serving

Prepare Ingredients

You can prepare the ingredients similarly to the method above because these steps are quite similar. However, the difference lies in the dipping sauce. Here's the recipe for the authentic Central-style dipping sauce!

First, finely chop 2-3 cloves of garlic and 2 fresh chili peppers, both green and red for color variation. Then add 2 tablespoons of sugar, ½ tablespoon of seasoning powder, and 3 tablespoons of fish sauce to a bowl. Add about ½ tablespoon of boiling water to help the sugar and seasoning powder dissolve quickly. After mixing well, squeeze in half a lime. Stir well, and it's ready to serve. Central Vietnam pays great attention to making dipping sauce. The deliciousness of banh xeo depends on how you prepare this sauce.

Pouring the Banh Xeo

Step 1: Mix 200g of flour with 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder, 200ml of filtered water, 50ml of coconut milk, and a pinch of salt until smooth. Adjust the ratio to ensure the batter is not lumpy because rice flour tends to be very dense. Then add some cooking oil and finely chopped scallions into the batter. 

Step 2: Pour a little cooking oil into the pan, add shrimp, squid, or beef and stir-fry. When the filling is cooked, pour the batter into the pan to cover the entire surface evenly. Note that the batter should be poured evenly, as thick batter leads to less delicious banh xeo. Cover and cook over low heat for about 30 seconds, then add bean sprouts, shallots... into the center. Fold the banh xeo, cover, and cook for another minute. Flip the banh xeo and fry for another minute until done. 

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3. Making Banh Xeo from Western and Southern Regions

Preparing Ingredients 

• Rice flour: 200g
• Vegetable oil: 1 tablespoon
• Freshwater prawns: 300g
• Pork belly: 300g
• Coconut milk: 50ml
• Straw mushrooms: 300g
• 2 onions, scallions
• Special seasoning
• Green vegetables for serving

Preparing Ingredients

The method of making is similar to the above two regions, but Banh Xeo from the Southern region has some distinct characteristics that you need to pay attention to:

• The pancakes are large and the crust is extremely thin, crispy, and slightly sweet, so be sure to choose a large pan. Because the pancakes are large, there is also more filling, so consider choosing a reasonable portion size.
• The dipping sauce also tends to be sweet and spicy, so when preparing, just pay attention to adding sugar and chili.

Making Banh Xeo from the Southern Region

Step 1: Dissolve rice flour with water, coconut milk, add vegetable oil to create color in the prepared ratio. Stir until the flour is no longer lumpy and let it sit for 15 - 20 minutes for the flour to evenly rise, then sprinkle in chopped scallions and cooking oil.

Step 2: Add some cooking oil to the pan, then add shrimp and meat to fry, when the meat starts to firm up, pour the pancake batter over it, spread it evenly. Keep the heat low and fry for about 30 seconds, then add ingredients like mushrooms, bean sprouts, and onions. Cover and cook for about 1 minute, then start folding the pancakes, wait another 1 minute to flip the pancakes to evenly brown both sides. That's how you get crispy golden pancakes from the Southern region.

Above are the ways to make banh xeo from various regions that this article wants to share with you. Wish you success and have enjoyable meals with your family and friends. Also, don't forget to visit Mytour Blog for more useful culinary information!

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