Quintessential Cuisine

You can't come to Vietnam without trying this classic beef noodle soup dish. It's an a absolute staple out here, almost as common as rice! You can't miss it, just walk down any road in Vietnam selling food and you can try it. Lots of asian fusion restaurants at home are attempting Pho, pronounced 'fur?'- but they don't even come close! And it's not surprising when you realise what goes into it.

If you fail to prepare...

Prices on the wall at Pho 49 Bat Dan

My first chance to taste this stalwart of Vietnamese cuisine was in Hanoi. After some some local badgering and a quick recce I quickly found all fingers were pointing to one place in the old quarter of Hanoi- 'Pho 49', on Bac Dan street. This joint was famous! So famous in fact they'd bloody sold out of the bloody stuff when we got there!!! Undeterred we returned the following day to greet scores of people queueing up for a go! The Pho attracted every strata of the social cake, from the humble sponge that makes up the vast majority of the cake here in Vietnam, to the thin layer of icing at the top, and even right up to the creme de la creme. It wasn't uncommon to see an over sized shiny 4x4 with an equally over sized government official turn up here.

Some like it hot

The magic of this dish is in the stock. Beef  bones, ox tails and chicken wings give the stock a deep sweetness, with charred onion and ginger thrown into the mix for flavour. On top of this, a spice mixture is infused into the broth to give it subtle undertones of notably cinnamon and aniseed. Pho noodles, a flat white rice noodle, are placed in a bowl, thinly sliced bits of raw topside beef are laid on top, the bowl is garnished with finely chopped spring onion and coriander, and the bowl is ready for the broth. The broth must be boiling hot, as when it is ladled over the bowl the raw beef is blanched to a pefect level of tender! Adding the stock brings it all together, when you've got that steamy bowl of noodles infront of your face, the aroma is incredible...the sweet aniseedy stock with the fresh herbs combine to create a soul warming reaction. Typically the dish is served with steamed beansprouts, thinnly sliced white onion, thai basil, siracha chilli sauce, fresh chilli if you like it hot, a squeeze of lime and a twist of pepper. Regional variations exist, in the south hoisin sauce is added into the mix!

Heaven, must be missing a...bowl of pho

What you'll need: for 8 people

Pho Noodles

For the stock;
Water-about 4/5 of any massive pot
Beef bones
Ox tails-the more the merrier
10 Chicken wings
1 Good sized muli
2 Big white onions
Massive bit of ginger- a hand?
5 Star anise
4 whole cloves
1 black cardamon
Stick of cinnamon
Tsp coriander seeds
Tsp fennel seeds
Muslin/tea strainer
Fish sauce/salt/big lump of yellow rock sugar
1 cube chicken stock

Eat with;
Beansprouts
White onion
Spring onion
Coriander
Thai Basil
Limes
Chilli

This dish takes a lot of prepping and running around to get the ingredients, stock takes a while and needs some attention while its bubbling - whack some tunes on and you have yourself a perfect sunday!
For the stock, first clean the meat by running under boiling water and salt, this helps reduce a scummy layer on the broth later. Boil up the water add the bones, peel and roughly chop the muli and throw in. Get the 2 big onions keeping the skins on and char evenly under the grill, do the same for the hand of ginger- smash this first with the flat of a meat clever to help the juices express themselves! I love this part of the process,  a sweet, smokey, spicy aroma permeates through the house and it becomes apparent to all that Pho is on the go! Remove the onion skin and any black bits and bang those into the pot, along with the mixture of spices either in a muslin parcel or tea-strainer- roast up the spices in a saucepan first for a richer flavour. Season with the massive lump of rock sugar and a table spoon of salt. You have your stock. Fish sauce once the pots been going for a bout an hour to taste. All in all, the pot should be simmering for about 2 and a half hours when the oxtail meat becomes soft and falls off the bone. All the while the pot needs a bit of attention, don't allow the pot to boil too aggressively-makes for a cloudy broth, and a foamy scum forms which needs to be regularly skimmed off to ensure a nice non-turbid stock.

The key is in the prepping! While the stocks going, get stuff ready. Finely chopped spring onion-the green part, and finely slice the remainder of the spring onion length ways. Coriander finely chopped. Get a bowl of Fresh chilli's chopped for the heros out there. Make some lime wedges. A bowl of hoisin. Finely slice Topside beef ( keep in the fridge before cutting- makes it easier).

