After 7 months of traveling and doing research for my sabbatical… “How Culture’s View of Communal Cooking Fosters Rich Human Connection” while I was in India and Thailand, it was time for me to just be with myself and explore Vietnamese food and if opportunity came for me to cook with the families I’m staying with, then great. Of not, then that’s ok too. As I wrote the last two lines I could feel the beautiful lifelong connections I had made with people and the sinking of my tender heart having to say goodbye to them after such deep dives of connection in a short amount of time. It’s amazing the duality of the human experience that can be felt both at the same time.
I decided to stay at this Airbnb here in Hanoi, Vietnam because of their great reviews and because the host loves to cook and has cooked a little bit for their guests. Now that the children are in college and out of the house and she does much less cooking. I found many kitchen electronic toys in the kitchen. Things like, air fryer, slow cooker, pressure cooker and one that has me very intrigued… an Induction Heating, Pressurized Rice Cooker. I tasted the rice cooked in this thing and it was like I’ve never tasted rice before, really incredible. I think I must have one of those things. It germinates brown rice and then cooks it… called GABA.
After spending all this time in Asia, I saw how many different kinds of rice are grown in this area of the world. There are about 20-30 different kinds of rice grown here in Vietnam. Other countries have their own different varieties. So, of course, the best rice cooker would come out of this area in the world.
I got a list of street food I needed to try when I got here. Things like Pho (beef, duck, snail, eel, crab), Banh Mi, Rice Pancakes, sticky rice breakfast, and porridge. My intent is to continue to see cooking as a “simple” practice… even if some things might be time consuming, like making stocks/broths, the process needs to be seen as simple. Some things definitely require skill and practice to make which takes time, determination and effort. But, it’s the cooking process, in the mind, that needs to continually be seen as easy. Or no one will do it. And guess what… COOKING IS EASY!
What the Pho?….
It’s all about the broth… one of the things Vietnam is famous for is a soup called “Pho”. You can find Pho everywhere on the streets and in many flavors. I’ve been fortunate to sample several different flavors (duck, paddy crabs, chicken and beef) of Pho from street vendors who make the same few things to sell every day. I tend to know I’m in the right place because I’m one of the only westerners around, not many people speak English and the restaurant/vendor already has their English translator ready to call over to help.
Your creation is only as good as the quality of the ingredients you choose to use and the time and attention (love) you give to your final product all throughout the process. Yup… still… even when halfway around the world!
Not only in French cuisine do they talk about the process of “clarification” … as in the making of a consommé. In Vietnam they talk about how clear, sweet and umami rich their broths need to be when serving them in Pho. How people will cook their broths for hours through the night under close watch so the liquid never comes to a boil but, only to a gentle, gentle simmer. This way the small food particles don’t get a chance to impart any bitterness and the liquid remains sweet extracting the flavors that NEVER happen with high boiling temperatures.
In addition to varying the meat/seafood flavors of the broth which is typically made from beef bones… there are many variations to what constitutes Pho. The kinds of noodles, preserved vegetables, many different sauces/dressings and the many different varieties of herbs, shrubs and vegetables unique to Vietnamese cooking. The flavor profile possibilities are endless. And people know what good broth is all about here in Hanoi.
Baby Got Back – “Banh Bao” …
Another thing that I’ve always remembered being intrigued by in my life are pastry filled savory items. Things like ravioli, dumplings, perogies, potstickers, kreplach, samosas, momos, dal fara, and stuffed breads. I remember these things called “curry puffs” in Thailand. In Vietnamese cuisine there are chopped meat filled sweet milk stuffed bread things called “Banh Bao”, or steamed buns, and they make for great snacks and appetizers. I thought that since I was here in Hanoi, Vietnam I should at least go out and see about them.
What I found was pretty interesting. There is a lot of street food in Hanoi and there is a trend to bringing home more prepared food and finishing or re-heating at home, like in Thailand. And items such as Pho and Bao that takes a long time to prepare/cook will be the things that stay popularly made on the street.
Banh Bao are one of those items that are sold on the street and typically produced by the family and sold by one of the family elders. I tried a few different kinds, and nothing really stuck out for me as, “this is something fantastic” like I thought I remembered them from the BBQ pork steamed buns back in the states.
Is it called a… Hoagie? Sub? Italian? & The 3-Tastes
One of the influences the French had in Vietnam was in the creation of a single serving sandwich made out of baguette and is called “Banh Mi”.
A bánh mì sandwich typically consists of one or more meats, accompanying vegetables, and condiments. Common fillings include steamed, pan-roasted or oven-roasted seasoned pork belly, Vietnamese sausage, grilled pork, grilled pork patties, spreadable pork liver pâté, pork floss (not a typo, google it), grilled chicken, chicken floss, canned sardines in tomato sauce, soft pork meatballs in tomato sauce (xíu mại), head cheese, mock duck, and tofu. Accompanying vegetables typically include fresh cucumber slices, cilantro (leaves of the coriander plant) and pickled carrots and white radishes in shredded form (đồ chua). Common condiments include spicy chili sauce, sliced chilis, Maggi seasoning sauce, and mayonnaise.
Sticky Rice Breakfast
One of the things popular with the locals is eating “Xôi xéo”, or sticky rice… for breakfast. Sticky rice can take a long time to cook… up to four hours to get it to the right consistency and therefore not very practical to stay at home to make unless you have a special rice cooker. The ingredients to make xôi xéo are the same everywhere: glutinous rice, mung bean, turmeric powder, some liquid fat, fried shallot or pork/chicken floss. And there are a couple variations with corn/hominy as well. Not bad for $0.50US either.
The Ongoing Lesson
Remember the lesson from Thailand? “Sam Rot”? … the three tastes. Sweet, salty and sour combinations and those tastes should be balanced out in the Banh Mi as well. This is a lesson that travels all through South East Asia. This is also a skill that takes practice… to be able to balance the tastes out on the culinary palate.
The best advice I can give to emerging palate developers… “you can always add more, but you cannot take it out once it’s in”. Also, take the time to educate your palate so you can find the balance in the three tastes that I’m describing to you here. Getting the balance between something sweet, sour and salty takes time and practice.
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