Thursday, March 26, 2015

Banh Khot/Vietnamese Mini Savory Pancakes


I am so sorry for not updating my blog for over 2 weeks. I have been very busy and also having some problem with my car too. It was stolen from my driveway and it totally stresses me out. Thank God the police found it and it was in pretty good shape. Now I have to deal with the insurance, the DMV and whole loads of paperwork to be done before I can drive the car again. Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with all the details.
Now let’s talk about Banh Khot. Banh Khot is a mini sized rice cake that is fried and served with fresh lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce. I’ve eaten Banh Khot from a Vietnamese restaurant in PA and really like it. What I love about this snack is the crispy texture on the outside and soft and tender in the middle. To eat it you take a piece of the banh khot, place it in a bed of lettuce and herbs, a bit of the pickle carrot, wrapped it up and eat it. It is crispy, sour, sweet, salty and spicy at the same time. Really satisfying!!


I bought a Banh Khot/Ebelskiver pan from Amazon last year so I thought I try to make this at home. It turns out pretty well but not as crispy as the restaurant ones. I think it’s because I used too little oil to the pan when I was frying it. The last batch I added a bit more oil to it and it did turn out crispy. The Asian supermarket does sell the ready mix banh khot flour and you can use that. Since I am too lazy to drive out to buy it, I just goggle for the recipe. As for the dipping sauce I added some carrot to the dipping sauce as this way I don’t have to pickle the carrot separately. I serve mine with only lettuce since I don’t have any fresh herbs in my fridge but you can have it with any type of lettuce and fresh herbs.




Ingredients:
Adapted from: Van's Kitchen

½ cup + 2 tbsp (100 gram) rice flour
½ cup (100 gram) leftover cook rice
2 tbsp corn flour or cornstarch
½ cup coconut milk
1 cup cold club soda
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt and pepper taste

For the topping:

24 small shrimps – remove shell and deveined
3-4 green onion, chopped
2 red chilies – finely diced (optional)
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
Salt and pepper


Dipping Sauce:

4 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp white vinegar
3 – 4 tbsp sugar
3-4 tbsp water
1 small carrot – finely julienned
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 red chili – finely chopped

To Serve:

Some lettuce
Some Thai basil
Some fresh mint
Some cilantro


1. To make dipping sauce stir the sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved. Set over medium heat. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat and let it cool. Then add in the vinegar, fish sauce and mix well. Add in the carrot, garlic and chopped chili. Mix well and taste to see the seasoning. Set it aside. 2. Soak the shrimp in salted water for 5 minutes then wash and drain well. Add ground garlic, salt, pepper. Mix well. Set aside.
3. In a food processor or a blender, add cooked rice, coconut milk and ¼ cup of club soda. Process until the cooked rice is fine.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together rice flour, corn flour, turmeric powder, salt. Add in the blended mixture, mix well. Add the rest of the club soda and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cover and put in fridge for 15 minutes.
5. Heat up the pan over high heat. Grease the pan with oil. When it smokes, pour the batter into the pan halfway up. Top it with shrimp, chopped chili and some spring onion. 6. Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and loosen the pancake from bottom of pan with a fork. When the edge turns light brown and crispy, lift it up and place on serving dish.
7. Serve warm or at room temperature.



Note: You can make this with takoyaki pan too.

7 comments:

MaDiHaA a.k.a Ratna said...

it's looks so delicious gert... about the car.. thanks god.. the car was found safely..

Veronica said...

Wow, a tempting dish, with all the beautiful colours. Thanks for sharing.

t3ngt3ng said...

Is it possible to use leftover brown rice? TIA

PH said...

Thank God, your car was found! This happened to my brother many years ago. Anyway, this Banh Khot that you served is so colourful! I think if this was placed in front of me, I can finish the whole lot LOL!

Emma said...

Sorry to hear about your car :( Those mini pancakes look good though!!

Anonymous said...

That's so scary about the car, I'm glad it was found! I wonder if I could substitute a (cast iron) mini muffin pan instead of using the specialty pan? I probably will make this again, but I don't really have room for any specialty pans in my kitchen- not even for delicious things!

ICook4Fun said...

Ratna, God is good. I am so lucky that I found the car.

Veronica, you are welcome.

t3ng, shouldn't be a problem.

Phong Hong, I ate most of it. Carlos is not a fan :)

Emma, thank you.

Thegreatzambini, ya it was scary. I felt so violated. Yes I am sure you can try it out with muffin pan.