Bitter melon stuffed with salted egg

Eating bitter melon is very cool in summer, anti-inflammatory effect, cooling. Egg yolk is rich in protein and vitamins to give us more energy. So, you try viewing offline.

Bitter melon, salty egg, If left to its own, it is too bitter and too salty, what you eat is also very hard so hard. But with little variation, combining creative dishes you will have a strange taste, harmonious and very nutritious

Ingredients :

• 2 Bitter melon fruit
• About 8 salted egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon honey

Method:

Egg yolks into a bowl, To steam .

Using a spoon mashed yolks of this section.

Bitter melon washed, cut in half. Using a spatula or sharp knife to winkle the intestine.

Place the pot halfway with water on stove, add salt, bring to boil. Put Bitter melon to stitch for well done. Fish out and then drop into a bowl of cold water. Doing so will reduce the bitterness of the melon.

Using a small spoon to stuff egg yolk into the melon pieces.

Cut melon stuffed egg about 1 cm thick slices. Showing in the disc.

Small drops of honey on a piece of melon and then enjoy. Note that you do not end much honey, just a drop only to increase the momentum for bold dishes, to avoid losing the taste of eggs and melon.


Tips:

- After bitter melon should Quilted dip into cold water, will reduce many the bitterness
- If crushed egg yolk too dry you can give in a little oil, stir up.

Read More

Fresh roll cake at Gia An Restaurant - Banh Cuon

While it may not be the first dish to come to mind, Gia An provides foodies with some of the best banh cuon in the city. Mai Huong takes a taste.

Eat up:White rice crepe with salted ruoc tom dipped in the sauce give a true taste to banh cuon.

Tasty treat: Banh cuon ruoc tom is a popular dish in Gia An Restaurant. VNS Photos Truong Vi

Gia An Restaurant

Address:

- 25 Thai Phien St, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-66588710 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

- 18A Le Thanh Tong St, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-39335978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

- 62 Tran Dang Ninh, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-66589920 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

-.111/8 Lang Ha, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-35625957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

- 108A6 Tran Huy Lieu, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-37264696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

• Hours: Breakfast: 6am to 1pm
• Dinner: 4pm to 9pm
• Price: from VND7,000-34,000 (US$0.37-1.80)

Comment: Flavourful food made under strict hygienic standards.


Banh cuon ( roll cake), or steamed rice pancake, is a breakfast favourite for many Hanoians. Maybe you are already familiar with banh cuon Thanh Tri, a speciality of Ha Noi, but have you had the chance to try the savoury banh cuon Gia An, from the northern port city of Hai Phong?

I discovered banh cuon Gia An by chance when I went to the Vincom City Tower with friends. Located adjacent to the largest commercial centre in Ha Noi, the restaurant attracts shoppers who are after a light meal.

I have tried banh cuon countless times, from street vendors to expensive restaurants, and until now I've found it pretty much the same everywhere. Still, since it was too early for lunch, we thought we'd give it a try and were surprised with what we found.

A comfortable space without a door, filled with light fresh air, welcomed us. Inside, three long rows of square brown tables and chairs are placed close together. The shop is bustling with many customers and waitresses taking non-stop orders. Its interior decoration may be bland and simple but it still manages to be welcoming and comfortable.

Banh cuon Gia An offers two main dishes, vegetarian banh cuon and meat stuffed banh cuon, along with a number of side dishes such as cha ran (fried pork sausage), ruoc tom (salted shredded shrimp), thit nuong (grilled pork), cha que (cinnamon sausage) and fresh chicken eggs.

Vegetarian pancakes, like banh cuon Thanh Tri, are not actually rolls, but thin layers of soft rice paper eaten with thit nuong or ruoc tom and fried onions. Meat stuffed banh cuon, meanwhile, are long steamed rolls filled with a mix of minced pork, tiny shrimp, mushrooms and jelly ear fungus wrapped in a delicately thin rice sheet.

To enjoy the dish, diners dip a section of the roll into a bowl of warm fish sauce, an integral part of savouring the dish. Gia An's special dipping sauce recipe distinguishes it from other banh cuon restaurants.

While the fish sauce at other restaurants is often pre-made, Gia An's dipping sauce is unique because it is made from pigtail bone bouillon. It tasted a bit bland at first and I was a little disappointed, but a squeeze of fresh lime emphasised all of the flavours, giving it a delicious sweet and sour taste, just as I like it.

