Cuisine of Vietnam

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This article is part of the Cuisine series
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Vietnamese cuisine is famous for its common use of fish sauce, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Vietnamese recipes use many vegetables, herbs and spices, including lemon grass, lime and kaffir lime. Throughout all regions the emphasis is always on serving fresh vegetables and/ or fresh herbs as side dishes along with dipping sauce. The Vietnamese also have a number of Buddhist vegetarian dishes. The most common meats used in Vietnamese cuisine are pork, beef, prawns, various kinds of tropical fish, and chicken. Duck is used less widely.

The three regions

Vietnamese cuisine can be basically divided into three categories, each pertaining to a specific region. Northern Vietnamese cooking tends to be much simpler in preparation in comparison to food of the Central and South, and features a lot of stir-frys, employing more often the use of soy sauce as well (Northern cuisine is generally more Chinese influenced). Due to the North being historically poorer, variations of national foods are served less abundantly (in terms of ingredients) in the north. Southern Vietnamese cooking has an extensive use of different kinds of vegetables, fish, and other seafood, it typically also holds the most French influence. Lastly, Central Vietnamese cooking is perhaps the most unique of all and probably the most distinct in taste - being much, much spicier than its Northern and Southern counterparts, as well as being much more colorful. Central cooking is also obviously influenced by the royal setting (therefore by the little-known royal Vietnamese cooking), being not only very spicy and colorful but focusing on a multitude of small side dishes set on the table at once. The more dishes on a family table, the wealthier that particular family was.

\"Unusual\" Meats

The consumption of meats such as snake, dog, turtle, and the like are a phenomenon enjoyed almost exclusively as "cocktail delicacies" with alcohol, and are not considered mainstream meats.

The typical Vietnamese family meal

A typical meal for a normal Vietnamese family would include:

• A carmelized meat or fish dish
• A stir-fried vegetable dish
• A large bowl of rice to share amongst the family (each person has their own small bowls and wooden chopsticks)
• Small bowls of fish sauce and soy sauce
• A large bowl of soup to share amongst the family (as typical in Vietnamese cuisines the soup is most often a clear broth with vegetables and meats)

Typically, some people eat sitting on the floor, usually on a special mat that is rolled out to create the eating place.

Popularity of Vietnamese Cuisine

Vietnamese cuisine is widely available in the United States, Canada, France, Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and Russia, whilst also popular in areas with dense Asian populations.

In recent years it has become popular in other Asian countries such as South Korea, Laos, etc.

Noodle Soups

Vietnamese cuisine boasts a huge variety of noodle soups, each with influences and origins from every corner of the country and each with a distinct and special taste. A common characteristic of many of these soups is a rich yet very clear broth.

Popular Vietnamese Dishes

Popular Vietnamese dishes include:

• Bò 7 Món: Vietnamese seven courses of Beef. Typically served at weddings. A less popular version is the Ca 7 Mon (Cá 7 Món) - or, seven courses of fish. These multi-course meals are on the more higher-eating end of Vietnamese cuisine.

• Pho (Phở) – beef noodle soup, one out of a multitude of Vietnamese soup noodle dishes, it is arguably the most widely known Vietnamese dish. It is a beef noodle soup with a rich, clear broth achieved from hours upon hours of boiling bones and different herbs. There are many varieties of pho, with different selections of meats (most commonly beef and chicken) along with beef balls. Pho is typically served in bowls with white rice noodle, chopped white onion along with spring onion, beef balls simmered in the broth, (in pho tai) slices of raw beef (to be cooked by the boiling hot broth), and then of course the broth itself.

Pho is often garnished on the side (more typically in the style of the South) with bean sprouts, lime wedges and other herbs. While typically eaten for breakfast in Vietnam, in other countries it is eaten for lunch and dinner as well.

• Banh Bao (Bánh bao) Steamed bun dumpling that can be stuffed with onion, mushrooms, vegetables, etc. Banh bao is an adaption from the Chinese baozi to fit Vietnamese taste. Exclusively vegetable banh bao are also available. Vegetarian banh bao are popular food in Buddhist temples.

Typical stuffings for banh bao include slices of marinated "xa xieu" (from Chinese cooking) meat, tiny boiled duck eggs or quail eggs, and pork.

• Banh Chung (Bánh Chưng) Sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves and stuffed with mung beans, fatty pork and black sesame seeds, traditionally eaten during the Lunar New Year (Tet) The south Vietnamese version typically has various other ingredients added and is known as bánh Tet; however, this name seems to generally refer to bánh chung.
• Banh Mi Thit (Bánh Mì Thịt) Vietnamese Sandwich, French bread containing paté, Vietnamese mayo, different selections of Vietnamese cold cuts and deli (a large variety, most commonly with ham, head cheese, and a Vietnamese bologna), pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber slices. Often garnished with coriander, black pepper, and jalapeño pepper (optional). This food is common everywhere in Vietnam as a favorite of factory workers and school kids and eaten for any meal of the day, commonly breakfast and lunch.

