Entries tagged with 'Vietnam'
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As Pinkberry, Red Mango and a thousand imitators battle it out for yogurt supremacy, the Vietnamese have been quietly making their own addictively sharp (but non-frozen) yogurt snack, da ua, or sua chua, for decades. Diane from White on Rice Couple shows us how it's done. The secret ingredient? Sweetened condensed milk. The star player in dulce de leche mellows the tang and gives the yogurt a silky, gently set consistency. Sprinkled with in-season pomegranate seeds, as Diane serves hers, it makes an unusual alternative to the pomegranate yogurts now making the soft-serve rounds....
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Photograph from noodlepie on Flickr As part of a continuing campaign to make Hanoi "green, clean, and beautiful," the local Vietnamese government implemented a partial ban on street vending, effective July 1. But what is downtown Hanoi without the street food? According to blogger Graham Holliday of noodlepie, "you take the food off the street and you just have street." A potentially more sanitary, but way less delicious, very sad street. Next to frenetic motorbike taxis, hawking pho and fruits gives Hanoi its heartbeat. Vending is also an important part of many Vietnamese livelihoods, but as Hanoi becomes increasingly built-up and developed, supermarkets will displace the traditional markets and street vendors as the city hopes to embrace a spic and...
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Living in Saigon, I’m constantly adding new Vietnamese words to my vocabulary. It’s fascinating how some terms stick straightaway, while others, regardless of how many times I run into them, refuse to integrate into my lexicon. For instance, I can’t seem to remember the words for menu, even though I ask to see one practically every day. However, just one tasty encounter with soft-shell crabs was all it took for the words cua lot to be forever seared into my mind. I guess the part of my brain that processes new information is directly connected to my taste buds. I visited Quán 94, a restaurant specializing in crabs, a few weeks back with a travel journalist named Peter. I...
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One of the aspects that I appreciate most about Vietnamese cuisine is that nothing goes to waste. From bones to meat to blood and guts, each and every part of an animal is put to good culinary use. Cháo lòng turns piggy odds and ends that most butchers would toss out with the garbage into hearty and soothing rice porridge. Cháo Lòng is one of the rare offerings in Saigon that is served from morning until evening. The dish is hot, satisfying and easy on the pocket at only 6,000 VND a bowl. Street vendors dishing up cháo lòng can be easily spotted with their giant metal vats and glass display cases filled with piles of offal and stacks...
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There are some very interesting meats available for consumption in Southeast Asia. I’ve seen bugs, ostriches, dogs, snakes, bats, and even cats for sale. While I draw the line at domesticated animals and insects, I’ll pretty much eat everything else, just as long as it was prepared with love, looks appetizing, and smells good. With the year of the rat in full swing, a group of friends and I recently ventured outside our comfort zones to try a Mekong Delta specialty—mouse. The breed of mice served in local restaurants are not native to the city and are in fact from the countryside. These mice resided in rice fields and feasted on whole grains prior to meeting their makers. If...
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One would imagine that in a society where roughly 85% of the people are practicing Buddhists, vegetarian restaurants could be found on every corner. While this may be true in some parts of Asia, it is certainly not the case in Saigon, where eateries specializing in com chay are few and far between. Exceptions to this general trend appear on the first and fifteenth of each Lunar Calendar month, when all Buddhists shy away from meat. On these particularly auspicious days, nearly all workers’ lunch establishments (com binh dan) serve vegetarian options....
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Photograph from johnlemon on Flickr I woke up super-duper early this morning to witness a very special tradition—the making of Bánh Tét. With the Lunar New Year days away, my grandma’s sister and her two daughters-in-law gathered for their annual ritual of making this holiday specialty....
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Bánh cóng comprises mung beans, shredded taro root, and shrimp with heads, tails, and skin intact. Each ingredient is layered in the deep, metal ladle and dipped in a saffron and scallion batter before meeting the scalding-hot oil.
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After six months of living in Saigon, I haven’t even come close to sampling all of the fruits and vegetables available. I love how every "season" brings a plethora of new delights to try. Sugar apples have been my favorite fruit for quite some time, but they may soon be replaced by
vú sữa.
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Dalat Central Market in Dalet, Vietnam looks like a produce lover's dreamland. Photographer Jen Maiser suggests viewing it large for the full effect....
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