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.