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!