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Tom Chua (Hue Sour Shrimp)
When Hue
natives living outside the city return to their homeland, they usually
have sour shrimp. Tourists also make sure to buy some jars of sour shrimp
before leaving Hue.
This dish can
be prepared with any kind of shrimp. The recipe includes a number of steps
that must be performed in a specific order. First, the fresh, clean, and dry
shrimp of approximately the same size are put in wine along with dry bamboo
shoots, garlic, and chili. The ingredients are kept in a closed container at
room temperature for three days. Then the container is put in a cool, dry
place. After five or seven days, the sour shrimp are ready.
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Com Hen (Hue Mussel Rice)
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Quang Noodle
As “pho” is
to Hanoi and beef rice noodles is to Hue, Quang noodles is very popular in
Quang Nam and Danang.
This dish's ingredients include rice, vegetables and meat. After being
soaked in water, the rice is ground to a fine powder and made into
attractive smooth white noodles. Accompanying vegetables are water
morning-glory, cress, young banana flowers and herbs. Especially, the famous
Tra Que savory of Quang Nam Province will give the dish more flavour. You
can use pork, chicken, fish, crab or shrimp to make the broth. If chicken is
chosen, the meat is separated, seasoned and stir-fried while the bones are
stewed. Finish the stock by adding cooked chicken meat.
Arrange the noodle on a bed of vegetables and a cover with enough stock to
moisten the noodles. Don’t use as much stock as when making “pho” or beef
rice noodles. Serve with crushed dried peanuts, oil from fried onion,
chopped spring onion, lemon, chilli, and grilled "banh trang".
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La Vong grilled fish pie
In ancient
days, this was a street where were sold paints, and therefore was named as
the Paints Street. By the end of the,19th century, the Doan family, located
at house No,14 of this Street, hit upon a new idea: to sell fried fish pie
served with soft noodles and seasoning. Encouraged by the appreciation of
customers, the family specialized in this trade, and the shop was called as
"Cha ca La Vong shop" as a wooden statue of an old fisherman (La Vong)
holding a fishing rod and a string of fish stands at the door. As the
specialty grew famous with every passing day, the street was renamed by the
people as Cha Ca Street (fried fish pie street).
While the guest sit down at the table, the waiter starts laying there some
seasonings: a bowl of well - stirred shrimp paste sauce mixed up with lemon
and a few drops of liquor to give it flagrancy, and decorated by a few
slices of red fresh pimento (chilli), a plate of grilled ground nuts of gold
yellow color, various species of mint vegetables from Lang village; onions
in small white slices having the form of tuberose.
Added to this is a plate of soft noodle in thin small and white threads. To
many customers, the sight of such seasoning already greatly stimulates their
appetite. A few minutes later, fried fish, yellow in color and flagrant in
smell, put on a plate of anethum vegetable is brought in. But that is not
all. A few seconds more a cauldron of boiling fat is brought in and the
waiter start pouring some boiling fat on each bowl of grilled fish, thus
producing a flagrant smoke and sputtering noise.
Further, some drops of coleopterous are dropped on the bowl giving it a
special smell which is unforgettable to connoisseurs. Grilled fish are
usually chosen from certain species of fish: pimelode, sturgeon,etc.
The flesh of sturgeon fish is not solid, that of pimelode fish lacks
flagrancy, ohter fish has too many cones which make it difficult to take out
all the flesh. Only the lang fish (dwarf catfish) is ideal for the dish as
its flesh is sweet and tasty, solid and flagrant.
The fish must be carefully prepared before grilling. Galingale and saffron
must be ground mixed with water and filtered through a piece of clean cloth
in order to obtain a solution to which is added some drops of rice ferment
and fish sauce of good quality. Then, the fish meat is immersed in this
solution for two hours before grilling. Grilling must be done by means of
pairs of bamboo tongs placed on a stove of burning charcoals. The fish meat
must be grilled on oath sides and brought in to the guests when it is duly
grilled.
