sizzling saigon crepes

I made this sizzling saigon crepes several times already. I used to buy pre-made vietnamese crepe flour in a bag from Asian markets to make the Saigon crepes. I think that it just contains rice flour, salt, turmeric , and maybe baking powder, not very healthy. I found that it is not filling eating this type of crepe because it is all white flour.

This recipe from this cookbook with the mung bean added to it solved that problem. The crepe is still crispy. It is healthy and sticks more your ribs i.e. more filling. There are many ways to make Vietnamese crepe but this one from World Vegan Feast is my no.1 choice and it is my favorite:

http://spiceislandvegan.blogspot.com/2012/02/vegan-banh-xeo-vietnamese-crepe-lettuce.html

My tip is to cover the pan when cooking crepe and wait for at least 5 minutes to make sure the bottom is crispy and the top is cooked. I use a non-stick pan on a medium heat.

The filling can be cooked in the crepe or separately to be filled later on.

This review is for the crepes only, not the sauce or filling.

(I used leftover Vietnamese "Fisherman's Soup" without broth, because the broth had all been eaten, for the filling)

These crepes are made of soaked moong dal, brown rice flour, and lite coconut milk. The batter is made in a blender after the moong dal soaks for 30 minutes. They had a great texture - crispy, with a light bite imparted by the brown rice flour - and the taste was rich and buttery without any butter. Note: This is not a flexible, stretchy crepe recipe. These do not roll up well, but they were great folded in half, stuffed with filling, and eaten with a fork and knife.

I used a non-stick crepe pan, and I found that the crepes got crispy without the added cooking oil directed. There was no trouble with sticking. The batter is spread into the crepe pan and the pan is covered to lightly steam the crepes while they cook with heat from the burner. Do watch the timing -- I have an electric stove, and once my pan was well heated, I found the 5 minutes directed to be a bit too much. My crepe did not burn, but it was darker than I prefer. 3 minutes worked better.