SALTY STICKY RICE GRILLED WITH SUGAR-CANE

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BÁNH ƯỚT THỊT NƯỚNG (Rice pancake with barbecue pork)

Ingredients:
Original recipe makes 2 servings
- 300g pork shoulder, with a bit fat help moisture the meat
- Rice pancake
- Lettuce, basil
- ½ tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon honey.
- 1 tablespoon white sesame
- Red onion, finely chop garlic, lemon

PREP 3-4 hours

COOK 40 mins

READY 4 hours 40 mins

Directions:
- Slice the pork into 1mm thin, 2-3 inches long, marinate with dried red onion, garlic and honey, salt, fish sauce, pepper, sesame and sesame oil, mix well and leave them in 3-4 hours.
- Cook the pork in oven at 1900C in 20-30 minutes, brush the marinate sauce over the meat to prevent dry
- To make the sauce: mix 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon
- Serve: roll rice pancake with the vegetable mixture, barbecue pork and dip in the sauce.


*Taro**

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XÔI GÀ XÉ MỠ HÀNH (Sticky rice with shredded chicken and green onion)

Breakfast with Xoi ga xe mo hanh

White sticky rice topped with scallion in oil serving with shredded marinated chicken and onion, laksa leaf is really delicious. This is not only a good dish but also a nutritious one. It is not difficult to cook.
Ingredients:
Original recipe makes 3 servings 
• 500g sticky rice
• ½ chicken
• ½ onion
• Scallion, red pearl onion, ginger, chili, laksa leaf
Spices for scallion in oil:
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon seasoning powder
Spices for shredded chicken:
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon seasoning powder

PREP 30 mins

COOK 25 mins

READY 55 mins

Directions:
• Boil the chicken with 2 red pearl onion, some pieces ginger and 1 teaspoon salt.
Note: Boil with high heat at the beginning. When the water begins to boil, low down the heat and boil in 10mins, turn the chicken and cook in 10 more minutes, remove from heat. Lid on and wait in 15mins.
• Get the chicken out, separate the meat from bones and shred it.
• Wash the rice and cook with the chicken broth, add the broth to cover the rice. Add 1 spoon chicken fat and ½ teaspoon salt.
• Add chicken fat into a hot pan, fry until hot, remove from heat, add chopped scallion and stir with ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon seasoning powder
• Slice onion thinly, soak into an ice bowl and drain.
• Mix the shredded chicken with onion ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoon seasoning powder and some chopped chili. Add finely chopped laksa leaf.
• Have the sticky rice on a plate, pour the scallion in oil on top, have the chicken on. Serve when the dish’s still hot with chili sauce.

**Taro*

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My favorite dish-Bún bò Huế (Hue Beef Rice Noodles)

In my opinion, there are some dishes that you just can eat once or twice and wait for a certain of time to have it again. It’s not because you don’t have condition to eat, it’s because if you have a dish so often, it’s going to reduce the good taste of the dish in young feeling. However this rule of mine is never seem right to Bun bo Hue - a soup that starts with pork and beef bones, gets a kick from lemongrass, annatto and shrimp paste, and finishes the job with a tangle of herbs, a squeeze of lime and a few delicious add-ons like sliced brisket, crab balls and, in some cases, cubes of congealed pig’s blood.

My childhood closed to the aroma of lemongrass, shrimp paste, beef, pork blended in Bun bo Hue’s broth, since my mother started a small stall selling bun bo Hue when I was 12. It was near to our school, so my father usually took us there to have a “free breakfast” from my mom. We can have my mom’s bun bo Hue for about 3 4 consecutive days and never got bore, unlike other breakfast’s dishes. It was like that until we got into university and live far from home. We never got bored of my mom’s bun bo Hue; we can eat in the morning, at lunch and still can have the broth to eat with rice in dinner. I don’t know why I love bun bo Hue but I never want to try any bun bo Hue different than my mother’s. Sometime I came over to help my mom for washing bowl or serving, and she told me a lot about Bun bo Hue, so there is no other dish I know more better than this. Contrary to what the name implies — bun means noodles and bo means beef — Bun Bo Hue is most often based on a pork-intensive stock, with small amounts of braised or raw beef added as a garnish. I sometime asked my mom “why do you call Bun bo Hue but there’s also pork ribs or pork legs in there and it’s only 10% beef?” My mom cannot explain it and I think either other cooks. It is not easy to have a good broth pot of Bun bo Hue. Every step requires the care and the precision of the cook. The dish is the same as one but to different cook, it will come out differently. The same to Bun bo Hue. There might have a lot more delicious bun bo Hue than my mother’s but there is no childhood memory in any bowl of other Bun bo Hue. 

As long as my mother still cooks it I still eat Bun bo Hue. This dish is soulful and rich, delicious and complex. It’s spicier than most of Vietnamese soups. It’s just incredibly dynamic. This is not simply a dish to feed but a dish of my life. 