I realised the sauce is prepared for customers to flavour it according to their own tastes. I like that patrons can add more spice, peppercorns and fresh lime to suit themselves.

I ordered vegetarian banh cuon with ruoc tom and cha ran. I was presented with a plate layered with thin rice crepes, garnished with several sprigs of fresh green herbs and granules of bright orange ruoc tom, which were topped with dried fried onions. It was eye-catching and looked yummy.

I dipped a corner of a rice crepe that I had covered with a little ruoc tom into the sauce, added two leaves of fresh Vietnamese basil and a piece of cha ran. The tenderness of the rice paper combined with the flavour of the ruoc tom and the scent of the fresh herbs that lingered after my bite made me shudder at its deliciousness.

My friends agreed the sauce was tasty and not too salty like many other restaurants.

I finished my crepes within 10 minutes, a personal record for eating banh cuon, and had to resist the urge to order a second portion.

I returned to the restaurant a few days ago and was lucky enough to meet the manager, Pham Thanh Tuan. He told me banh cuon Gia An has opened 5 restaurants in Ha Noi and is aiming to develop the brand as a chain, similar to Pho 24.

Tuan explained the restaurant's name. "Gia An" came from the Gia in gia truyen (tradition) and An from An Duong, a famous banh cuon village in Hai Phong. He said the owner of the restaurant chain was born in Hai Phong and had a desire to introduce this speciality from his homeland to food connoisseurs in Ha Noi.

On my second visit I ordered hot rolled rice pancakes with meat stuffing. I liked the texture of the hot and tender rice paper and flavoured meat mingled with the sweet and sour sauce in my mouth.

During my studies overseas, I dreamed of food from my homeland. I was fed up with bread and jam and my mouth watered for hot and flavourful food, such as pho, bun and banh cuon.

I missed the familiar sight of a woman skilfully rolling rice pancakes over a linen base and then stuffing them with meat. Unfortunately, that sight is still missing at banh cuon Gia An because all of the rolled rice pancakes are prepared somewhere else then steamed on the premises to save time and labour.

Modern life seems to have made the traditional ways of enjoying food somewhat far away and outdated.

However, I really appreciate the restaurant's high hygiene standards. In many ways, food safety is more important than price when choosing a place to eat out.

Cooks at Gia An Restaurant wear nylon gloves when they're preparing food, which they change every 15 minutes. All of the furniture, equipment and the rest of the interior are always kept clean and there is a rubbish bin under each table.

Enjoying a nice meal is just one of many ways to appreciate life's beauty and banh cuon Gia An is a nice place to enjoy with family and friends, both for breakfast and a light supper. Give it a try if you want to explore the fresh taste of a familiar dish.

P/S: With this posts i hope you will have a good idea for your meal if you have a travel to Vietnam or want to find a new taste. In the following articles, I will introduce some other restaurant in Vietnam.

Read More

A Vietnamese Pho restaurant in Australia

Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House brings a bit of Marrickville over to Enmore. About bloody time :-)








We always though a smart way to make money would be to open up a Marrickville style hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese joint in Enmore or Newtown. Well somebody has finally done it. Yes we have Pho 236 up on King Street Newtown which is excellent value but never as tasty as the classic joints of Marrickville. Pho Sure is the real deal.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House is a Tardis of a place, from the outside it looks like a takeaway joint with a couple of tables for loiterers. Inside is a cavernous eating hall, sparse but freshly renovated. There's lots of room here, a good cheap, no-frills option if you have big group, BYO welcome.

We visit on a Thursday night and are surprised at how many diners are here considering Pho Sure has only been open a couple of months, and it's a tough location for a restaurant, very tough, on a busy road devoid of pedestrian traffic. Plus the opening hours are 5pm to 9pm only (the owner has a day gig as well).

Inside there's a joyous cacophony to the place, and impossibly cute Vietnamese kiddies running around having a ball, for a moment I'm back in Vietnam. We get the feeling we will be spending a lot of time here over summer, with a six pack from the Warren View Hotel down the road.



Help yourself condiments, cutlery, water and tea.



Condensed milk in my coffee, just like Vietnam, it's dessert and coffee all in one.



Special combination pho - pho dac biet- $9.50 small, $10.50 large. This is a small one and it's huge. The combination comes with rare beef, well done briskets, tendon and tripe. This is quite a good pho, thumbs up.



Fried Squid Ball - cha muc chien - $7.50. Lightly fried balls of manufactured squiddy fun.