If the hard Pho noodles are soaked in water for 1hr and drained, when it come to eating time, a quick 2 minute blanch makes for a speedy meal- as opposed to fully cooking the noodles and draining at time of eating. A sieve immersed in a boiling pot of water is a useful way of individually cooking the noodles at eating time.

Get Bowls ready: A handful of beansprouts at the bottom, Get the noodles in. Layer thinly sliced beef. Sprinkle coriander and spring onion.

Ladle over boiling broth, twist of pepper. Add Thai basil and thinly sliced white onion to taste, as with hoisin and Siracha chilli sauce. Squeeze of lime. You're there! You just need another 8 or so other people to share it with... the easy part!

Roll up! Roll up!

A La Carte

Hanoi is turning out to be a bit of a foodies melting pot. I'm coming across a massive range of dishes on the street, from all over the shop! It's here in Hanoi that I first sample some 'Banh Cuon' which directly translates as 'rolled cake'. A bit misleading, as there is nothing sweet about this dish; best described as a savoury rice flour crepe with with a pork/mushroom filling... One of my all time favourites, and why it kills me when im there, knees up by my chin getting down to business, seeing scores of tourists sheepishly enquiring, almost tiptoeing over an invisible line that is not to be crossed then turning down the chance to try one of Vietnam's signature plates. But why I ask myself? It's certainly true that man's best friend over here is also sometimes man's best meal, and with this dish's ambiguous minciness, perhaps this is it?

Simplify!

So the Vietnamese cuisine has a whole chapter dedicated to these 'Banh', all very distinctive but each sharing the common use of rice flour to make up the batter. Banh cuon is a steamed crepe commonly eaten as breakfast or late night snack, the batter is made from mainly rice flour, sometimes a bit of tapioca and potato Starch is added. Pre-made mixtures exist which are quite good I've heard, found at oriental supermarkets, you'll find the raw ingredients here too. The batter is made up and a ladle full is thinly spread over a flat sieve (fine) like surface which sits over a steaming pot. The crepe is covered, and the rising steam cooks the crepe in a matter of minutes.

Beginning

Skillful hands are then required to lift the sticky wafer thin crepe off the flat sieve,  and onto a pre-oiled plate where a filling of fried ground pork and mushroom is added before rolling into a loose roll...sticky business, perhaps a new level on 'The Cube'. Traditionally Banh cuon are served with a sprinkle of fried shallots, a side of steamed beansprouts, side bowl of mixed herbs, pork meat loaf (get at oriental supermarkets) and a nuoc mam dip (chilli/garlic/fish sauce/lemon/sugar/water).

Middle

End

Veggie variations I have come across roll plain Banh cuon and are served with a good helping of crushed dried shrimp and the fried shallots.

Some people fry the crepe mixture if steaming is too faffy; not the same, but i guess passable.

What you'll need:

Rice flour/ pre-made mixture:water (2:5)
Pork mince
Wood Ear mushrooms (soak before to soften)
Shallots
Pepper/sugar/fish sauce
Beansprouts
Pork meat loaf
Mixed fresh herbs-mint, thai basil, coriander
Shallot/onion crisps
Fish sauce dip-as above
Good hand-eye co-ordination


Fry finely chopped shallots in oil. brown meat and add thinly sliced mushrooms. Season with above. Thats the filling done. Make up the batter to a thin consistency, thinner than pancake mixture. Make crepes ( the hard part!) Roll up and serve with above and a smile!

How do you like your eggs?

Let me start by saying sorry... Well I'm not entirely sure if I'm sorry, but I feel like I've done (eaten)  something wrong. I'm talking about duck eggs. Trung Vit Lon to Vietnamese people, is a cheap delicacy often sold as street food. One egg costs around 7 Dong, roughly 25p. I met a woman in Hanoi selling these eggs and it really hit home how hard some people have to work out here to gain relatively little. On a good day, if she sold 50 eggs, that would be an income of just £11.60! Pretty meagre considering the effort she puts into lugging around a massive pot of boiling water, eggs, and tiny stools for her guests to sit on! A daily struggle, but what she has to offer is truly something you've never had before!