*Taro**

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List of the Vietnam’s middle cuisine that addict tourists

The middle of Vietnam’s cuisine is always evaluated as unique and attractive dishes. There are many impressive dishes that you would never forget their flavor, once you tried

If you have any chance to visit the cities in the Middle, let’s find and enjoy the “humble” dishes as follow:

1.   1.   Stir fry rice vermicelli with turmeric

With the very simple ingredients: pork intestine, rice vermicelli, scallion, turmeric, basil…and Hue woman’s cooking, you will be serve an authentic cheap delicious bowl of  stir fry rice vermicelli with turmeric. Pork intestine, boiled vermicelli, fresh turmeric… mixed stir fry or stir fry separately, serve all the ingredient together, mix well and enjoy.

It’s easy to find this dish in Hue city because of its popularity

2.     2.  Hue sweet gruel

In Hue city, there are tens of sweet gruel which is produced delicious, attractively with tourists and even the natives. It can be listed some popular sweet gruel, from simple such as che bap (corn sweet gruel), che troi nuoc (sweet dumplings in sugar water with ginger root), bean sweet gruel (mung beans, kidney-beans, black-eye peas…) to elegant complicated one like che hat sen (lotus seed sweet gruel), che bong cau (skinless steam mung beans in dense vanilla sugar water), che nhan nhuc (longan sweet gruel). One popular ingredient in Hue’s sweet gruel is dried coconut. Thin sliced dried coconut in sweet gruel is still aroma and crispy to activate the diners’ gustation. 

Sweet gruel is an indispensable dish in Hue’s culinary culture

3.      3.  Bun mam nem (Rice vermicelli with fermented anchovy paste)

Mam which is the sauce to serve with rice vermicelli is diluted precisely. It must be not too salty, not to sweet, and still have the same flavor as Mam. The diluted ingredients include crushed garlic chili, a pinch of sugar to reduce the origin mam’s salty, can add a bit of finely chop pineapple and the paste depend on the diners’ taste. The dish is the combination of less fat pork ears, fresh vermicelli, vegetable and bean sprouts. The ingredients is left separately until being served. Mix all the ingredients and enjoy.

This dish is easily find at many cities in the Middle such as Hue, Da Nang, Nha Trang…

4.   Nem lui (Grill meat roll)

Grill meat rolls have the best taste when you eat right after you grilled it, but most of restaurants grill them in advance. Whenever diners come in, it will be put on the hot coals again to reheat (in case to reduce the waiting time for the diners). The way to eat grill meat roll to get the best "quality" that is: using exposed frost rice paper, then rolling grill meat roll with vegetables (mainly herbs), add a few slices of cucumber, green bananas and radish pickles. Sticky sauce, succulent, tasty is the key to making a special taste of this special dish.

Raw pork paste tasting spices, oblique into a bamboo stick then grilled. Da Nang, Hue… has the most delicious grill meat roll.

5.      Don

Don is quite like as mussel but smaller. There are a lot of Don along Tra River and Ve River (Quang Ngai), Ma River (Thanh Hoa). Don is washed clearly and boiled with water, stir well to have the shell opened. The Don’s boiled water is seasoned well, Don is left aside or stir fry with garlic. Filter the broth finely, add vegetable, and boil until ripe, put the Don on top. Don soup is cool and nutritious. 

Don soup is cool and healthy

6.      Bèo cakes:

In Da Nang, excepting from Beo cakes with torn-dried shrimp, you can enjoy Beo cakes with wet hatching made from shrimp and mushrooms.

Eating a hot Beo cake cup with little more salty and spicy fish sauce is probably a good choice in a cold day.

7. Hoi cakes with pig’s gut:

Hoi cake is rubbed with a layer so-called sauce which includes oil and shallot. Hoi cake is served with roast pork, boiled pork or pig’s gut. The accompanying materials can be listed as rice paper (used to roll the cake), baked roll, salad, sweet and sour sauce ... depending on how and where tastes.

Hoi cake with pig’s gut is a popular dish on the central strip, the best is in Phu Yen, Binh Dinh

8. Cao lau Noodles

In the past, this dish is just served for the kings. Unlike vermicelli or noodles, Cao lau noodles is more similar to a mixed dishes. The main ingredients is yellow noodles like Quang noodles, meat, pork, crispy pig ears, assorted vegetables and very little salty broth. You can add more sauce depending on your taste.

This is a dish that can’t be missed when you come to Hoi an.

9. Bánh xèo vỏ mắm nêm (Vietnamese pancake with fermented anchovy paste crust)

It is very easy to cook. In order to pour the pancakes, you need a specialized mold as small as a saucer. Rice after soaking overnight is blended with water until mix finely as liquid. Put the mold over a charcoal fire, lubricate the mold with a little oil and wait until it is hot enough to pour a sufficient liquid. After that, there is a sound “xeo…xeo…” on the mold, so people call “Bánh xèo” for this dishes.

Vietnamese pancake with crust is a delicious pancakes which is indispensable in the eating list of The Binh Dinh.