Grilled Pork with Vermicilli - bun thit nuong - $9.50. A big generous serve, the pork has lovely caramel flavours, pour the sweet chilli sauce on top and mix it all together, drool.

Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.

Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House is at 37-39 Stanmore Road, Enmore, corner of Liberty Street, a block from Enmore Road and almost across the road from the Warrenview Hotel were you can grab some brewskies for byo. Pho Sure is open from 5pm-9pm only, 7 days per week.

Read More

A map of Vietnamese Pho in Saigon

We have no intention of introducing all the good pho restaurants in HCM City. The following are some places for your reference. These restaurants offer different kinds of pho. We also mention pho restaurants foreign diners like and a shop specializing in chicken pho soup. Almost It has Price from 1USD to 5 USD per bowl.

Pho Quyen

With a history of nearly 50 years, Quyen specializes in beef pho soup. The shop is named after the first child of a family of five sons whose father is a northerner and whose mother a southerner. The owner of Pho Quyen now is Duong Huu Phuc, Quyen's brother. Phuc has a 20-year experience in the trade, including being the chef.

Address: 33 Hoang Van Thu, Phu Nhuan Dist. Tel: 8423962.



Pho Hoa

Established during the 1960s, Pho Hoa has been a favorite address of Saigonese with high income. At first, the pho shop was named Hoa Loc. After many ups and downs, the word Loc was dropped and only Hoa is retained, which is shorter and easier to remember.
At Pho Hoa, pho tai (rare beef pho) is finely chopped and treated with spices to make it more delicious.

Address: 260 Pasteur, Dist. 1. Tel: 8297943.


Pho Hong Van

Address: 7 Ton That Tung St., Dist. 1. Tel: 8324139.


Pho Thanh Canh

Set up before 1975 by Chau Thanh Canh as the owner and chef, Thanh Canh now has three shops. Canh says he knows how to combine the tastes of Hanoian and Saigonese pho while remaining faithful to the bone-stewing method of the north.

Address: 55 Nguyen Cu Trinh, Dist. 1. Tel: 9201908


Pho Tau Bay

Pham Xuan Tien, manager and chef of Pho Tau Bay, says that in 1950 his grandfather opened his pho shop in Hanoi, which did not have a name. Tien's grandfather was given a pilot's helmet by a friend. He liked the helmet very much and often wore it. Diners called him tau bay, which means "aircraft," and he named his pho shop after it.
In 1954, Tien's family moved south, bringing with them the pho trade. They set up the Tau Bay shop.

Address: 435 Ly Thai To, District 10. Tel: 8345128


Pho Huong Binh

This is one of the best-known pho ga (chicken pho soup) in Saigon. Set up in 1982 by a woman native to the northern Quang Binh Province, Huong Binh is now owned by her son, Tran Van Quy. Quy says the main element for the broth of chicken pho soup is chicken bones. He doesn't use star anise or cinnamon as in beef pho soup. Only ginger is used, he says.
Huong Binh is frequented by some foreigners, especially Japanese.

Address: 148 Vo Thi Sau, Dist. 3. Tel: 8298762.

Read More

“Banh Phu The”– Vietnamese conjugal cake

In Vietnam,“Banh Phu The” is a special cake, which symbolises the loyalty of a husband and wife...

The conjugal cake is normally served at Vietnamese weddings and used as a wedding invitation or taken by the man’s family to the woman’s family on engagement day. The stickiness of the cake is said to signify the stickiness of the marriage ties. Traditionally, a guy would offer these to the girl he wants to marry. Now these cakes are still an essential part of a wedding banquet, or the gift packages that the groom's family send over to the bride's.

“Banh Phu The” is a Vietnamese sweet with a jelly-like texture made of tapioca flour, pandan, mung bean paste, sugar, sesame seeds and coconut milk. It is very unique with a leaf covering that looks like a tiny square box, made from coconut leaves. The reason it is called Banh “Phu The” is because of how it is wrapped: a box on the top fits perfectly with the box on the bottom. If you would like ton know how to make this special cake, you can visit Dinh Bang - a famous Vietnamese village in Bac Ninh Province, then you can view the method to prepare this husband and wife cake, as follows:

Ingredients:

- 1kg kudzu powder, refined - 800g refined sugar - 200g coconut flesh, scraped in thin threads

- 300g green beans - 50 coconut leaves - 15 pineapple leaves

To prepare:

Filling

Cut green beans in halves, soak in warm water for five hours. Strain and remove skin of green beans. Rinse.

