Vietnam´s food adventure (Ho Chi Minh city)

This year I visited Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh city) for the 5th time with my mum and was truly exited to eat all the delicious and affordable food. The large selection of Vietnamese food I show you in this post will make you crave for it. So let me take you to my parents homeland Vietnam and show you the amazing street food they offer.

What makes the Vietnamese kitchen so special?

Vietnamese dishes are categorized into five distinctive tastes which make them unique: sour (wood), spicy (metal), salty (water), bitter (fire) and sweet (earth). Very common ingredients is fish sauce, shrimp paste, soy sauce, rice, noodles and vegetables. What you also find in most Vietnamese dishes is lemongrass, ginger, mint leaves, long coriander, bird´s eye chili, Thai basil and lime. I have a lot of ingredients already in my garden to make the cooking even more exciting. As you might be able to tell, there are numerous health benefits from the Vietnamese kitchen. This is one of the reasons Vietnamese cuisine is considered to be one of the healthiest worldwide.

Bun Dau Mam Tom

It is basically chunks of tofu served on a bed of rice noodles with shrimp paste (Mam Tom) and of course a lot of crunchy fresh vegetables. The rice noodles are much thinner than normal strands of noodles (Bun) you might sample around town. Western people describe it as pungent and compelling. It is thick like toothpaste and purplish in colour. One serving Bun Dau Mam Tom costs about 15,000 VND.

Pho

Let me introduce you to my absolute favorite Vietnamese dish of all time. All my friends and family know that I could eat it every single day! I eat it pretty often after work at a little Vietnamese restaurant here in Hamburg, even though my parents cook it twice every week at home. That is true love! So for those of you who are not familiar with this dish called `Pho´, it is a noodle soup consisting of broth, rice noodles (Banh Pho), herbs (like coriander) and meat (primarily made with either chicken or beef). Vietnamese people consume it at any time of day, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The price for a Pho bowl is between 25,000 VND up to 80,000 VND. I recommend getting the dish at `Pho hung´, which is a popular restaurant chain in Vietnam.

Huu Tieu Nam Vang

Huu Tieu Nam Vang is a southern Vietnamese noodle soup. It is a Cambodian- Chinese concoction that the Vietnamese `borrowed´ and then made their own. Especially in Ho Chi Minh city or elsewhere in the Mekong Delta region, you will find plenty of Hu Tieu restaurants. So what is inside? It is a noodle soup made with a pork bone broth, the noodles are either chewy - clear (I prefer those noodles for Huu Tieu), white (like the Pho noodles) or thin and yellow (Chinese egg noodles). The soup include pork, shrimp, squid,  wonton dumplings, caramelized shallot, Chinese chives and fried garlic. The touch of golden rock sugar give it sweetness and to round out the flavors. Alright, I have to admit that this is my second favorite Vietnamese dish… :D

Vietnamese Congee `Chau´

This dish is pretty quick and easy to cook. Vietnamese congee is a type of rice porridge (cooking in water) in many Asian countries. It is a popular breakfast dish, which is often serve with side dishes like meat or fish.

Lau Thai (Vietnamese hotpot)

Lau Thai is a sweet, salty, spicy and sour `Thai style´ hotpot. I would say there is a little bit of everything in it. If you are a fan of Tom Yum soup (which I am), you will love this hotpot! All in all it is easy to make, it´s just a lot preparation. The soup tastes like a Vietnamese sour fish soup (Canh chua), it includes minced shallots and lemongrass which helps fragrance the broth. After the soup is cooked/boiled, you can add anything you want inside like vegetables, oyster mushroom, shrimp, cuttlefish, vermicelli rice noodles etc.

Bun Cha Ca

When I visited my family in a small village in the south, I tried Bun Cha Ca for the first time. It would be a big miss if I don´t mention this delicious dish. Cha Ca is a shallow-fried fish cake, served with noodles in a vegetable based broth - cooked with pumpkin, pineapple, tomato and fish. With the tiniest dab of fresh chilli, the meal is complete.

...and that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for a vietnamese recipe coming up this week. 

                                                                                      

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