There are two kinds of sauce, sweet and sour sauce or fermented anchovy paste depending on taste, served with salad or bean sprouts. When it rains or get cold, all people gathering around the fire, serve right after cooked, the flavor cannot be compared with any others.

10. Bánh căn

 “Bánh căn” is a rustic dish that can’ be missed when you come to Nha Trang, Phan Rang or Phan Thiet ... It is delicious to serve well when hot. Therefore the diners have to wait to be served. For more delicious, in addition to the egg yolk, there's some patching such as shrimp, squid, minced meat depending on the preferences of each person.

Can cake is served with green mango, cucumber, salad, pig ears ... the broth from the meat or fish sauce, fermented anchovy paste, or soy sauce depending on taste.

Source: http://www.amthuc365.vn/t21964c176/mien-trung/2014/12/diem-danh-nhung-mon-mien-trung-lam-say-long-du-khach.html

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BÁNH MÌ (Vietnamese Baguette)

           “One of the famous and delicious street food in the world”, "The palatable sandwich ever" are those sayings foreign press favourably call Vietnamese Baguette. Surpassing thousands tasty dishes all over the world, Vietnamese Baguette is now becoming more and more favourable in both domestic and international tourists thinking to combination of three factors: Tasty – healthy – cheap. In order to catch up with the hasty pace of life day by day, residents throughout the country gravitate themselves to the lifestyle of eating healthy, nutritious food and saving time.

Bread with ham, pâté, pickled carrot and white radish, cucumber and chili

As a result, it is not strange with trolleys of bread along streets being crowded by customers in the early morning, that makes wonderfully beautiful and vibrant scenes. Vietnamese Baguette is not too big, normally a loaf of bread is served for person, but still ensures of level of nutrition and fills us up with energy during the morning. Skin of bread is always sparkling with eye-catching golden brown colour, buttery taste of a pate, pork, chopped meat but it do not make people’s appetite of any fever thinking to sweet-and-sour taste of pickles, elegant flavour, fragrance of coriander, and spicy taste with some small pieces of red hot pepper.Additionally, Vietnamese Baguette shows own special features with various types of sauces such as soy sauce, gravy beef or other traditionally special gravy.
         Behind all those tasty, attractive and eye-catching flavour, bread involves many stories of life, human beings’ sense of mercy, that is all about poor, unfortunate kids sharing with each other loaves of bread who always sparkle with beautifully innocent smiles. Or stories about those workers with perfunctory meals to be on time for their afternoon shift. And those loaves of bread, even more interesting, always associate with students, who have to save every dime and penny to follow and fulfil their dreams...That is why is said: Vietnamese Baguette as itself says, “Simple but not that is simple.”

Small sidewalk bakery in Vietnam

        With the  Vietnamese Baguette, we always enjoy completely fresh new flavour by all senses of tuition. It, without the doubt, is a big regret for those who miss this special dish when visiting Vietnam. And what are you waiting for? Give it a try then you figure out how and why  Vietnamese Baguette was, is and always be conquering even picky folks.

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Mì Quảng (Quang Noodle) - The Simple Love

         Someone told that: the shortest way to a men’s heart is through his stomach. Being young, most Vietnamese boys tend to flirt with sexy girls. They would like to lay their eyes at someone who is beautiful and charming. However, men are more careful to choose their wife, who will be their children’s mother and daughter-in-law of their parents. Obviously, they would rather choose the girls who are proficient in household affairs. Because of this above thinking, when I start to love him, I also start to pay more attention to my kitchen. I often surf the web to search for new recipes. Despite variety of dishes I tried to cook, he still loves only Quang noodle. 

Quang Noodle with shrimp, pork

          Sometimes, in the morning, I go to market early to buy noodles. Noodles are made from rice flour. Rice flour is steamed, then floored a little bit sesame oil. There are 2 types of noodles, namely white noodles and yellow noodles. Yellow noodles are different from the white ones that it’s also made from rice flour but added some saffron flour. Therefore, yellow noodles are much more delicious than white ones and that’s why my darling likes yellow noodles so much. I buy pork, noodles, shrimps, quail eggs, vegetable, lemon and especially green pimento. Once I have got all the necessary ingredients, I begin to process Quang noodles. This process consists of 3 steps: Boiling the eggs, Cooking the mixture of pork and shrimps and Mixing all of them into boiling water. Finally, I add some pimentos to make the sauce more palatable.
          Now are how to enjoy the noodle. We first need to add clean vegetables to a big bowl and let the noodle on then finally add the sauce of shrimp and pork on top. Don’t forget to add cooked peanuts, cilantros and a little bit lemon juice to enjoy perfect Quang noodle. My darling likes salty food so I also prepare a spicy fish sauce which is made from pure fish sauce and finger-sized, fresh pimento.

        Looking how he enjoys the Quang noodle makes me feel so happy.The sweet mixture of shrimp sauce, pork sauce, the tasty fish sauce with spicy pimento and the sour lemon juice is good enough to glamour that man.

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