As a dish, La Vong grilled fish pie is indeed a remarkable culinary
invention.
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Banh cuon (rice flour steamed rolls)
Food
preservatives are added to the flour to make the sheets of rice softer and
smoother. A screen of cloth, used to mould the rice sheets, is placed over
the opening of a pot of boiling water. Flour is spread on the screen and
then covered with a lid. After a few minutes, a bamboo stick is used to
strip the thin layer of flour off the screen, and it is rolled up and
sprinkled with fried anions.
A small village in suburban of Hanoi is famous for its banh cuon. People
there serve it with a dressing of lean meat, shrimp, mushrooms, dried
onions, fish sauce and pepper.
All of the ingredients are stir-fried, put into a banh cuon, and then
rolled up.
The dish is tastiest when it is very thin, white and sticky. It is even
better when dipped in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce.
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Noodle soup (Pho)
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Spring roll (Nem)
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Grilled green rice
(Banh com)
Every autumn, around September and October, when the
cool north-westerly wind brings a cold dew, the sticky rice ears bend
themselves into arches waiting for ripe grains because these rice grains are
at their fullest and the rice-milk is already concentrated in the grains,
predicting that the com season has arrived.
Better than any other person, the peasant knows when
the rice ears are ripe enough to be reaped to begin making com. Com is made
from green sticky rice that is harvested in blossom period, roasted in many
times, crashed and sieved.
Com is a speciality; at the same time, it is very
popular. One can enjoy com with tieu ripe banana. When eating com, you must
eat slowly and chew very deliberately in order to appreciate all the scents,
tastes, and plasticity of the young rice.
Com is an ingredient also used in many specialities of
Vietnam, including com xao (browned com), banh com (com cakes), che com
(sweetened com soups), etc.
Com may be obtained anywhere in the North of Vietnam,
but the tastiest com is processed in Vong Village, 5km from Hanoi, where com
making has been a professional skill for many generations.
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Gio lua (Silky
lean meat paste)
By itself,
the name “silky lean meat paste” evokes thoughts of the silky aspect of this
speciality. Gio lua is made with lean pig meat, which is pounded with a
pestle until it becomes a sticky paste. Fresh banana leaves are tied very
tightly around the paste, and then it is well cooked. Good gio lua has a
fine white colour, is firm, and has a perfumed and sweetish taste.
Gio lua may
be obtained anywhere in Vietnam, but the best gio lua is from Uoc Le Village
(Hanoi), where the know-how for Gio lua is strictly kept so as to allow no
secrets of the job to flow out from Uoc Le. Slices of Gio lua are slightly
pink, moist, and sweet-smelling meat, fish sauce and banana leaf.
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Bun thang
("Ladder" soft noodle soup)
Dishes made
of soft noodle soup are diverse such as vermicelli and fried chopped meat,
Bun Thang, vermicelli and sour crab soup, stewed vermicelli and boiled lean
meat, etc. The popular dish is vermicelli and sour crab soup whilst Bun
Thang is for con-noisseurs, unique and available in Hanoi only. A bowl of
Bun Thang includes lean pork paste, thin fried egg, salted shredded shrimp,
chicken, onion, shrimps paste, and a little Belostomatid essence.
Especially, Bun Thang bouillon made from shrimps and meat must be very sweet
and pure. Without enjoying Bun Thang when arriving to Hanoi, it somewhat
seems to lack of a part of taste of Hanoi.
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Mon oc (Snail
dish)
Snail dish is
a popular but unique dish of Hanoi people. It is easy to order some dishes
like snail steamed with ginger leaf, gingered snail, snail sauted with
carambola, snail boiled with lemon leaf, snail steamed with Chinese herbs,
and so on, in many small restaurants, restaurants, and even hotels.
However, vermicelli and snail sour soup is the most attractive to young
ladies because of brittleness by snails, the slightly sour taste by snail
soup, and hot by chilly boiled down, making even gorged people keep eating.
