Day #122 – Rau mồng tơi – Malabar Spinach Fried With Garlic
Cooked in the same way as the famous fried Morning Glory, this fried spinach gives off a thicker taste of vegetable with both a crunchier stem and a smoother, slicker leaf. Good for digestion after cowing down on several other dishes at your local Bia Hoi.
Day #99- Bia Hoi – thịt bò xào cần – Beef Fried With Green Beans and Chili
Its a different form of beef and Vegetable dish. The spices bring out the aromas in the meat and flavour the green beans without making the dish spicy except to the most sensitive. Its a decent safe dish to order.
With a light fish taste this is a warming, medium sized dish. Flavor is drawn lightly from the seafood and vegetables in equal measures. A mixture of fish, pork, and egg it weighs nicely in the stomach. Add the chili for a bit of burn.
Day #75 – Gan xào ớt ngọt – Duck with Bell Peppers
The peppered duck mean offers a nice bite of meat. While duck when paired with Bell-peppers usually bring out the best, this particular restaurant over cooked the duck. It was alright but lacked that juiciness that most places bring out in their ducks.
Day 39 – Mi Ga (Hoi An) – Chicken, Noodles, and a short sauce.
Stewed chicken bits(sometimes with small bones, so eat around), noodles and a thick chicken sauce very similar to Cao Lau‘s pork sauce. A mix it up and you’ve got a hearty meal. With spring onions and that rice paper thing.
Day 37 – Banh Xeo – Sizzling Pancake
As the unique rice batter hits the pan you can hear a loud sizzle sound and the origins of its sizzling name. With sprouts and shrimp you then double wrap it in lettuce and then Pho Paper and dip it in a peanut sauce(very close to peanut butter). It’s a crunchy meal where it’s base tastes of fried rice batter and peanuts dominate while the rest calms it with hints of shrimp and, sprouts and lettuce.
Day 31 – Óc trần and Pho Tron – Boiled Pork Brains with Mixed Pho
The brains itself, sitting in a soup of light spices and green-onions had very little flavour on its own. Biting into the cerebellum gave a kind unnerving feeling of chewing a cloud but expecting some kind of bones or cartilage. The consistency was less than Pate, closer to a marshmallow. According to one of my students, this was a dish she often ate while sick during her childhood. Due to the ease of eating this, lack of chewing and blandness on its own i could very much understand why it could be used sick-food.
At the end we combined them. The fluffy combination of brains, with the Chicken, sprouts and noodles, worked as a flavoured and pate-esque thickener. This was quite good. If I order this dish again I will combine them at the beginning instead of at the end.
What better way to bring in the year of the pig than taking in a bite of its thought process.
Day 25 – Com Binh Dan (Affordable Rice for the people) – Cá kho – Fish with Fish sauce (And Pork)
In the states we add bacon to many things, in Vietnam they add Pork Belly and fish sauce to many different dishes. Here is no exception where the well cooked codfish has been marinated in fish sauce and topped with melt-in-your-mouth pork belly. The flaky fish breaks off gently with each grab of your chopsticks, separating ti from its tiny bones. The fish and pork flavors work well together without overpowering each-other.
Day 22 – Com Bin Dan (Affordable Rice for the People ) – Dưa muối – Pickles or Pickled Baby Bok Choy
Not a big fan. These pickled or “Non-spicy Vietnamese Kim Chi” Vegetables as my friend described them are just that, pickled vegetables. On their own the first bite is that of a pickle, then the second, third, fourth and all the way up past ten its the flavor of a chewy pickle. We actually didn’t order them but I have a rule of not sending things back so I powered through as many as I could. Maybe there was a second dish I was supposed to order to combine them.
Anyways there are many things pickled here in Vietnam. Some I really like and some I’m confused about. Later on I’ll do themed weeks and have one or two dedicated to the world of Vietnamese pickling.
stravaging 