Vietnam's 4ft3" weightlifting promise

 Back to the eggs, don't be thinking this is anything like a boiled egg from a chicken, far from it. These duck eggs are left to grow Into fertilized embryos! I'm told mother duck sits on these eggs for between 15-20 days and it is at this point in the duck's development that the eggs are nabbed and chowed! I said I'm sorry! 

If the tenders don't manage to get rid of their wares, eggs can grow old and it isn't uncommon to have to crunch your way through a feathery ball with a beak! I'll give you a minute to swallow that vomit in your mouth ...

Crouching tiger hidden duck

The thought of eating these duck embryos I agree is revolting, hence when I was a young pup I would kindly decline when my mum would bring them home as a treat from the Chinese supermarket. I'd always hover around though, watching my elder siblings and parents enjoying their little white egg, cringing obviously while battling with an inner turmoil, curious about trying another egg to see if I'd like it and envious that everyone could just get on with it. I do exactly the same thing with oysters, I can tell that they are super tasty but allow myself to be too distracted by the texture.

The flavour of these eggs after all is amazing, rich and creamy with a nutty yolk sac, the embryo is surrounded by a sweet serous fluid which is sipped first-tastes like a rich stock. If it's not too late on the body of the embryo should be soft, the yolk is similar in texture to that of a chicken egg when hard boiled, and the white, if over boiled can be rubbery and inedible, if boiled to perfection, rubbery like cartilage. Traditionally served with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and eaten with Vietnamese coriander (a must) and finely chopped ginger.

Can yer guess what it is yet?!

I can see why some wouldn't even dream of eating these things, but since I've been in Vietnam, i've been converted, I keep a keen ear out, listening for her Call 'ai muong Trung Vit Lon!' - who wants a duck egg!... ME! Normally 3 in one sitting! The perfect protein boost for my long journey ahead.

GIO!

Instead of pubs, vietnamese folk love nothing more than getting red faced at a Bia Hoi joint. These are crowded outdoor arrangements of tiny plastic tables and stools, generally found on busy street corners. Mostly men, but some women come and enjoy light refreshing glasses of draught beer. Bia equals Beer, Hoi equals gas... Simples!

Apart from the 'Bias' that just keep coming and coming, its common to order some 'Do Nhau 'bar snacks to wash the beer down! Now then, when i say 'bar snacks' this is probably the understatement of the century, i'm talking full on menus of little plates of heaven! More akin to spain's tapas i should think. Por Ejemplo...

No plate policy- wrap in hand!

These little wraps were a fresh start! Fine slices of boiled belly pork stir fried with ginger and onion, wrapped with Banh Trang, a thin sheet of rice paper that becomes elastic once dipped in water. The pork is wrapped with lettuce leaves, finely chopped carrot, spring onions ( white stem part) and thin strips of pineapple!!! As with most dishes here, there was an accompanying bowl of fresh 'erbs- mint, dill, thai basil, coriander. After clumsily rolling up, these summer rolls were dipped in soya sauce mixed with wasabe! I know?! weird, i would have thought some chillis or some siracha, worked a treat though!

Evil fishy bar snack

Now, this probably can be described as a bar snack, the equivalent i suppose would be pork scatchings or beef jerky. Muc Kho is grilled cuttle fish,  flattened and torn into thin strips. Salty, fishy, chewy and dipped in siracha chilli sauce. You often find yourself in a never ending cycle of 1) dip strip in chilli sauce 2)munch 3) put fire out with Bia Hoi 4) repeat steps 1-3. Who ever came up with this snack deserves a slap in the face and a slap on the back...ADDICTIVE!

The second plate

This dish was mind-blowingly good. So good, we ordered it twice! It's called 'Bo La Lop' - beef wrapped in wild bettel leaf. My mum and dad do this at home, and i can guarantee its a taste you will have never experienced before. This is in part due to the fact that wild bettel leaves are difficult to come across  my mum normally gets them at asian supermarkets.

Ingredients
Beef- topside
Shallots
Garlic
Onion/shallot (sweeter)
Red wine Vineger-splash
Fish sauce-splash
Brown Sugar
Paprika, tumeric- tspns
Wild Bettel Leaves
Pineapple
Very unripe banana ( i wasn't too sure about this addition)


Marinate thinly sliced beef with crushed garlic, finely diced shallot, splash of Red wine Vinegar, tablespoon of fish sauce, paprika and tumeric. Season with salt (minimal-already got fish sauce saltiness), black pepper , brown sugar to taste. Once marinated, wrap in individual Bettel Leaves to form little rolls and skewer for the barbie. My mum makes these for Banh Trang summer rolls, my plate was served with fresh thinly sliced pineapple and unripe banana; personally i'll be taking the pineapple away with me and leaving the banana behind! The aroma from the charred Bettel leaf with the smell of sticky caramelising beef is one that can't be described in english- smell for yourself!!!