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Banh
tom Ho Tay (Ho Tay fried shirmp cake)
All people
who used to live in Hanoi are familiar with Banh tom Ho Tay Restaurant on
the Thanh Nien (Young) Street. The cake preparing process includes wheat
flour mixed with potato fibres, placing on shape with shrimps upper, then
fried with oil. The cake is brittle, soft, sweet-smelling, and served with
vegetable pickles and sweet and sour fish sauce for best taste.
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Banh beo xu Hue (Hue bloating fren-shaped cake)
Banh
beo is a specialty and indispensable in Hue City. Banh beo is delicious with
its core stuffed with small shrimps and sauce made from a mixture of fish
sauce, sugar, garlic, chilly and fresh small shrimps, watery grease.
Therefore, it offers customers with sweet, buttery and smelling flavors.
Without delicious sauce, the cake would become worthless. When serving, it
is required to use a tool called Que Cheo (bamboo folk) to pass through the
cake, cut into pieces, prick and eat. Customers would be impressed forever
with having Banh beo in a green garden while listening to Hue folk song
coming from the Perfume River.
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Bun bo gio heo
(Beef and fork soft noodle soup)
Preparing Bun bo gio heo is very skillful. Pig leg is
clean-shaved, chopped into even slices with adequate bone, meat and skin,
mixed with lean beefs, and soaked with salt, pepper, fish sauce, dry onion
and spices.
Bun bo gio heo
is proper with all appetites. Even diet people could enjoy the
sweet-smelling of beef with less fat of pig leg so as not to be fed up with
as serving. Bun bo gio heo is delicious anytime you have it. You could enjoy
this specialty of the Central region on Hue City.
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Banh la cha tom
(Grilled rice cake with Cray fish)
Anyone who
used to experience the dish would never forget such simple cake made from
grilled rice cake and Cray fish only. The cake must be as thin as a leaf but
flexible enough. Cray fish must be brittle and sweet. Serving with long
jawed anchovy sauce.
Banh la cha
tom does not as heavily smell as the majority of the other dishes but
gentle, elegant and attractive to customers
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Cao lau Hoi An (Hoi An vermicelli)
Cao lau as a
dish has its "own kingdom", therefore, customers are likely to be served
with it only in Hoi An.
Cao lau
noodles are carefully made from local new rice not stocked one. Water used
to soak rice must be taken from wells in the Ba Le Village; noodles thus
will be soft, enduring and flavored with special sweet-smelling. In
addition, meat used to prepare for Cao lau must be loin or trotter.
Dry pancakes
used must be thick and have much sesame. Greasy coconut quintessence and
bitter green cabbage are also indispensable. The so-called genuine Cao lau
Hoi An must satisfy all above requirements.
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Banh trang cuon
thit heo (Dry pancake roll with pork)
Coming to the
Central region, you are offered with the service of Banh trang cuon thit heo.
A big plate of fresh vegetables with a peppery-hot red chilly, a plate of
boiled lean and fat meat, a bowl of fish sauce, and a plate of dry pancakes
are displayed on the dining table. Customers have to serve themselves with
all of the 10 substances mentioned above.
Banh trang
cuon thit heo is considered as not only a daily dish but also likely an
artistic specialty of the Central citizens.
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Xoi chien phong
(Bloating fried sticky rice)
A round plate of Xoi chien phong, placed next to a
plate of buttery roasted chicken, is always attractive to anyone. A lump of
sticky rice will become a plate of Xoi chien phong as big as a grape-fruit
by talent chefs. In the past, Xoi chien phong was offered only in the Binh
Duong Restaurant, Dong Nai Province. At present, you can taste the dish in
star classified hotels in Ho Chi Minh City.
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Lau mam (Mixed vegetable and meat hot pot)
At present, Lau mam folk dish in the past hundred
years - become a luxurious specialty in the South. Chau Doc fish sauce made
from fresh-water fish, a kind of sweet- smelling and greasy fish, which must
be as required to have a delicious Lau mam dish.
