Vietnamese sour soup

Canh chua (literally "sour soup") is a sour soup indigenous to the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. It is typically made with fish from the Mekong River Delta, pineapple, tomatoes (and sometimes also other vegetables such as okra or bạc hà), and bean sprouts, in a tamarind-flavored broth. It is garnished with the lemony-scented herb ngò ôm (Limnophila aromatica), caramelized garlic, and chopped scallions, as well as other herbs, according to the specific variety of canh chua; these other herbs may include rau răm (Vietnamese coriander), ngò gai (long coriander), and rau quế (Thai basil).

The sour taste of the soup comes from tamarind, which is mixed with a small amount of hot water; the mixture is then stirred for a few moments to release all the essence, and the liquid (minus the tamarind seeds and other solids, which are discarded) is then added to the soup.

When made in style of a hot pot, canh chua is called lẩu canh chua.

When it comes to canh chua (literally means “sour soup”) most people are familiar with canh chua cá (sour fish soup). There are many different variations to canh chua. Some are cooked with bamboo, eel, chicken, pork ribs or prawns. Undoubtedly the original cooked with fish, tamarind, pineapples, elephant ears, tomatoes and okra is the still the best.

Another version of canh chua my mum usually makes is with prawns and water spinach. My husband much prefers this one because he finds the fish one too fishy. Tamarind is use to give the sour taste in canh chua. I would much prefer to use fresh tamarind for this soup but since I can’t get fresh tamarind I used a tamarind sour soup powder (which has a lot of other seasoning in it).

Garnishing canh chua with rice paddy herb (ngò om) and saw tooth coriander (ngò gai) really enhances this dish (don’t you just love the names of these herbs). This herb is called saw tooth herb. It has a very strong taste and smell which is hard to describe. My parents have an abundance of this herb growing in their backyard.

Banh Tam cari

Banh Tam Cari is a Vietnamese preparation made of special rice noodles and and very spicy chicken curry. It is really a Ca Mau specialty. Ca Mau is a Vietnamese name that refers to a province or peninsula in Vietnam.

Banh is a Vietnamese term,which means 'cake','bread' or 'a variety of cooked food'. Vietnamese cuisine is widely available in countries with strong Vietnamese immigrant communities such as Australia, the United States, Canada and France. It is also popular in Japan, Korea , Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, Laos, Thailand and in areas with dense Asian population.

Vietnamese cuisine is influenced by Asian principle of five elements. Many Vietnamese dishes include five spices, spicy[metal], sour[wood], bitter[fire], salty[water], and sweet[earth] corresponding to five organs, gall bladder, small intestine, large intestine, stomach and urinary bladder. They also try to have five colors, white, green, yellow, red and black in their dishes.

In Banh Tam Cari, these five colors are there from rice noodles, herbs, spices, and chicken curry. The principle of 'yin and yang' is applied in selecting the ingredients of a dish, and the dishes of a meal, and in matching dishes,the climatic conditions, the prevalent environment and the current physical well being of the diners are taken into consideration. Chicken is considered "warm" and dishes with chicken are usually eaten in cold winters.

Rice vermicelli soup (Bún riêu)

Bún riêu is a Vietnamese meat rice vermicelli soup. There are several varieties of bún riêu, including bún riêu cua, bún riêu cá, and bún riêu ốc.

Bún riêu cua is served with tomato broth and topped with crab or shrimp paste. In this dish, various freshwater paddy crabs are used, including the brown paddy crab found in rice paddies in Vietnam. The crabs are cleaned by being placed in clean water to remove dirt and sand. The crabs are pounded with the shell on to a fine paste. This paste is strained and the crab liquid is a base for the soup along with tomato. The crab residue is used as the basis for crab cakes. Other ingredients for this dish are: fried tofu, mẻ or giấm bổng (kinds of rice vinegar), Garcinia multiflora Champ., annatto seeds (hạt điều màu) to redden the broth, huyết (congealed pig's blood), split water spinach stems, shredded banana flower, rau kinh giới (Elsholtzia ciliata), spearmint, perilla, bean sprouts and chả chay (vegetarian sausage). This dish is rich in nutrition: calcium from the ground crab shells, iron from the congealed pig's blood, and vitamins and fiber from the vegetables.

Banh Bot Loc (Vietnamese Clear Shrimp and Pork Dumplings)

My mom actually comes from a family of 9 children and never got past the 6th grade in Vietnam because in order to support the family, she had be in charge of selling our family’s meat and butcher stall a local market near our family’s house, Cho Nhat Tao near Nguyen Tri Phuong and Ba Hat street in District 10 of Saigon. The 6th grade! I think I was busy skateboarding, listening to 80′s new wave and playing nintendo at that age.

