guppymo

I am in the middle of cooking some dishes for tonight. I will have pictures to post soon. I am not a good writeer and also don't like to opinionate too much about various topics. I will let the pictures of the food I cook speak for themselves. But for Touregsand, I think you already knew among all Asians, Vietnamese people eat the most fresh/raw herbs in their daily diet. We do eat alot of cooked, stir-fried, sauteed vegie but we also love dipping various mixture of herbs + lettuce in dipping sauce, also most of our soups, noodles soups require fresh herb/greens to accompany them. Okie, back to cooking dinner. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon.

To tell you the true I I don't have any prefered brand of fish sauce. I try to stick with the fish sauce that made from fish (anchovies). I try to stay away the one that carries pictures of crabs or squid or anything else that's not fish. But really, I don't think it's possible to tell the difference among the brands of fish sauce sold in Asian markets. I think it all relies on the way or technique of making dipping sauce out of fish sauce (just like any red wine can be used to make Sangria) When cooking food that requires the use of fish sauce I think any fish sauce will do, again, it's impossible to distinguish which brand of fish sauce was use in a certain dish. I hope this helps answer your question

Two thumbs up for Oishi.

Baophac is right, it's called "Banh Cuon" In Boston, you can buy the ready-mix flour labeled as "Bot Lam Banh Cuon" in the flour section of the big Asian Markets. In the back of the package there's instruction for you to make it. If you can't find this package in Hawaii you can follow the recipe here It's very time-consuming task to make it, and you have to eat it right away when it's hot/warm. The last time I made this was during Super Bowl 2 years ago and I was tied up in the kithchen until half-time

Well in my opinion the only ingredient that Vietnamese cooks use everyday is fish sauce. We eat a lot of stuffs with "nuoc cham" made of fish sauce. Beside using fish sauce as "nuoc cham" we frequently use it to substitute salt (like in my posting of pork rib above). We also braise fish in fish sauce (claypot fish), we even fry rice with fish sauce, and when cooking soup sometimes we even dash a few dashes of fish sauce into the soup. Fish sauce, fish sauce, fish sauce, I can't live without fish sauce. Don't be intimidated by fish sauce, it's a "low-maintainance" ingredient that is as versatile as your imagination. What is "ISO dining partners" ? I did not know we have a New England Forum so let me check around to see what's there. Um the Vietnamese restaurants in Boston are not as good as the one in California, Houston, or Virginia. But a trip to a Viet. rest. sounds fun. Maybe we can organize one later in the year (when it's warmer). what did I get myself into ?

Pan, oh thanks ! I just like cooking and love to add some extra touches to the dishes for the people I love.

Let's eat "Banh Xeo" (Vietnamese crepe) today. I was about to type up the recipe for this but you can find it here

Toliver, Sorry, I am not a food writer or someone who can write as well as others. I am sure there're websites or books out there that talk about this. I am just someone who loves cooking home meal :) So I will just post recipes and pictures as I go along. Thanks, GP

Suong Kho (Pork rib) This southern dish is among the Vietnamese people's favorites. It goes well with hot jasmine rice or sticky rice. 1 lbs. chopped pork ribs (can be found in various Asian markets) 1 Tsb. vegetable oil 1 Tsb. brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground chili pepper (paprika) 1.5 Tsb. fish sauce 2 tsp. minced garlic 2 tsp. minced shallot Black pepper (to taste)

Nathan the real tradition Bun Bo Hue from Hue only has beef shank in it. But growing up in the south - Saigon - we like to eat it with a lot of herbs/greens (Southern Vietnamese eat lots of fresh herbs and vegetable), we also added some pork shoulder and the little white "sausage" is called "Cha Hue" or "Hue sausage"

Nathan, Thanks ! Okie, the next time I cook some soup I will take more pictures for the step-step instructions. Yeah, Bun Rieu is from the North. But the shrimp paste in Bun Rieu is still more overpowering than the one in Bun Bo Hue. I am ok with it but there are still some Vietnamese who can't eat Bun Rieu...like my mom :)

SuzySushi, Do you happen to live on Oahu, Hawaii ? If yes you might want to try "Pho To Chau" restaurant in Chinatown, I think they have the best Pho in the entire U.S. This restaurant only open from early morning 'til 11 am and there's always a long line to around the corner everytime, everyday, pretty amazing ! I am trying to picture what rolls that your Vietnamese friend served you. Could you tell me a little more about it ? Is it a roll wrapped in noodle or the dough of the noodle ? Beside fill with ground pork did you eat it with other condiments ? Just give me a few more descriptions

