Vietnamese food is not terribly familiar to many of us but certainly, in Western Europe, Vietnamese restaurants are springing up and there is wider interest in cooking Vietnamese food at home.
In the north of Vietnam it is relatively cool so the food is mainly “comfort food” such as the well-known noodle soup, pho. The centre of Vietnam favours the extensive use of chillies, making the food from this region very hot and spicy as well as being known for its huge banquets much loved by the emperors. In the south, the food more inclined to a simple spiciness, using plenty of vegetables. All over the country a meal will contain fresh herbs, vegetables, rice, fish sauce (nuoc nam), used much as the Chinese use soy sauce, and there will always be soup.
A Vietnamese store cupboard will always contain soy sauce, fish sauce, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, limes, spring onions and fresh herbs such as dill, coriander, mint and basil.
While Vietnamese food has a basis in Chinese cuisine, the French occupied Vietnam for four hundred years and consequently the cooking has adopted such ingredients as white wine, brandy, butter, mayonnaise and herbs not normally found in Vietnam.
To whet your appetite, here are a couple of recipes:
Vietnamese Lettuce Rolls
These are meatballs with spring onions, rice vermicelli, cucumber and herbs all wrapped together in lettuce leaves and served with a spicy dipping sauce. They make a fun and tasty starter for a supper with friends.
For the meatballs mix 200g minced pork with 2 tsp fish sauce ½ tsp five spice powder, 2 tbsp dark brown sugar and lots of ground black pepper. Roll the mixture into balls about 2cm in diameter and fry on a hot griddle or frying pan.
For the dipping sauce mix 6 tbsp fish sauce, 3 tbsp sugar, 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped red chilli, 3 tbsp white wine vinegar and the juice of half a lemon. It’s nice to serve this in small individual bowls.
For the wraps, finely slice 4 spring onions and half a seeded cucumber which you can peel if you like and arrange them on a serving dish with 110g cooked and cooled rice vermicelli, the leaves of 4 round lettuces and small bunches of fresh mint and coriander.
Each diner should place a meatball in a lettuce leaf with some of each of the other ingredients, roll it up and dip it in the dipping sauce. This can be a slightly messy operation, so providing finger bowls is a good idea.
Beef with Cognac on a Herb Salad
Mix 1 crushed clove of garlic with 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp Cognac and one tbsp olive oil. Marinade 140g fillet of beef cut into 2cm cubes in this mixture for half an hour.
Make a salad of watercress, mint and coriander dressed with 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp balsamic vinegar and a little salt.
Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil and add 1 crushed clove of garlic, one thinly sliced onion and the beef and cook for a couple of minutes, shaking the pan until the meet is browned on the outside but pink inside. Stir in a further 2 tbsp Cognac and turn out onto the salad. Grind over some black pepper and serve with plain boiled rice.
Hopefully, these two simple dishes will encourage more people to try Vietnamese food.
Copyright Liz Canham
As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery and travelling, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.
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