There are a wide variety of banh mi (with different meats) and many shops have popped up across North America serving primarily Banh mi. The most popular Banh Mi include:

• Banh Mi Siu Mai (Banh Mi with big, juicy meatballs)
• Banh Mi Xa Xieu (BBQ Pork)
• Breakfast Banh Mi: either with fried scrambled eggs wrapped within, or the more popular version eaten widely for breakfast in Vietnam: Eggs fried sunny-side-up with onions, sprinkled with Soy sauce or Maggi Sauce, and eaten with a fresh (and sometimes buttered) baguette.
• Banh Xeo (Bánh Xèo) Crepe made out of rice flour, coconut milk, and spring onions. It is pan-fried like the American omelet but stuffed with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts (among other ingredients). Served wrapped with lettuce leaves and stuffed with mint (optional) and other herbs, and dipped in Nước chấm. It is one of the few dishes with a French influence.
• Bun Bo Hue (Bún Bò Huế) – Spicy beef noodle soup originated from the Royal Hue City of Central Vietnam. The rice noodle used in this soup is different (much thicker) from the one used in Pho. The broth is from cooking beef bones for a long period of time, as well as a large variety of different spices including lemongrass. Often served with mint leaves, bean sprouts, lime wedges and lettuce.

While both Bun Bo Hue and Pho are beef based soups, their broths are vastly different due to different spices (and other ingredients eaten in the soup). Bun Bo Hue is like the extremely spicy and hearty version to what is often a much lighter (and more mild, in comparison) Pho. The broth in Bun Bo Hue, unlike pho - also gives off a reddish tint.

• Com tam (Cơm tấm) – Grilled pork (either ribs or shredded) plus a Vietnamese dish called bi (bì) (thinly shredded pork mixed with cooked and thinly shread pork skin) over broken rice (what the words "com tam" actually mean in Vietnamese). The rice and meat are served with various greens and pickled vegetables, along with a prawn paste cake, chung hap (trứng hấp) (Vietnamese adaptation of Chinese Egg Foo Young), and grilled prawns. Typically restaurants will serve this popular combination rice plate with a small bowl of Nước chấm, as well as a small bowl of soup broth with spring onions (to cleanse the throat).

A fried egg sunny-side-up is sometimes substituted for the chung hap.

• Spring rolls aka Egg roll (Nem Rán or Chả giò) – deep fried flour rolls filled with pork meat, Vietnamese yam, crab, shrimp, rice vermicelli, mushrooms ("wood ear" variety) and other ingredients. The spring roll goes by many names - as many people actually use (falsely) the word "spring roll" while referring to the fresh transparent paper rolls (discussed below as "Summer Rolls") that are dipped in water to soften and then rolled up with various ingredients. Traditionally these rolls are made with a rice paper wrapper but in recent years Vietnamese chefs have changed the recipe to use a flour based wrapper as used in Filipino Lumpia rolls. The spring roll discussed here is more accurately described as yet another variant of the egg roll (found in China, Japan, among other places).
• Summer rolls aka Spring rolls (Gỏi cuốn) also known as Vietnamese fresh rolls. They are rice paper rolls that often include shrimp, herbs, rice vermicelli and other ingredients wrapped up and dipped in Nước chấm or peanut sauce.

Spring rolls almost constitute an entire category of Vietnamese foods, as there are numerous different kinds of spring rolls with different ingredients in them. They include:

• Bi cuon: (Rice paper rolls with the bi (bì) mixture of thinly shredded pork and thinly shredded pork skin, among other ingredients, along with salad)
• Bo bia (Bò bía): Fried daikon and carrots, Chinese sausage, shredded scrambled eggs, all wrapped with vermicelli noodle in a rice paper roll. Dipped into a spicy peanut sauce (with freshly roasted and grounded peanuts).
• Ca cuon (Cá cuốn): A roll with fish and spring onions.
• Bo la lot (Bò lá lót): not strictly a spring roll, but rather spiced beef rolled in betel leaf and grilled.