Steam green beans and grind into a paste.

Mix green bean paste with 200g sugar, then cook over a low flame and stir until the mixture loses its sticky texture.

Spread the mixture 3cm thick on a large tray, cool and cut into 6x6cm square pieces.

Cover

Wash and clean pineapple leaves and cut into 60cm strips so that only the middle remains.

Arrange the coconut leaves into a square or hexagonal shape to form a box roughly 25x30cm wide and place a pineapple leaf on top.

Dissolve the kudzu powder and remaining sugar in water. Use two and a half times as much water to the amount of powder.

Cook over a low flame, stirring until the mixture becomes a paste. Extinguish flame, add threads of coconut flesh and mix well.

Fill the coconut leaf boxes with the coconut flesh mixture and place the green bean filling in the centre.

Put the boxes in the steamer and cook for 20 minutes, until the cake becomes clear.

“Banh phu the” is a lot more interesting in texture and flavor. In the real one, the cake has it green color and flavor by being steamed inside its box...

Read More

Some popular food of Muong region

Muong region has been probably one of the most favorite places for tourists recently. Discovering villages and daily life's activities seems to be interests of tourists. Yet, for many people, Muong's cuisine is still of great strangeness. Muong minority is not much finical in their cuisine yet each dish is their specialty, a great harmony between foods themselves and tones of the nature that only by tasting can tourists experience true feelings about their cuisine. Some typical dishes which may be offered to tourists by the locals are:

1. Burned-Boiled-Fermented pork

One of Muong minority's habits is to leave their pigs unbridled, eating forest vegetables, drink water from springs. Hence, pork here is very good and flavored. Once they want to slaughter pig, they have their pig burned to get rid of hair and then thoroughly washed, disembowel to take out viscera without rewashing the pig, and hang it up to dry out. By following that procedure, pork will not go bad and can be kept for long time without being tainted. Pig's trotter is then boiled to enjoy with toasted salt and grilled and ground "dổi" seeds. This is really a simple and popular way of preparing this dish but of great flavor with strong taste of toasted salt, sweetness of pork and aroma of toasted "dổi" seeds.

Another kind of preparing pork is to leave it fermented with yeast made of forest leaves in compliance to a particular formula that bring about fat taste of skin, sour taste of fermented pork and you may want to enjoy this dish many times.

2. Broiled fish and upland rice

Fish, one of popular foods taken from Da (Đà) river, is skillfully prepared to be delicious dishes by Muong females. Fishes such as carp, catfish, and Aphyocypris are normally broiled. Sticks are used to get through fish's body and fixed with bamboo clips to avoid being broken and at the same time to get good flavors of fresh bamboo, dusted with salt and wrapped with banana leaves, then stewed to enjoy. Combination of fresh bamboo's flavor, banana leaves, saltiness absorbed into the fish really makes this dish unique. It would be hard for tourists to forget Tay Bac's flavor by means of this dish once it is had with bamboo-tube rice.

3. Grilled chopped meat wrapped with pomelo leaves

Like other kinds of grilled chopped pork, yet the Muongs has their own way of preparing this dish to make it healthy: to grill pork with pomelo leaves. Half fat and half lean meat is cut into small pieces, soaked with fish sauce and onion. Pomelo leave is cut into halves and then pork is wrapped with these halves, fixed by bamboo clips, broiled on live charcoals till pomelo leaves turn violet. It is time for pork to be done inside of pomelo leave. Grilled pomelo leave is had with broiled pork as herbal vegetable with its bitter attar to help both reduce feeling of being tired of fat taste and bring about good digestion.

4. Buffalo's meat cooked with "lồm" leaves.

This dish is much like a kind of soup made of buffalo's meat which is very popular to the Muongs in Hoa Binh (Hòa Bình). The meat is burned to be yellow and then steamed in bulk to become tender, then sliced into small pieces, stewed in a earthen pot with some "lồm" leaves - a kind of forest leave with typically sour taste and broken rice. The dish is pretty condensed due to broken rice and with sour taste of "lồm" leaves to bring about very special favor to enjoyers.

5. Bamboo sprouts

Bamboo sprout is one of typical dishes of the Muongs in particular and Northern people in Vietnam in general. Normally in November or December, young bamboo sprouts just begin to show with very typical bitter taste are dug to be grilled and then had with "chẩm chéo" - a kind of sauce made of toasted salt, grilled "mắc khén", ginger leaves, ground garlic and chili. Once its season comes, fermented bamboo sprouts steamed with chicken gives a very special and delicious taste.

