In food heaven in Vietnam

Photo by Fiona Andersen.
Photo by Fiona Andersen.

Sometimes you just need to make things happen. Earlier in the year, Monique and I found ourselves on the couch watching Luke Nguyen travel around Vietnam, his country of birth.

It looked amazing and the food so fresh, simple and delicious.

Three months later, we closed the restaurant for two weeks and with the children in tow, we hit Vietnam, or rather, Vietnam hit us!

Little can prepare you for the chaos of Ho Chi Minh City: the people, scooters, few to no road rules and the 35degC heat.

But from the very first day it soon became apparent that the Vietnamese like to eat and we were in food heaven.

Open-air markets with fresh fruit, veges and greens.

Unrefrigerated stands of fresh fish, meat and offal, yet barely a fly to be seen!

Food stands, hawkers and small neighbourhood restaurants abounded.

The decor was virtually nonexistent, the amenities basic but the atmosphere intoxicating.

The children, possibly mesmerised by the selection of live toads, sea snails and all manner of unidentified goodies on offer, scoffed down frogs-leg kebabs without missing a beat.

Nine-year-old Noa became a bit of a pho addict and without fail breakfast began with a bowl of steaming noodles and highly flavoured broth.

With its French heritage, Vietnamese pastries were also hard to resist.

A beachside hawker took the prize with a small pastry cone filled with an apple-like custard for only 20c a pop. I managed to stop myself at four.

Fresh mangoes, intensely flavoured watermelon and other exotic fruit were all sold right on the beach. Local beer was delivered fresh daily for 30c a glass and I had the freshest squid I have ever eaten in my life!

All this combined with sunsets, water buffalo, crispy rice pancakes, copious amounts of cafe sua da (iced milk coffee) and a visit to the Banh Mi Queen restaurant in Hoi An have left us all with a headful of memories and a newfound respect for this remarkable country and its people.

If even only for a little while, what a way to live!

 


Seared squid with chilli lime dipping sauce
Serves 10 as a snack or 6 as a light starter

Ingredients

500g squid tubes
80ml peanut oil
sea salt and pepper
chilli lime dipping sauce
2 spring onions, finely sliced

Chilli lime dipping sauce

1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp sea salt 5-6 limes, zested and juiced
3 Tbsp fish sauce
3 tsp caster sugar

 

Method

Slice squid tubes in half, remove any internal membranes and score diagonally along the inner sides. Heat a little peanut oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a very high heat and cook squid quickly in batches, scored-side down, for 1 minute. Turn squid over and cook for a further 30 seconds. Remove from pan and set aside in a warm place. Once all the squid is cooked, sprinkle with spring onions, serve immediately with chilli lime dipping sauce.

Chilli lime dipping sauce

Using a mortar and pestle grind chilli flakes and salt until they become a fine powder. Add lime, fish sauce and sugar and muddle until sugar is dissolved. Keeps for 1 week in the refrigerator.

 


Vietnamese pho with beef and rice noodles
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 litres beef or chicken stock
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
head garlic, cut in half horizontally
4-5 pieces star anise
2 sticks cinnamon
4-5 whole cloves
onion, roughly chopped
carrot, roughly chopped
stick celery, roughly chopped
2-3 small dried chilli (or quarter of a tsp ground chilli)
juice of 4 limes (or juice of 2 lemons)
3-4 Tbsp fish sauce
150-200g rice noodles
200g lean beef steak, sinew and excess fat removed
½ bunch mint
½ bunch coriander
½ bunch garlic chives
2 bunches baby pak choi (or other Asian greens)
bunch basil

Extras to serve

ground chilli
fish sauce
coriander
salt
chilli sauce
lime or lemon wedges

 

Method

Place stock, vegetables and spices into a medium-sized pot and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, skimming off and discarding any scum and impurities as required. Strain stock into a clean pot, discard vegetables and spices and add lime juice and fish sauce to taste. Place noodles into a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 10 minutes before straining well. Slice beef very finely and scatter over the bottom of 4 deep bowls. Bring stock back to the boil and pour over the beef. Place hot noodles either in a separate bowl on the side or into the beef and stock. Serve pho immediately with herbs and greens on the side along with the extras of your choosing.

 


Pulled pork banh mi
Serves 2

Ingredients

2 200g focaccia buns or petite baguettes
4-5 Tbsp good quality mayonnaise
fish sauce to taste
¼ tsp ground chilli
4 Tbsp hot chilli sauce (we use sriracha)
½ cup lettuce or salad greens
¼ small red onion, finely sliced
1 cup slow-roasted pork, warmed
4-5 Tbsp pork rillette, brawn or head
cheese, optional but delicious
½ cup pickled vegetables
¼ small cucumber, thinly sliced

 

Method

Preheat oven to 200degC. Cut each bun in half and warm in oven for 3 minutes or until it just starts to become crusty on the outside. Remove bread from oven. Mix mayonnaise with fish sauce, ground chilli and half the sriracha sauce. Spread chilli mayo on the inside of each half-bun. Place salad greens and red onion on the bottom half of the bun, followed by warmed pork, rillette, pickled vegetables and cucumber. Spoon over remaining chilli sauce and top with the upper half of the bun. Serve immediately.


Bevan and Monique Smith own the award-winning Riverstone Kitchen cafe and restaurant on SH1 in North Otago, just south of the Waitaki bridge.


 

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