Substances to prepare for Lau mam, including fresh
food-stuffs such as snake-head fish, "keo" fish, pork, peeled shrimps, eel,
beef, and so on, accompanied with at least 10 kinds of vegetable, sometime
amounting to 24 kinds of vegetable. They include water-lily, egg-plant,
balsam-apple, straw mushroom, bean sprouts, chilly, etc.
When boiled, the
flavors of the sauce, which is mixed with citronella, chilly, vegetables,
fish, shrimp and meat, are very sweet-smelling. Lau mam roam is scoop out
into bowls and served with soft noodle soup, simply but deliciously.
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Goi Buoi (Salad of
shaddock)
Goi buoi is available at
the majority of famous restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. The major substances
to prepare for the dish include shaddocks mixed with fresh shrimps, pork,
and dry cuttle-fish. The dish is originated in Miet Buoi, Bien Hoa City. Goi
buoi dish is especially flavored with slightly sour, sweet, peppery-hot and
buttery tastes. It is also added with spice vegetable, white sesames,
coconut and dry cuttle-fish. Therefore, the dish will be appeared on dining
table as a fresh colorful picture and attractive to customers.
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Ca tai tuong chien xu ("Tai tuong" bloating fried fish)
"Tai tuong" fish is classified as a kind of luxurious
food-stuffs.
The fish is as white as chicken, delicious and sweet smelling but not
crushed. There are two ways to prepare for the dish: Boiled down or bloating
fried.
In bloating fried way, pour plenty of oil into pan, wait for the oil to boil
before placing the fish in. In boiled oil, fish scabs would be raised up as
porcupine's feathers. As serving, place the fish on to the plate, arrange
boiled quail eggs around with, fried potato, fresh onion and tomato slices
at the edge, season with chilly.
Finally, pour soup and sprinkle fried peanuts and crashed onion on to the
fish. The dish is served with sour and sweet sauce of fish. Ca tai tuong
chien xu is an unique and luxurious specialty in the South.
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Ca nuong trui (Bare fried fish)
The Southern villagers in countryside areas usually
have fried fish in the field. They use a bamboo piece to cross through the
fish. Pitch the head side to ground, pile up rice straws at the wind-swept
place to smoke fish.
As serving, use hand to remove the burned fish scabs. Fish will become as
white as chicken. Place the hot fish on a lotus leaf, take up each piece of
fish and dip it in peppery salt, squeeze with some lemon drops, roll in fig
leaf or sesame young shoot to experience the dish. Bowl and chopsticks are
not necessary. At home, the dish can be served with dry pancake, soft noodle
soup and vegetables. Ca nuong trui is a dish that accompanies drinking. It
is popular and exciting.
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Ca kho to (Dry-boiled catfish)
Fish, which used to prepare for the dish, can be
catfish, anabas or snake-head fish. Necessary spices include dry garlic,
fresh lemon, onion, chilly, sugar, glutamate, fish sauce, grease, and a
spoon of pepper and wine.
Although Ca kho to is a popular dish in the South, it is also a cheap
specialty. As serving, pick up fish to other bowl, boil the bowl of fish on
a low fire and sprinkle some peppers to have sweet-smelling: Keep fire when
serving, Ca kho to can be served with such boiled vegetables as shallot,
white cabbage, spinach to dip in Ca kho to sauce. It is more convenient to
serve it with pickles such as vinegary beet or green pineapple.
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Cua rang muoi
(Fried salted crabs)
The Westerners, especially those in land-locked
countries, usually appreciate the dish as soon as they firstly experience
it.
At parties, a plate of bright red Cua rang muoi is
usually acted as aperitif. Customers suddenly feel sweet-smelling of spices
and delicious buttery flavor of crab at the same time. Highly qualified
chefs in Vung Tau coastal area usually select brackish water crabs with much
meat and liver-pancreas. A delicious crab dish also depends on the soup,
added to frying crabs in pans, including star aniseed, cinnamon, cardamom.
The connoisseurs immediately experience the dish as it
is still very hot, mixed with some lemon drops.
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