6. Colored steamed sticky rice

Steaming sticky rice with various colors made of leaves may bring about very natural tastes. Once rice is well-done, people often mix up colors to get a combination of flavors to ensure deliciousness and nutrition since it contains lots of folk medicines taken from leaves.

7. "Rượu cần" (wine enjoyed with pipes from jars)

"Rượu cần" is actually a special kind of drink that anyone who visit Muong region wants to taste. Muong minority are so hospitable that they bring the best "Rượu cần" to offer their guests. Like other kinds of "Rượu cần" of Thai and Tay Nguyen minorities, "Rượu cần" of the Muongs is also made of yeast of forest leaves, upland rice and preserved with rice husk. To enjoy this kind of wine, people keep pouring into jars of wine with boiled or mineral water so that jars are always full of wine. During parties, people cluster round one another enjoying sweetness and passion of "Rượu cần" while enjoying sounds of gongs in a space which is full of atmosphere of festivities.

Read More

Vietnamese Ginger Shrimp Stir Fry Recipe - Tom xao gung

Tôm xào gừng is Vietnamese-style sautéed shrimp. As a bit lady, Maman would build this dish fairly often whenever she required to throw along a fast dinner, as a result of shrimp cooks terribly quick. This specific preparation has touches of sweet and spicy within the kind of ginger, lychee and chile. The ginger is employed each grated and cut into little matchsticks. this is often not ancient, however I additionally added lychee jam that I had in my pantry and finished the cooking by flambing the shrimp in lychee-flavored liqueur.

Cooking shrimp is often a fragile task. First, you've got to form certain the shrimp are very recent. Then, the cooking time should be precise thus as to not over-cook, otherwise they become horrible and really chewy. Lastly, the flavors that are paired with the shrimp ought to season them well while not concealing the freshness of the seafood. This recipe undoubtedly hits the mark, however do not simply take my word for it!

Read More

Com hen

Com hen Song Huong” is a dish served at room temperature, made with mussels and leftover rice. It is a complicated recipe that includes sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter and spicy flavors.


Com hen Song Huong (or Com hen in short) is the very simple and low-priced specialty of Hue, the ancient citadel of Vietnam. Accordingly, the way of serving this special kind of food is of great ancience, simplicity and deliciousness.

Com hen has a sweet-smelling flavor of rice, onion, and grease, as well as strange tastes of sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter, and peppery-hot. You have to arrive to Hen river-islet in the Perfume River to have the original Com hen. However, you can find out the dish on some streets in Hue City. It requires 15 different raw materials to prepare for the dish, including mussel, fried grease, watery grease, peanuts, white sesames, dry pancake, salted shredded meat, chilly sauce, banana flower, banana trunk, sour carambola, spice vegetables, peppermint, salad, etc.

Com hen is always attractive to many customers since it is tasty and, at the same time, economical to anybody.

What makes this simple kind of food popular is revealed in the great endeavor to adopt and process its main ingredient – mussel. Mussels are sea species, which must be dipped in water for a long while before being processed. Accordingly, people often say that com hen somehow expresses the strenuous work of the maker.

Where to find it? Very easy as it is popular everywhere in Hue and these days, elsewhere in Hue restaurants in Vietnam. More favorably, it is a low-priced specialy, thus you could eat it in luxurious restaurants in Hue or even in vendoring mobile shops on the streets.

“Visiting Hue could not miss Com hen, or else you have not come to Hue ever!” is the most common remark of visitors elsewhere to Hue. So, please come and enjoy it yourself!

Read More

Vietnamese seafood fried rice recipe (Com chien hai san)

Fried rice so rich with many different materials come with rice, to create different taste. Today, we want to introduce you to the seafood fried rice dish simple, easy and delicious.