Shaken, not stir fried

The last dish we ordered ( quite pissed at this point) was 'Bo Luc Lac'... at least that what is said on the menu. It roughly translates as, shaken up beef, which describes the constant tossing of the beef in the wok that allows for an even searing. The dish that arrived was more of a stir-fried beef dish, with white onion, spring onion, red peppers- stir fried in oyster sauce and soya sauce. served with a giants handful of fresh mint. Oh, and it had these weird potato wedges in the mix up too! Below is a recipe for a more traditional Bo Luc Lac.

Ingredients
Beef- sirloin-cubed
Half red, half green pepper
Minced garlic- 2/3 cloves depending on who yer going to be    kissing
Sesame oil -tbl
Fish Sauce-splash
Soya Sauce-splash
Oyster Sauce-tbl
Brown sugar


Marinate in all of above, then get 'shaking' in a wok. Serve on a bed of watercress, thinly sliced red onion and tomatoes. As a vinagrette- white wine vinager, bit of salt, sugar, lemon, olive oil. Before serving, a twist of 'black pepper?'At home we eat this with plain boiled rice...it's a winner and will give jamie's however many minute meals (he's on 15 now isn't he?) a run for its money!

So, indeed the vietnamese love a salty snack with a beer! Altogether now for the clunking of beer glasses... GIO! Pronounced 'your'.

1st Stop...Bun!

My gastronomic odyssey started on Malaysia airlines flight 003... just kidding, chose the asian option everytime, the food was average but satisfying somehow, i think it's got something to do with the compartmentalisation of everything, i like opening things too, like little gifts.

Let the games begin! Reached the old district of Hanoi with relative ease, dumped our bags at a guesthouse and we hit the streets. Our first hit was a bowl of 'Bun'. Bun pronounced 'boon?'is a thin vermicelli like rice noodle, the variations in broth and accompanying meat and veg go to make a staple noodle soup dish. 

The broth is generally based on ox tails, beef bones, pigs trotters, onions and Muli. Typically flavour comes from adding bruised stems of lemon grass and chilli oil. Seasoning with rock cane sugar, salt and fish sauce and shrimp paste.

This particular bowl i hadn't tried before, the main difference was a healthy portion of a pak choi like cabbage on top (steamed).

Served with fresh lime, bean sprouts, coriander, spring onions, birds eye chillis and siracha chilli sauce.

The most popular Bun variety 'Bun Bo Hue' Beef Bun from Hue city i've yet to come across- i'm sure i'll get to sample some when i get to Hue, i'll keep you posted. My mum does a mean bowl, i'll post the recipe when i'm home.

Chan, dehydrated from a 12 hr flight...replenishing his stores

Meals on 2 Wheels

Hello! Welcome to The Tiny Stool Digest, tiny stool as in the type with four legs, not the brown kind; although i'm sure my bowels will feature at some point over next 3 months as i munch-cycle-munch-cycle my way down the length of Vietnam.

Vietnamese people are obsessed with food, when we're not eating it, we're talking about it, and when we're not talking about it, we're dreaming about it. My parents are to blame for my obsession, my mum in particular. Measuring in at 5 foot nothing she stands tall in her kitchen in north London where she taught me everything i know. I used to think she got her skills from my grandma, age old recipes that were passed down from generation to generation...erm, not so romantic i'm afraid. The truth is her mum wasn't a great cook at all, only knowing how to do the basic dishes. It was only when my mum got to England, having escaped Vietnam after the war in the late 70's where she borrowed a vietnamese cookbook from wood green library and taught herself an entire cuisine. I imagine this was an attempt at building a home from home and i think it demonstrates the importance of food as a part of our identity.

Anyhoo, i'm going to cycle down from Hanoi to Saigon and find out more about the streetfood and do what the Vietnamese do best! I'll keep you posted on the tasty treats i encounter, and if the tenders let me into their secrets some recipes too!