For those who have never been to Vietnam, some of the best foods are not in restaurants, but at food stalls in markets or make shift restaurants along the street where they make one or two items and make it with pride extremely well. It was here where she learned her cooking skills to cook for the entire family. She taught my uncle and aunt how to cook and now the both have restaurants in Hartford.

So when my family was over a few weeks ago, it was good to cook with her and learn a new dish because most of the time I’m always calling her about certain recipes or techniques. We decided to make banh bot loc which is another central Vietnamese specialty made of tapoica flour which becomes clear and translucent when cooked. While the shrimp and pork filling in these dumplings are similar to many Asian dumplings, what sets this apart is its characteristic chewiness. While it shouldn’t be jaw-numbing, the chewy and sticky consistency is a textural delight that we love.

There are two major variations of this dish. One is that each dumpling is wrapped and steamed in banana leaf. The other is to boil the dumplings sans banana leaf. The banana leaf certainly adds a nice aroma to it, but is certainly more time consuming and requires a totally different method of preparation compared to without banana leaf

Hue royal dinner

When ecotourism and marine tourism are seem to be in saturated in destination, many tourists started targeting culinary tours for their vacation. Food products Hue "royal dinner" is attracting not a small amount of customers is one example.

There was a king named King Tu Duc who ruled from 1848 to 1883 lived a life of truly imperial luxury: at every meal, 50 chefs prepared 50 dishes served by 50 servants and 50 artists to play music and dance. Since then, royal meal became a kind of special talk (story) in cultural life of Vietnam.

Let’s pretending you are the King, beside you is the Queen accompanied by tens of servants, all wear traditional royal clothes. All the served food is royal including dishes reminding dragon, phoenix, or peacock. They are not only looking so nice on the outside but also taste even better.

Furthermore, there is another crucial feature of Royal dinner, a ceremony with a lot of interesting rules. Before the first drink for the King health, there is a short speech made by servant chief. Everyone has to say "Van tue" (which means “10 thousand year”) to wish the King a long life. The best royal music and dance will be performed by artists coming from Hue conservatory. Nothing is better than enjoying a delicious food while listening to melodious music and having a feeling of being the King. That is why Royal dinner is a must for those who come to Hue, Vietnam. 

Here are some royal dishes

Royal Spring roll & Pheonix pate

Kim qui rice

Kim Long Minced pork around sugarcane

Golden fish

Lotus rice

Fried squid with lemongrass and chilli

Vietnamese sauce

Soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans mixed with a roasted grain, normally wheat. It is infected with a yeast mold and after fermentation begins, salt is added. Yeast is added for further fermentation and the liquid is left in vats for several months and then filtered.

Light soy sauce is thin, salty and light in flavor and is used as a condiment and in cooking where its light color will not spoil the colors of the ingredients, particularly seafood.

Dark soy sauce is thicker with a full-bodied flavor and is used to add color where needed. Generally it is less salty than the soy sauce.

Sweet soy sauce is a dark, sweet sauce made with soy sauce, sugar, and malt sugar. It has a distinctive malty taste.

Insect food in Hanoi

There is a restaurant in Khuong Thuong village, Hanoi, where all cuisines are processed from insects. The restaurant opened in 2002, owned by Mr. Nguyen Tat Kien. Kien said that all cuisines are processed by his mother, who lived in Thailand for many years.
Kien is not present at the restaurant often because he has to travel throughout the country to seek insects.

“Ant-eggs are bought from Phu Tho and Hoa Binh province. Coconut worms and balm-crickets come from southern Vietnam. Bugs and grasshoppers are from some northern provinces. Some kinds of bugs are imported form Thailand. Belostomatid and crickets are bought from Laos. Some kinds of herbs are also imported,” Kien said.
The most special cuisines at his restaurant are those processed from ant-eggs, in the styles of Thai people or Muong and Tay ethnic people in Vietnam.

Kien said he would go to Quang Tri province to learn processing a species of worms that live in cassava trees. He also said that the latest cuisine at his restaurant is fried spiders.
According to a recent work by Dutch scientists, in the next several decades, humans will have to change their eating habits and turn from cattle and poultry meat to insects to protect the environment.
Scientists said that in the near future, insects will replace meat in supermarkets. Pork, beef and chicken are rich in protein but they are the sources of methane, which is more dangerous than CO2 in causing greenhouse effect.

Insects are also rich in protein but they are not as fat as meat and they discharge little CO2. Moreover, insects don’t transmit diseases like blue-ear, bird flu, etc.
With 10kg of grass and vegetables, we can have 1kg of meat of cattle and poultry, while with the same volume of grass and vegetables, 6-8kg of insects can be created.