Ingredients

Yields: 4 servings

• 4 cups cold cooked rice (preferably 1 day old)
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (onion can be used instead of garlic)
• 2 cups chopped seafood :
• -medium raw shrimp – deveined and shelled cut into bite sized pieces
• -crabmeat drain all the water from the can of crab meat
• -squid, cut into bite sized pieces…
• 2-3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup diced mixed vegetables( mushrooms,peas, carrot,…)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce (or soy sauce )

• 3 stalks green onions, sliced

Method

Bring a pot of water to boil, poach shrimps, squid, peas, carrots and mushroom… Set aside.
Heat up a wok with some oil, add in garlic and stir until fragrant.Add in egg and stir-fry quickly to scramble. Add the rice – breaking up as any lumps. Let the rice heat up in the wok. Add vegetables and seafood. Stir-fry until all is hot. Add fish sauce/ soy, salt & pepper. Stir fry until all ingredients are combined and steaming hot. Sprinkle chopped scallions on. Served with slices of tomato, cucumber and soy sauce

Notes:
-in Vietnam chinese sausage is often used in fried rice recipes
-adding egg before the rice to avoid rice from stickiness

Read More

Bun bung

It is a typical and popular dish in the South, then it is "bún bung" in the North especially in Ha Noi to be a very much familiar dish. "Bún bung" (pork ribs noddle) has been described in books written by Thach Lam (Thạch Lam) as the most special dish of ancient Ha Noi of 36 ancient streets, a simple but very much attractive to many people.

A day at ease, it is not so difficult if you really want to entertain your friends "bún bung". A lean pig's trotter, Indian taro, some tomato, rice vermicelli, some tamarind, spring onion, dried onion, crocus powder, eryngium, and coriander are needed to make "bún bung".

You may find this dish at every alley in Ha Noi. "Bún bung" may be nowadays less popular in terms of its name since it has been nicely called as "bún chân giò" (rice vermicelli with pig's trotters). It is sold the best at small shops since its price matches ordinary people's budget and taste of the Vietnamese even old people, kids or drinkers. Old people often have stewed lean trotters while skinny ones or pig's feet are much loved by drinkers.

"Bún bung" is delicious in terms of its braised without being crushed pig's trotters; its sauce is scented, pretty sweet and sour. Yellow color of the sauce and tomato's color with green color of Indian taro are really inviting.
In Ha noi , you may enjoy this "bún bung" made by a truly-born-in-HaNoi man, near the dormitory of Academy of Journalism and Communication. This dish at this shop fits students' budget since it is cheap; the shop is much clean with good service. These factors have made this shop attract lots of customers.

It is not difficult to make "Bún bung". Hence, every family can make this simple but delicious dish themselves. It does not only show good care toward others but also express affections.

Read More

Tea with longan and lotus seed

Tea with longan and lotus seed is considered as the Vietnamese quintessence...


With longan and lotus seeds, the Vietnamese can create a kind of special-flavor tea. It is considered the quintessence of the heaven and earth. The tea is aromatically fragrant with an original flavor.

Containing longan fruit pieces and lotus seeds, this kind of tea is fragrant with a full-bodied taste. The original and naturally flavored beverage is rich in glucose, sucrose, proteins, and other minerals. Longan flesh is sweet and contains niacin, which aids metabolism and keeps the skin, nervous, and digestive systems healthy. Lotus seeds can treat nervous depression and sleeplessness.

Longan and lotus tea is a nourishing drink with natural sweetness. When both of the ingredients combined, it is effective in fighting against anemia and fatigue, and boosting energy levels. Or in other words, they are good in building blood and regenerating Qi. It has a pleasant taste and high nutritional value, and is recognized as valuable medicinal herb.

The flavoured tea is tasty and refreshing; and can easily satisfy your thirst as well as refresh your minds. The rich composition of natural nutrient factors entails the tea with healthy characters, which makes you keep up your spirits among the clean, free and happy mood. If you would like to make a cup of the flavoured tea yourself, you are able to try the simple direction as follows:

Ingredients:

12 lotus seeds, washed and cooked

10 longan fruit pieces, pitted

5 cups of water

Method:

1. Boil and simmer ingredients in 5 cups of water for 45 minutes until the liquid is fragrant and tasty.

2. Serve warm.

When you are in Vietnam, this kind of tea should be a must try of Vietnamese local product. The taste is excellent and it is a health drink. It could help ease sleep problem if you drink a cup of longan and lotus tea before going to bed.

Read More

The fifth Cuisine Festival in Vietnam

The fifth Cuisine Festival opened at 23/9 Park in Ho Chi Minh City on December 26 to promote Vietnamese and international cuisine to domestic and foreign visitors.

The festival attracted 43 businesses from 18 countries and territories, including Cambodia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, China, Italy, Malaysia and Singapore. The Republic of Korea introduced its cuisine and culture through presenting their traditional costumes, teaching how to cook fried noodles, tokbuki, and organising a “RoK-Vietnam cuisine exchange” seminar.

