New Years Day Lunch

Traditional Vietnamese crepes made with black eyed peas in lieu of mung beans, stuffed with crispy seitan, sweet potato, cilantro and caramelized onions. Served with a sweet and spicy apricot sauce.

Crepe Batter

½ cup black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

½ cup coconut milk

1 cup white rice flour

½ cup cornstarch

2 cups water

2 scallions, torn into large chunks

1 tsp coarse sea salt

Vegetable oil

½ cup black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender except the oil and 2^nd amount of beans and puree until smooth. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes to overnight.

Heat up a non stick pan, pour enough oil to coat the bottom as light as possible, pour off any excess oil.

Pour ¼ cup of the batter into the hot pan and swirl immediately to get a thin, large even layer.

Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the crepe is cooked through both top and bottom.

Slide off the pan and fill with seitan filling. Serve crepes immediately. Garnish with the remaining whole beans.

Filling

2 tbl extra virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced thinly

½ cup small dice sweet potato, peeled

1 package seitan, cut into small chunks

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

3 tbl chopped cilantro, divided

1 scallion, sliced on a bias

In a large sauté pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions over medium heat until soft and caramelized, 15 minutes. Add the sweet potato and seitan and continue to cook until golden brown and crispy, 10 minutes. Add the garlic cloves, cumin, salt and pepper and toast until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and toss in 2 tbl of cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings. Leave the remaining 1 tbl of cilantro and scallion for garnish.

Spiced Apricot Sauce

2 tsp canola oil

1 heaping tbl AP flour

1 ¼ cup apricot juice

1 tbl sugar in the raw

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp cumin

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

In a small sauce pot, add the oil and flour and whisk into a thick paste. Whisk continually for 1 minute to cook the raw taste out of the flour. Drizzle in the apricot juice slowly while whisking until no clumps remain. Add the raw sugar, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper and bring the sauce to a simmer. Keep whisking until the sauce thickens. Adjust seasonings and simmer lightly for 3 minutes.