Vietnamese Street Food

You know the moment, right?  You are fully committed...  you pass the point of no return as you lower your bottom towards a non-too-sturdy blue plastic stool on the pavement outside a delicious-smelling street food vendor... "will it hold this time...?"

Based on the frequency of our street-food meals in Hanoi, we were fully committed indeed!  How could you not be with the variety and quality of the Hanoi street food, coffee, beer…. we were popping up and down like meerkats for nine days and I bet we barely scratched the surface.

The red stool, or the blue stool?

If you’re heading to Vietnam, do your taste buds a favour – skip the complementary hotel breakfast, skip the restaurants recommended in your Lonely Planet (or similar) – let your nose be your guide, commit to the low-slung blue plastic stools and the flavour adventure of Vietnamese street food.

Food from the Streets of Hanoi

Worried about your ‘sensitive stomach’?  Pick a venue that’s packed full of locals or has large pots – it’s a sign that it’s a popular spot.  There’s no way street vendors would deliberately prepare way too much food.

Try each of these at least once.

Breakfast/Lunch

Bánh cuốn (pronounced bin kwann) – literally “rolled cake”

Rice pancakes so thin they are transparent scattered with fried onion and chopped mushroom, rolled and roughly chopped.  Dip each piece in a bowl of broth laden with coriander and mint.  Heaven.

The thinnest pancake you'll ever eat

Trứng ốp

Bánh cuốn (above) with an egg broken on the rice pancake before rolling.  Pick this for a heartier alternative to  bánh cuốn  – it will see you through until lunch time.

Phở (pronounced fur)
The dish that powers a nation; my current quest for perfection (attempt #1 here).  Delicate broth, filling rice noodles, a squeeze of lime, a dash (or three) of chili and you're away.

Breakfast of champions

Bun cha

A pile of rice noodles, pieces of BBQ’d pork kebab (or similar), assorted condiments (coriander/mint/spring onions), a bowl of warm fragrant broth.  Mix, match, combine, dip, get eating!

Prepare the pieces... just add broth

Bánh mì

Vietnamese bread’s crusty shell hides an incredibly light interior and is the ideal vehicle for the perfect sandwich, especially when enjoyed perched on your blue stool with a bottle of cold Bia Hanoi at your feet, watching the world scoot by.

From this...

...comes this

Snack

Bánh cam - Sesame balls

Perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up when you're low on sugar from traipsing around the streets of Hanoi (or anywhere in Vietnam, at any time, possibly even straight after breakfast), these golden balls of sesame-studded rice flour are crispy on the outside, yet chewy on the inside with a surprise sweet center of mung bean or coconut - my favourite!

Sesame balls in preparation

Sunflower seeds

Super cheap, highly addictive, discard the shells directly on to the ground.  Background sound to corner bar noises will be buffered by the soft pitter-pat of thousands of dropping shells.

Dinner

Options for lunch can definitely be used for dinner, but don't miss out on the Vietnamese street BBQ.

BBQ
Come  hungry to this Vietnamese DIY BBQ, or order a small plate.  You'll receive a plate loaded with raw meat (your choice) and veges (onions, eggplant, beans, spring onions etc), you'll perch with a burner and a hot plate in front of you and you'll leave with a full tummy and smelling strongly of cooked food.  Order some bread for mopping up juices, and some beer (because when is a Bia Hanoi never appropriate?) - it's also a useful BBQ sauce if you want to diverge from the traditional methods.

Can you spot me in the background?

A few tips:  Pour on your own oil, otherwise you could end up coming close to deep frying.  Fight those hunger pangs and put the onions on first - they take the longest to cook and otherwise you'll be left with a hot plate full of semi-cooked onions.  Left over dipping sauce also makes a good BBQ sauce.  Last but not least, sit on the street if at all possible.

Drink

Vietnamese coffee
Strong, black and with a hidden layer of condensed milk at the bottom.  Stir in completely if you are in need of a warm, sweet pick-me-up, or only a few quick stirs if you want more of a kick.  The best coffee we had was (obviously) in our favourite (and, in our completely unbiased opinion, best) street in Hanoi, but the most atmospheric was hands down huddled in our winter jackets around a charcoal brazier in Sapa, waiting impatiently for the liquid to drip through.

Waiting for the drip in Sapa

The condensed milk took me back about twenty years (yikes) to when Mum used to do a lot of baking with condensed milk.  The partially finished tin lasted approximately two hours in the fridge, and I invented so many different reasons to pass by, dipping in a teaspoon each time.

Bia hoi

Local beer, brewed with no preservatives, so it's incredibly light and refreshing - and really cheap (think less than $1 NZ for two glasses).  It was a little too light for my tastes, but a must-try none the less.

Bia on the street

This is by no means an exhaustive list so let me know if I've missed any goodies - I'll be sure to try them when I go back!

Pho-bsession

Breakfast over Christmas and New Year took on a different form this year.  Between the five of us we must have consumed litres of delicious, delectable phở (pronounced 'fur').  Our breakfast obsession led us on a breakfast-time venue hop around the Old Quarter of Hanoi where we were the often the only Western faces around (apart from a few gazing curiously at us from the street).  Our search was over when we found Phở 10.

Our phở venues were always packed, but it never mattered too much because one huge difference between Vietnamese street-side restaurants and food markets and their counterparts in Singapore is that patrons in Vietnam are happy to move (or be moved) to make way for new customers.  The number of times two small groups of people shuffled around so our bigger (in physical size and numbers) group could sit down were countless.  God forbid you try that in Singapore – you’d get the death stare at best, and I shudder to imagine what at worst.