The event, organised by the Municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Municipal Tourism Association and the Youth Advertising Company, is part of the programme to welcome the New Year. A wide range of activities include a street parade with a large number of amateur and professional artists, bartender performances, making of Vietnam’s biggest rice pancake and presenting delicious dishes of 18 countries.

There will also be special performances by artists from the RoK, Russia, Germany and Vietnam, and a fashion show with Vietnamese ao dai (traditional long dress) and ao Ba Ba (shirt worn by South Vietnamese women), Korean handbok, Japanese kimono, and traditional costumes of other countries.
The festival will last until January 2, 2011.

Read More

What to eat in Vietnam

In the past few years Vietnamese food has become more and more popular around the world. Food lovers may have tried the two best known Vietnamese dishes – spring rolls and bread rolls. Rice, noodles, fresh vegetable and herbs all play big roles in Vietnamese food, making it one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.

In Vietnam you’ll discover one unmistakable fact: Vietnamese people love noodles. They eat them every day, sometimes for every meal. Vietnamese noodles are made from a few basic ingredients, the most common being rice, wheat and mung beans, but a whole sub-cuisine is built on these basics.

What’s in Vietnamese Food

In the northern part of the country, thanks to the influence of neighbouring China, people tend to use more soy sauce than other parts, where fish sauce is more usual. Other common ingredients in Vietnamese cooking include black pepper (mainly in the north), hot chili, coconut milk, limes, lemon grass, tamarind and cane sugar, supplemented by asparagus and potatoes, courtesy of the French influence. Methods of cooking vary from simmering or boiling to frying or grilling.

Stir-frying using a wok and chopsticks is common. Many European influences can be found in Vietnamese dishes, including sauces, meats, cold roast pork, patés and baguettes (French rolls). At the other end of the scale, in some parts of the country there is still plenty of demand for exotic meats such as dog, turtle and snake.

Read More

Pho Vietnam

When you ask someone to name a Vietnamese dish with noodle, he or she will automatically say “Pho”. Well, not too bad, but here comes the sad truth. Even though “Pho” is the signature food of Vietnamese cuisine, when it comes to the competition in variety, I’ll place all my money down for Bun – the Vietnamese rice vermicelli. You can have Pho Bo, Pho Ga, Pho Do Bien, Pho Tai, Pho Nam, Pho Ap Chao, Pho Bo Kho, Bo Ngau Pin, etc… but you won’t be able to name more than 20 different dishes of Pho (legitimately) whereas I can shout out at least 30 dishes with Bun on top of my head. However, for the shake of this article’s length and my precious time, I will list only 10 different Bun dishes based on my personal preferences and the popularity of the foods. I will also skip those ordinary Bun Bo and Bun Ga because they are for “noobies”.

1. Bun Bo Hue – Hue Beef Noodle Soup

I said that I will skip the ordinary Bun Bo, but I did not say I would skip Bun Bo Hue. It is indeed my most favorite Bun dish (or bowl) out of all even though it is most likely that I will have to drink 3 cups of water in the end. Obviously, Bun Bo Hue comes from… Hue! No surprise here. This delicious and super spicy bowl of Bun includes a handful of stuff in it: boiled pork meat, pork knuckle, beef, Hue meat cake, and even pig blood. The flavor that makes Bun Bo Hue stand out from the Bun crowd is its spiciness. As you may already know, the Central Vietnamese people are famous for eating spicy foods.

2. Bún Hen – Stir Fried Baby Clam Noodle
Bun Hen is another Bun dish from the Central of Vietnam. As the matter of fact, I believe Bun originates from the Central of Vietnam and it has been used widely only in the Central and North Vietnam. The preparation for Bun Hen is quite simple but its taste contains all the meaning and characteristics of the Central Vietnamese people: simple but deeply passionate at everything that they do.

3. Bún Cha Giò / Thit Nuong – Eggroll/Grilled Pork Noodle

This is probably the only Bun dish that I can think of from the Southern Vietnamese food menu. Like the name says, the noodle bowl is topped with egg rolls and grilled pork. After you added a few scoops of sauce, you are all set to satisfy your hungry tummy.

