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Prawn & pancetta pancakes

Prawn & pancetta bánh xèo (sizzling crispy pancakes)

“These sizzling pancakes, bursting with flavour and texture, are a southern Vietnamese-style street-food staple, but I’ve given them a European twist. Stuff the pancakes in a lettuce wrap with fresh herbs and dip them in a sweet-savoury nuoc cham dipping sauce.”

Recipe by Thuy Diem Pham, a Vietnamese-British chef and author. She is the chef-owner of Little Viet Kitchen in London’s Islington. Her second cookbook, Vietnamese Made Easy, is out later in 2023.

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Gluten free
  • Serves4
  • CourseMain meal
  • Prepare20 mins
  • Cook45 mins
  • Total time1 hr 5 mins

Ingredients

  • 77g diced pancetta
  • 200g No.1 Woodland Mushrooms, any larger ones halved
  • 120g pack extra fine green beans
  • 4 tsp vegetable oil, plus extra for brushing
  • 150g pack Waitrose Duchy Organic Cooked King Prawns

For the Nouc Cham Dipping Sauce

  • 25ml fish sauce
  • 25ml lime juice
  • 50ml sweet chilli sauce
  • 2 clove/s garlic, crushed
  • 1 small red chilli, finely chopped

For the batter

  • 100g rice flour
  • 50g cornflour
  • 200ml coconut milk
  • 200ml sparkling water
  • ½ tsp fine salt
  • ½ tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ x 20g chives, finely chopped

To serve

  • 1 Little Gem lettuce, leaves separated
  • ½ x 25g pack mint, leaves picked
  • ½ x 25g pack coriander, leaves picked
  • ½ x 20g pack Thai basil, leaves picked

Method

  1. Combine the dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl with 50ml water; set aside. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat. When very hot, dry fry the pancetta for 15 seconds, then set aside. Blanch the mushrooms and green beans in boiling water for 2 minutes; drain. Put all the batter ingredients, apart from the chives, into a large bowl. Use a balloon whisk to beat until smooth, then add the chives.

  2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large nonstick frying pan with a lid over a high heat. Pour in a ladleful of batter, swirling the pan to cover the base with a thin layer. Immediately reduce the heat to low.

  3. Scatter over a small handful (about ¼ each) mushrooms, beans, prawns and pancetta and cook for 3 minutes, covered. Uncover, then cook for a further 5 minutes, until golden and crispy. Use a brush to oil the rim of the pancake to help it crisp up. Fold the pancake over the filling, then transfer to a serving plate. Keep warm while you repeat with the remaining oil, batter and filling to make 4 large pancakes.

  4. To serve, tear of a piece of pancake, put it on a lettuce leaf and add a few of each of the fresh herbs. Roll up and dip into the nuoc cham sauce.

Cook’s tip

For a more authentic flavour, use 200ml coconut cream instead of coconut milk in the pancake batter.

Nutritional

Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe

Energy

1,805kJ/ 431kcals

Fat

21g

Saturated Fat

12g

Carbohydrates

43g

Sugars

10g

Fibre

3.3g

Protein

15g

Salt

3.1g

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