I love the sweet, sour, salty, and spicy flavor that are often common taste in Southeast Asia cooking. It’s like your taste buds are so busy to be pleased by all these amazing mixture of herbs and flavor. I enjoy eating sweets, but I have to admit I have more savory tooth than sweet tooth. For example this savory dried shrimp crepes. This is one of my favorites. I love it so much. The dried shrimp add the umami flavor and adding fresh herb like cilantro is just so refreshing. I adapted the crepes recipe from Edd Kimber’s Patisserie Made Easy.
The idea of adding dried shrimp into the crepes came from Home Baking cookbook by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I love these folks. The crepes are flavored with dried shrimp, coriander leaf/cilantro, and lime juice. When you bite into it, you feel like there are lots going on inside your mouth, in a good way. The dipping sauce is a must to make as well. So good with the crepes. It is so easy to make too and you won’t mess up the crepes I promise. I didn’t!
Savory dried shrimp crepes (15 crepes)
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 extra-large eggs
- 1 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 ounce unsalted butter melted
- Cooking oil to grease the pan
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 cup tiniest dried shrimp
- Peanut oil or vegetable oil for pan-frying
- 20 to 30 coriander leaves
Dipping sauce:
- 2 Tbsp Thai fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 1 bird or serano chili optional, minced
Instructions
- Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and stir to mix. In a pitcher, lightly beat the eggs, add in the coconut milk, and butter and stir to combine. Pour this over the flour mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. Let stand for at least 20 minutes, or as long as 2 hours. (If leaving more than 30 minutes, cover and refrigerate until 10 minutes before using)
- Just before starting to cook, stir the dried shrimp into the batter. The batter should be like crepe batter, smooth and pourable. If necessary, thin it with a little more coconut milk.
- Place a heavy 8-inch or 9-inch skillet over high heat. When it is hot, lower the heat to medium and rub a paper towel oiled with peanut or vegetable oil over the cooking surface
- Ladle about 3 Tbsp batter and drop a coriander leaf or two into it. Remove the skillet from the heat, pour the batter onto the center of the skillet, and spread it out with the back of your ladle or spatula or you can tilt the skillet to help it to spread. Place the skillet back on the heat and let cook for 1 minute, or until lightly browned on the first side, then turn the crepe over and cook for 35 to 40 seconds on the second side, or until dotted with light brown spots
- Turn out onto a plate and repeat with the remaining batter, wiping the skillet with an oiled paper towel between each one
- Serve hot or warm, on their own or with a plate of lettuce leaves and and the dipping sauce. Or you could put out a spicy Mexican-style salsa instead. Invite guests to tear off a piece of crepe, wrap it in a lettuce leaf, and drizzle it with sauce or salsa before eating
Notes
Preheat the waffle iron. Brush it with oil, then use a ladle to pour the batter onto the center of the iron: Use the same amount of batter as you would for a regular waffle. Before you close the waffle iron, the batter should just cover about half the surface because the batter will be pushed out to fill the whole iron. Cook until lightly browned on both sides. Turn out onto a plate and repeat with the remaining batter, brushing the iron lightly with oil between cooking You can sub coconut milk with water or cow’s milk if you prefer too
2 comments
Hi Marvellina,
These crepes look yummy! Can you clarify the amount of cilantro you used. Your photos look like waaay more then 2 or 3 cilantro leaves in each crepe. BTW, I love cilantro. 🙂
Thanks,
Gee
Hi Gee,
The original recipe calls for 2 to 3 coriander leaves in each crepe, but I love cilantro like you and I put more than that. I probably put at least 10 leaves in there. It’s really up to you 🙂 Hope that helps