4. Bún Cha Hà Noi – Hanoi Grilled Pork Noodle
This dish is also known as “Bún Cha Quat Dong Xuân” because it first came from the Dong Xuan market area in Hanoi. Many people have mistaken this dish with Bun Thit Nuong from the South. The difference between the two dishes lays in several factors. First, “Bun Cha Ha Noi” has grilled pork meat balls besides the grilled pork slices. Secondly, the meat is marinated with different ingredients and seasoning. Lastly, rather than stirring the noodle and the meat altogether before you serve, “Bun Cha Ha Noi” requires the person to pick each item in small portions and combine them for one piece in an elegant manner. This way, you can accurately evaluate which ingredients of the dish have reached the standards and which have not. The term “Cha Quat” comes from the fact people grill the pork and meat balls by fanning them on top of the flaming charcoals.

5. Bún Riêu Cua/Oc – Crab Paste & Snail Noodle Soup

Bun Rieu in general is a Vietnamese vermicelli soup that usually contains a lot of tomato in its soup base. The toppings are made out of crab paste or snails. Most of the time, you would see both crab paste and snails together in one Bun Rieu bowl. Due to the scarcity of freshwater paddy crabs in the U.S, the American-Vietnamese people have replaced the crab paste with shrimp paste. Although shrimp paste does not bring the same tasty flavor as freshwater crab paste, but it is the closest alternative out there.

6. Bún Cá Nam Dinh – Nam Dinh Fish Noodle Soup
When people talk about Bun Ca, they often talk about Bun Ca from Hanoi or Hai Phong. I have tried them all, but nothing beat the heaven taste of Bun Ca Nam Dinh. Nam Dinh is a smaller city located about 100 miles away from Hanoi. Bun Ca Nam Dinh contains both the sweetness that you will find Bun Ca Hai Phong and the tenderness of the fish filet in Bun Ca Ha Noi. What makes it stand out from the other two competitors is the secret formula that Nam Dinh people use to prevent the fish segments become too dried from deep frying but still maintain its super crunchiness while being dipped into the broth. Especially, just from sniffing the odor from far away already making everyone salivates.

7. Bún Cha Cá Lã Vong – La Vong Fried Fish Noodle

Let’s move back to Hanoi because we cannot miss this. Bun Cha Ca La Vong is a dish that has grilled fish filets that get pan fried again when being served with Bun and other vegetables. There have been many restaurants try to put this dish on their menu but mostly unsuccessful. You maybe are questioning about the name of the dish right now. To be honest, I originally thought it was a Chinese food that the Vietnamese have adopted because the name of La Vong belongs to a famous character in China about a few thousands years ago. However, after a bit of research, I was able to find out that the Vietnamese family who invented this dish always has a small statue of La Vong sitting in front of their house. So, instead of calling it “Bun Cha Ca” just like any other ordinary Bun Cha Ca being served in the town, people stick the name “La Vong” to make it special for its superior delicious taste.

8. Bún Vit Xáo Mang – Duck ( Bamboo Noodle Soup)
This bowl of noodle soup is perfect for a cold night in the winter. Although it takes a bit of effort to make, Bun Vit Xao Mang always brings to the Northern Vietnamese families the warmth of love and the sweetness of duck broth. Nowaday, Bun Vit Xao Mang has become quite popular in many areas outside of North Vietnam.

9. Bún Bung – Bung Noodle Soup


I cannot find any better English translation for this bowl of noodle as I don’t even fully understand the meaning of its name in Vietnamese. Opposite from Bun Vit Xao Mang usually being served in the winter, Bun Bung is best eaten in the summer. It brings the coolness from various vegetables such as: tomato, Alocasia odora, green papaya, tamarine, and green onions. The broth is slowly cooked with fresh pork ribs. In addition, Bun Bung is topped with pork knuckles and pork meat. Most of the times, tumeric powder was used to create the yellowish color making the food more appealing.

10. Bún Thang – Ladder Noodle Soup

“Ladder Noodle Soup” would be the straight translation from the Vietnamese name of this noodle soup that originates from the North of Vietnam. I have heard many explanations for its unique name, but I think the most accurate and simple one would be the following: “Thang” is a Chinese word for “Broth” or “Soup”. Since Vietnamese people were borrowing Chinese language in the past, it is most likely that they were just trying to say this is “Noodle Soup”. The name sounds simple but it takes tons of time to prepare this bowl of noodle. The ingredients include: shredded chicken meat, shredded fried egg, shredded steam pork cake, and various vegetables. To cook the broth, you would need both pork ribs and a whole chicken. Bun Thang requires a lot of time to make, but it is easy to eat and very nicely decorated as you can see from the picture.

Read More