POPULAR VIETNAMESE DISHES
Bun cha
The original recipe for bun cha belongs to Hanoi, and even today the very best version is likely to come from a smoke-shrouded bun cha vendor in the heart of that city. This lunchtime dish should deliver a harmony of tastes and textures: smoky depth from the grilled meat, vibrancy from the herbs, a piquant hit courtesy of the broth and textural contrast by way of a mass of thin vermicelli noodles.
Bun cha is a self-assembly dish that can be eaten in the style of a soup or a salad: the broth and grilled meat arrive together in one bowl, along with a plate of noodles, platter of fresh greens (lettuce, Thai basil, mint, coriander) and a side dish of dipping sauce. It’s up to you whether you select a large lettuce leaf and fill it with the other items before dunking in the sauce, or simply add the noodles and herbs to the broth and tuck in with a spoon.
Pho bo (beef pho)
Vietnam’s most famous dish also originated in Hanoi, but is slurped with abundance and considerable enthusiasm all over the country.
While the ingredients or component parts might sound basic, the phrase more than a sum of its parts could’ve been invented for this noodle soup. According to Lily Hoa Nguyen of Vietnamese Foodies, a good pho bo should deliver “a full-bodied flavour that offers smoky sweetness from the bones without being too beefy, soft but certainly not soggy noodles, thin, juicy slices of meat and an abundance of fresh, crunchy bean sprouts, basil leaves, a splash of lime and of course, hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce to top it off”.
Let’s just say that if chicken noodle soup is credited with soothing the soul, then the scope for properly prepared pho is boundless.
Báhn xèo
In a nod to the noise they make as they hit a hot frying pan, bánh xèo roughly translates as “sizzling cake”. These crispy savoury crêpes have a slight golden-red glow thanks to the addition of a little turmeric in the batter and are served stuffed with an abundance of fresh ingredients: sprightly herbs, lettuce leaves, crunchy beansprouts, and marinated meat, mushrooms or prawns.
Bánh xèo are made with rice flour, without eggs and with coconut rather than cow’s milk, meaning that they’re naturally dairy- and gluten-free. They’re also ideal for eating on the hoof, with the crêpe acting as a delectable edible wrapper for the portable salad within. Dunking in nuoc cham (see below) is also highly recommended.
Nuoc cham
Sit down or stand up to eat a Vietnamese meal, and little bowls filled with this sweetsour, salty-spicy sauce are more than likely to appear. The complex tasting condiment is a staple in the cuisine that, at its most simple, is made from a mix of fish sauce, lime juice, water and sugar, although more often than not chillies are added and garlic often makes an appearance, too. The quantities of these ingredients can of course be tweaked to match your preference, but as a starting point, try one part fish sauce to two parts lime juice and water, then add incremental amounts of sugar, garlic and chilli, tasting as you go. Although used primarily as a dipping sauce, nuoc cham works brilliantly as a salad dressing, seasoning and marinade, too.
Summer rolls
As jam-packed with perky flavours and differing textures as they are ingredients, summer rolls (also referred to as fresh spring rolls) are a far cry from their deep-fried counterparts. Softened, translucent ricepaper roll wrappers tightly encase a tangle of crunchy raw vegetables alongside yielding, slightly chewy rice noodles, layers of soft lettuce, zingy, zippy herbs, and chilled and pale pink cooked prawns (other types of protein are also common).
When your tastes buds feel fatigued or your body is telling you that you’ve overdone it, these rolls are the perfect revitalising antidote.