• Bun Thit Nuong (Bún Thịt Nướng): One of the more popular (and simple) Vietnamese dishes, basically a combination Vermicelli plate, a kind of vermicelli counterpart to Cơm Tấm. Grilled pork (often shredded) and vermicelli noodles over a bed of greens (salad and sliced cucumber), herbs and bean sprouts. Also often include a few chopped up egg rolls, spring onions, and shrimp. Served with roasted peanuts on top and a small bowl of Nước Chấm.
• Nem Nuong (Nem nướng): Special Vietnamese BBQ Meatballs. Often reddish in color and with a distinct taste, grilled on skewers like kabobs. Ingredients in the marinade include fish sauce.
• Chao tom: Prawn paste/cake on sugarcane.
• Goi (Gỏi): Vietnamese salad. Many varieties with the most popular including:
• Goi Du Du (Gỏi Đu Đủ): Vietnamese papaya salad typically with shredded papaya, shrimp, slices of pork, herbs, and with a more vinegar-based rendition of Nước Chấm.
• Goi Hue Rau Muong (Gỏi Huế Rau Muống): a salad dish originating from Hue (Central Vietnam), including water spinach (Rau Muong).
• Mi Xao Don (Mì Xào Dòn): Crispy deep fried egg noodles, topped with a wide array of seafood, vegetables and shrimp in a delicious gravy sauce.
• Ga xa (Gà Xả): Lemongrass chicken. Lemongrass beef and other meats are also popular variations.
• Bo Luc Lac (Bò lục lặc): Beef cut into cubes and marinated, served over greens, and sauteed onions and tomatoes. Eaten with rice. Another dish with French influence.
• Sup Mang Cua (Súp Măng Cua): A creamy bamboo-crab soup. Served typically as a first dish at banquets.
• Banh Cuon (Bánh cuốn): Rice flour rolls and/or pancakes sometimes stuffed with ground pork and onion. They are eaten in a variety of ways with many side dishes, including one out of a million kinds of Cha (Chả), which are Vietnamese meats spiced and flavored in a multitude of ways -often ground to a paste and cooked. Cha is often referred to as Vietnamese sausages or sometimes steamed paté rolls. Banh Cuon is also often eaten with a shrimp and sweet potato pastry called Bánh Tôm Chiên Khoai, as well as a deep fried bread and shrimp pastry called Bánh Cống.
• Chao (Cháo): Rice congee which is basically prepared in the same way as the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese. There are also a variety of different broths and meats used, including duck, chicken, etc.

Congee for Vietnamese is also eaten with poached eggs, bean sprouts, spring onions, deep fried bread sticks, etc. More exotic Vietnamese versions include Eel congee.

• Vietnamese hotpot: a spicy variation of the Vietnamese sour soup, with many vegetables, meats and seafood, as well as some spicy herbs. Also called lau (lẩu).
• Banh beo (Bánh Bèo): a central Vietnamese dish consisting of tiny and round rice flour pancakes, each served in a tiny round dish. They are topped with minced shrimp and other smaller ingredients. Dipped in Nước chấm.
• Com Chien Duong Chau (Cơm Chiên Dương Châu): a very popular and commonly eaten Vietnamese adaptation of the Chinese "Yang Chow fried rice".
• Mi Bo Vien (Mì Bò Viên): Chinese influenced egg noodle soup with beef balls, shrimp, and (sometimes) won tons.
• Bun Cha Hanoi (Bún Chả Hànội): Similar to Bun Thit Nuong, Bun Cha Hanoi comes from the Northern capital of Hanoi. The difference being that the pork meat is ground and marinated, then rolled into balls, grilled and left in a bowl of Nước chấm along with pickled vegetables, daikon and carrot. The meat balls are especially savoury, having truly soaked in the sauce. It is eaten with vermicelli and greens.
• Banh Hoi (Bánh Hỏi): A special Vietnamese noodle that is extremely thin and woven into intricate bundles. Often topped with spring onion and a complementary meat dish.
• Thit heo quay (Thịt heo quay): BBQ pork, often eaten at weddings (and with Banh hoi)
• Thit vit quay (Thịt vịt quay): Roast duck, eaten over rice.
• Com Ga Rau Thom (Cơm Gà Rau Thơm): Vietnamese mint chicken rice. Rice cooked in chicken stock and topped with a mint (and other herbs) fried chicken (which is shredded). The rice has a unique texture and taste which the fried mint garnish enhances. Served with a special herb sauce on the side.
• Cafe Sua Da (Cà phê sữa) – strong coffee most often served with sweetened condensed milk at the bottom of the cup to be stirred in. A Vietnamese favorite.
• Banh bot loc (Bánh bột lọc): A Hue food, consisting of tiny rice dumplings made in a clear rice flour batter, often in a small, kind of flat tube shape. Stuffed with shrimp and grounded pork. It is wrapped and cooked inside bananna leaf, served often as Vietnamese hors d'oeuvres at more casual buffet-type parties.
• Mi quang (Mì Quảng): A very popular yet extremely complicated egg noodle soup dish. Also originating from Quang Nam, Mi Quang varies in its preparation and features very sharply contrasting flavors and textures in (if prepared properly) a shallowly filled bowl of broth, noodles, herbs, vegetables, and chips.