Very inexpensive. $2.99 / lbs of live tilapia in Boston

Touregsand, oh are you Korean ? My wife loves eating kimchi chigae, she always orders it everytime we go to a Korean restaurant. Do you know of any good recipe ? I will scavenge my computer for pictures of Vietnamese food I cook and recipes. In the mean time we had steamed fish for dinner tonight. I think this is similar to the Chinese steamed fish. I bought a live tilapia and had them killed and scaled Next I shredded 1/3 cup of ginger scallion Steamed the fish for 15 minutes Right on the 13th minute I heated 1/2 table spoon of sesame oil + 1 table spoon of peanut oil When the fish was ready I put it on a plate, scattered the shredded ginger/scallion along its body. Then poured the heated oil into a bowl with 1 table spoon of soy sauce. Then poured that mixture of hot oil and soy sauce a long the body of the fish. We had a quick delicious meal of steamed fish, some sauteed green leafy vegie, and a bowl of sour bamboo soup.

Oh, I am sorry to not include a recipe. I wasn't sure of the interest level in learning something like this. Here is the recipe. Let me know if you are not clear on any ingredient. 1 lb ham hocks 6 stalks lemongrass, crushed and sliced thin 2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon sea salt 2 teaspoon of mam ruoc (shrimp paste) 1 teaspoon black pepper 4 ounces boneless sirloin 4 ounces boneless pork loin 16 ounces rice noodles, cooked 1 cup bean sprouts 4 sprigs Thai holy basil (regular basil ok) 4 sprigs fresh mint 4 sprigs fresh cilantro 4 teaspoons sambal oelek or hot chili sauce 4-8 fresh Thai red chili peppers (amount optional) 1 lime, cut into quarters Bring 2 1/2 quarts water to a boil; add ham hocks and lemongrass. Skim constantly for 10 minutes then cover the pan, reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours. Strain the broth, reserving ham hocks if you desire them. Delute the shrimp paste in 1/4 cup of cold water and set aside for 10 minutes Add nuoc mam,shrimp paste solution, sugar, salt and pepper, sirloin, and pork loin to the broth and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until meat is cooked and tender; remove meat. Thinly slice meats into small pieces. To serve, place a portion of noodles in serving bowl, top with some bean sprouts, pork, beef, and some ham hock (if using), and ladle the broth over; add herbs, chili sauce, chilies, and lime juice to taste.

Hehe, most of you who heard of Vietnamese noodle soup propably would immediately think of Pho. Well, today allow me to introduce you to another type of noodle soup - Bun Bo Hue - this is a specialty noodle soup from Hue, a city in the central of Vietnam. I made this last weekend for dinner, it's broth has a subtle fragrance of lemongrass, and the best herb/green to eat with this is shredded lotus blossom

I like to deep fry tofu and dip with light soysauce to eat with rice, it's simple but I love it.

Trillium, I was about to write a response but you have spoken most of the points that I had wanted to say, thank you. As for pork rind, I only use it in com tam and Vietnamese pork ham (Nem). I am not sure if you would like to try Nem because it's made with raw ground lean pork, pork rind (for texture), whole black pepper, slices of garlic and red chilly pepper, and some kind of "Nem powder" than can "cook" the pork at room temperature within 3 days...kinda gross, but I have got used by growing up and eating it. Oh, yeah..I guess the reason why Vietnamese had a dish with broken rice (com tam) is because during the fall of Saigon (1975) and some years after that the whole country was in a mess - lack of food, we had to substitue with barley for rice...to have broken rice at that time was like a luxury, well some people were created and utitlized it and made the best of out it by creating something new. These days com tam are sold at everywhere in Vietnam even though Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice in the world. Ironically sometimes it's more expensive to buy a plate of com tam than a plate of food with "whole" jasmine rice. Well, that's my theory but I guess com tam was invented long before 1975. One's junk is another's treasure, I guess.

Okie, I will check and see. Thanks.

I am Vietnamese and we eat whole jasmine rice all the time. The only time that we east broken rice is when we occasionally use them in "Com Tam" which is served with grilled pork chop, Vietnamese meat cake, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, scallion oil, and porkrind (bi) + sweet & sour fish sauce.

The new old crop will suck more water than the new crop when being cooked. Basically when cooking the new crop rice you should add less water and when cooking the old crop rice less water will make the rice very dried.

I made grilled beef with pepper leaves (bo nuong la lot) to serve over rice with fried egg and dipping fish sauce for dinner. Uck..lot's of cholesterol but I could not resist

Watercress are available at any given days in 88's and Vietnamese markets in Boston. I frequently use them in my vegetable soup (canh rau) and salad. Its' perfect with seafood hot pot (Lau Thai Lan) Picture of seafood hot pot with watercress

Yeah, I sometimes use mixed fish sauce for dippin sauce too. But I love to use lime juice + salt + black pepper to dip the beef in. Rib-eye steak for the cut

I made flaming bananas with dark rum for my friends the other day