Over the nine days we played around with different accompaniment combinations – chili sauce, fresh chili, lime, coriander, fish sauce, bread… my favourite combination was three or four small drops of chili sauce, a couple of slices of fresh chili – but no seeds, two quarters of lime, a squirt of fish sauce and a bread stick to sop up extra juices.  Just spicy enough to jump start your morning, not so spicy that the sweat starts to prickle my scalp.

Prior to this Vietnam trip I was definitely a phở ga (chicken) devotee, courtesy of my friend Paul’s mum, who makes the best phở in New Zealand – hands down.  Now I must admit I prefer phở bo (beef), especially when the beef is raw fillet (it's sliced to finely it cooks almost instantly when the broth is poured over).  

Now, back in Singapore my obsession has shifted from eating someone else's to recreating my own phở.  I found this authentic-looking recipe (at least to my untrained eyes) on Epicurious and gave it a whirl on Sunday.  Not bad for a first attempt, but definitely a few things to learn for next time.  Beef is veeeerrrry expensive in Singapore, so I skimped by omitting the chuck and picking a knuckle with less meat on it – big mistake.  The finely sliced fillet was delicious but the broth lacked the deep meaty flavor.  Next time I will make sure my knuckle has enough meat, and definitely add the chuck.  I’ll add a bit more salt as well.

It’s actually a really easy recipe, but the simmer takes a long time.  As the recipe suggests, it might be easier to start in advance.  Apparently phở broth will keep in the fridge for around three days – I’m wondering how well it freezes…

Here’s the link to the recipe – if you can’t make it to Phở 10 in Hanoi, it’s a great alternative.  Let me know how you get on!

Where:  Phở 10, corner of Chân Cầm and Lý Quốc Sư, Hanoi

Authentic Hanoi version

My version

Coriander, mint, chilli, sprouts, lime, fish sauce... glass of red wine!

The kitchen of  Pho 10 - that could be my bowl in the foreground

I know it's well over due, but I promise I'm getting there with a few posts on my Northern Vietnam Christmas/New Year holiday (or food extravaganza) AND volcano-climbing in Java.  Stay tuned.

January 30-Day Challenge: Facebook Free Week 1 & 2 Update

So, I’m now thirteen days Facebook free and I have to admit, I really miss it!  I think I underestimated how much of my time was spent on Facebook.

Why I chose this challenge

Prior to January, I was on Facebook a lot.  I’m certain I’m far from their heaviest user, but I would log in for updates first thing in the morning (literally before I got out of bed), on the bus to work… basically any minute where I wasn’t doing anything, I was on Facebook.  I’m pretty sure my iPhone Facebook app is a major contributor to the (self-diagnosed) repetitive strain injury in my right thumb.

The Good

• I spend more time with my head in the air and looking around than hunched over my iPhone
• I’m reading more blogs during my down time (on the bus, waiting for people etc) where I would have been on Facebook
• I’ve reduced the (self-diagnosed) RSI in my right thumb
• I’m actually emailing/calling people directly instead of posting a quick note to people’s walls

The Bad

• I feel very out of the loop
• I’m missing out on photos of Christmas holidays, weddings
• I’ve forgotten a few birthdays (oops, sorry!)
• Worrying that I’m giving people the cold shoulder by ignoring their wall posts – that of course assumes people are posting on my wall (I have notification turned off)… maybe they’re not – I’m not sure which is worse…?

Half way there now.  In hindsight I should have gone for Facebook Free For February (more ‘f’s’ there), but I think this is going to be one of the easiest of my twelve 30-Day Challenges.

If you’re just joining the 30-Day Challenge, here’s the list of my 30-Day Challenges.  Join me in mine or let me know yours – it’s the new alternative to a New Year’s Resolution!

When the Farmers Come to Town

Should I be surprised that Singapore has not just one, but several farmers markets?  Perhaps, given that Singapore's farm land is only 1.5% of the island; perhaps not, given that Singaporeans as a nation are collectively obsessed with food.

Either way, I'm not concerned.  I love farmers markets, and this weekend's visit unearthed a few fabulous goodies that will have me heading back for more.

Laura and I were planning to settle down for an afternoon of Glee and a lunch platter so we jumped on their bikes (debut cycling experience in Singapore!!) and peddled on down to Loewen Gardens.  We came back with green olives, the creamiest feta I've ever tried, chili dukkah, baked tortillas, a lamb and mint pie and a replenished olive oil supply (couldn't resist).  What a feast!

As my Poppa Ted would say, "get your laughing gear" around the chili dukkah.  It's made in Australia by Thistle Be Good  and if you are new to dukkah, you are missing out.  The traditional way is to break soft crusty bread into pieces, dunk in olive oil and then dunk in dukkah (delish!), but there are so many other uses you really are only limited by your imagination.  The couple at the Thistle Be Good stall gave me a few recipes to try: a crust on fish or chicken, a sprinkling on veges, part of a fruit crumble crust - they all sound fabulous.  Because I love the chocolate/chili combination, I'm going to make some raw dark chocolate truffles and roll each one in my new chili dukkah... chocolate, nuts, chili... winning combination, surely?!

Image from Tastingstation.com.au

The cafe there (The Pantry) looks really good (the lamb and mint pie was delish) so stay tuned for a review from The Ladies Who Brunch.

The farmers market is a twice-monthly affair, held the first and third weekend of each month.  If you haven't already, pop down and check it out.

Thistle Be Good also make rubs, flavoured couscous and risottos using South Australian local ingredients.

2011: The Year That Was

Happy New Year!

2011 - what a year!  An incredibly action-packed and adventurous year, shared with family and friends dotted all around the globe!  What a lucky girl I am.

Destinations 2011

Read on after the jump...