Desserts

• Che is a sweet congee, served as a dessert. There are a huge variety of Che available, each with different fruits, beans and other ingredients used. Che can be served cold, cool or hot.

Che does not always necessarily mean sweet congee either, but a variety of sweet sauces, gelatins, and exotic Vietnamese fruits assembled and prepared in a huge variety of ways.

More Vietnamese Dishes

• Bun Rieu (Bún riêu) – noodle soup made of thin rice noodles and topped with crab and shrimp paste, in a broth that includes tomatoes or (the original variant) chilis. Served with bean sprout, prawn paste, mint leaves, whole-leaf lettuce.
• Banh canh a thick rice noodle soup with a more basic broth. Often includes pork, crab, chicken, shrimp, spring onions and freshly sauteed onions sprinkled on top.
• Mam: fermented fish in various styles.
• Bo kho (Bò kho): Vietnamese beef and vegetable stew, often cooked with warm, spicy herbs and served very hot with French baguettes for dipping.
• Prawn paste cake (Cha tom): (a variant of the Chao tom, eaten often with Com tam)
• Thit/Ca Kho (Thịt/Cá kho): A standard Vietnamese dish for families, thit/ca kho is braised meat (often pork) or fish in a sweet and tangy caramel sauce.
• Canh Chua: Vietnamese sour soup, a milder version of the hotpot - typically with vegetables, shrimp, meat, pineapples, etc.
• Bun Mang Vit (Bùn Măng Vịt): Bamboo and duck noodle soup.
• Crab and lobster in a lemongrass oyster sauce, and spring onions.
• Nem Nguoi (Nem Nguội): A Hue dish and a variation of the Nem nuong meatballs, these also come from Central Vietnam. They are chilled, small and rectangular in shape, and stuffed with vermicelli. The reddish meat is covered with peppers and typically a chilli. Very spicy, eaten almost exclusively as a cocktail snack.
• Bun Oc (Bún Ốc): Vermicelli with snails.
• Banh Bot Chien (Bánh Bột Chiên): A Chinese influenced pastry with many versions all over Asia, the Vietnamese version features a special tangy soy sauce on the side.
• Paté Chaud: A French inspired meat-filled pastry. Characterized by flaky crust and either pork or chicken as the filling.
• Cha-lua: sausage made with pork, potato starch and fish sauce.

Vegetables

• Chayote
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Daikon
• Water spinach/ rau muống
• Bok choy
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Bitter melon

Fruits

• Durian (sầu riêng)
• Jackfruit (mít)
• Pitaya - dragon fruit (thanh long)
• Lychee (vải)
• Longan (nhãn)
• Tomato (cà chua)
• Rambutan (chôm chôm)
• Mango (trái xoài)
• Mangosteen (măng cụt)
• Guava (ổi)
• Sweetsop (na/mãng cầu)
• Soursop (mãng cầu xiêm)
• Water apple (mận)
• Star fruit (khế)
• Watermelon (dưa hấu)
• Langsat (bòn bon)
• Acerola (xê-ri)
• Sapodilla (hồng xiêm/xa-pô-chê)
• Pomelo (bưởi)
• Spondias cytherea; see Spondias genus (cóc)
• Green star apple (vú sữa)
• Persimmon (hồng)
• Papaya (đu đủ)

Herbs

• Basil
• Coriander leaves
• Lemon grass
• Ngo gai (saw leaf herb)
• Ngo om (rice paddy herb)
• Rau răm (Vietnamese Coriander)
• Thai Basil
• Coconut milk
• Cilantro
• Long coriander
• Mint

Condiments

• Hoisin sauce
• Nước chấm - Means Dipping Sauce. Made chiefly from fish sauce, chili peppers, sugar, lime or lemon juice or vinegar, and garlic. It is a popular sauce in Vietnamese cuisine.
• Soy sauce
• Fish sauce

Other ingredients

• Rice paper
• Maggi sauce

See also

• Cooking

External links

• [TheTasteOfAsia.com: Vietnamese Recipe Brochure]
• [Directory of Vietnamese Restaurants and Food Guide]
• [wokme.com Asian Cooking Guide - Vietnamese Cuisine]
• [Introduction to Vietnamese Cuisine]
• [Vietnamese recipes]
• [From gutter grub to gourmet tables. Noodlepie is a blog about scoff 'n' swill in Saigon]
• [Small collection of Vietnamese recipes]
• [Playing with My Food]
• Nguyen,Andrew;Moriyama, Yukiko.2003. 'Vietnamese Home Cooking for Everyone'. Japan, Joie Inc.

 

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