I've been making my wife traditional Vietnamese dinners and here are some photos (1 Viewer)

JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Some of those ingredients are a bit hard to come by, but will still give it a go in a few weeks. Looks the sort of meal that would get even better marinating in the fridge after cooking.

Seems like fish sauce may also be called Thai fish sauce over in the UK


Maybe amazon.uk could sort younas a source for some ingredients that aren't perishable?

Best wishes and good luck.
 

JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Also, to give a fair warning fish sauce is incredibly concentrated, salty, and very fishy.
A little goes a long way for most recipes.
 

JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Been a little while but we haven't had anything new Vietnamese to really showcase.

So I'll sidetrack, and I appreciate your indulgence.

Today is the anniversary of my father's passing away 14 years ago. On these anniversaries, as my wife's family's religious cultural tradition does for their honored deceased, the family prepares a meal. Elaborate or simple. My wife was by my side all those years ago when he passed due to prolonged health issues aged 60. Every year since, she and I have prepared the traditional dinner for his anniversary. Incense is lit, prayers are said. She will approach it in her Bhuddist fashion, while I take it in the Catholic approach of praying for the repose of his soul. As she explains, the deceased is invited back to a meal, and is present, enjoying the meal until the incense sticks finally burn out. Dinners have varied over the years, but he aways preferred simple meats n potatoes type meals. For tonight, he enjoyed some toad in the hole, mashed potato, carrots, with fruit and rum raisin ice cream for after. 2 cups of water, 1 of Scotch whiskey.

He was a massive Sky Blue, of course. And requested to be buried in his favorite Coventry top (the '98[?] away purple yellow stripes Isuzu), so was buried in said kit with denim jeans. I thought tonight he could have the opportunity to switch it to wear his other favorite top if he wished, so it's neatly folded just in case. Miss you Dad.

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JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Cổ gà - Chicken necks; simmered in fish sauce (of course) but this time with some red wine 🍷 for added bouquet, and an onion mushroom mix as well. She didn't think I'd really enjoy the necks so we added a breast as well. The necks don't taste bad, I just was a bit frustrated from the very thin layer of meat felt like I was working way too hard for too little reward so found it more annoying than anything else.

Also featured a peanut / shrimp paste, which is sweet, shrimpy, salty, spicy.

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Tonight's meal got us discussing, and she wants some chicken feet next. Stay tuned, maybe I'll make that happen in the next few weeks.
 

JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Canh chua- a sour fish soup.

Tamarind is the major player for the sour broth, combined with pineapple, spongy elephant ear stalk (taro), and tomato. Catfish is the ordinary fresh fish of choice, though any fresh fish would do. Fish steak rather than chopped nuggets or filet gives it a powerful look. Thai basil leaves, rau ram (Vietnamese coriander), limes, green onion, chili oil, and fresh pineapple with bark for garnish. Served over white rice for further substance.

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JohnWH

Well-Known Member
We had fun tonight with some simple fare.

Gỏi đu đủ tôm - green papaya & shrimp salad. Peeled and sliced unripe papaya is mixed with shredded carrots. A dressing of sugar, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, chopped mint, and red pepper. A delight served cold or room temperature for a warm sunny summer or early autumn day.

Gỏi cuốn- a simple spring roll. The rice paper is moistened, add fillings, then rolled up. Typically in years past we've had pork belly, large shrimps, rice vermicelli noodle as fillings (which seems to be the common variety). She wanted just chicken tonight, no noodles. So, chicken, basil, mint, cucmber, radish, avocado, and a specific firm type of green onion from the Asian market made tonight's fillings.

The papaya salad as well as the spring rolls are versatile in ingredients to suit individual preferences. Like, some recipes for the papaya salad included shredded pork, or beef jerky. Not my style though.

Also featuring various dips for the spring rolls- a sweet housing, spicy, peanut sauce; straight shrimp paste, and Nước chấm vinegar/ fish sauce, all previously mentioned in the thread. Oh, and fresh pineapple for after.
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wingy

Well-Known Member
We had fun tonight with some simple fare.

Gỏi đu đủ tôm - green papaya & shrimp salad. Peeled and sliced unripe papaya is mixed with shredded carrots. A dressing of sugar, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, chopped mint, and red pepper. A delight served cold or room temperature for a warm sunny summer or early autumn day.

Gỏi cuốn- a simple spring roll. The rice paper is moistened, add fillings, then rolled up. Typically in years past we've had pork belly, large shrimps, rice vermicelli noodle as fillings (which seems to be the common variety). She wanted just chicken tonight, no noodles. So, chicken, basil, mint, cucmber, radish, avocado, and a specific firm type of green onion from the Asian market made tonight's fillings.

The papaya salad as well as the spring rolls are versatile in ingredients to suit individual preferences. Like, some recipes for the papaya salad included shredded pork, or beef jerky. Not my style though.

Also featuring various dips for the spring rolls- a sweet housing, spicy, peanut sauce; straight shrimp paste, and Nước chấm vinegar/ fish sauce, all previously mentioned in the thread. Oh, and fresh pineapple for after.
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Looks like a veritable feast tbf, but what is that in the last picture?
 

JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Mother in law gave us a large bag of egg rolls I believe the aunt made. So fried them all up.

chả giò- what we'd call an egg roll. I'd seen it typically filled with a pork mixture with vegetable, but there's likely as many different styles as there are flavor preferences. Can be eatem by hand dipped into this fresh mixed batch of sauce you patient readers will recognize as nước chấm. Or, as we commonly do as you see below, chopped and atop rice noodle. I grabbed myself a plate, topped with just a few mint shreds, and drizzled with the nước chấm. My wife was smarter, grabbing a bowl. And she added fried onion.

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JohnWH

Well-Known Member
Welcome back, foodie lurkers.

What I thought would take 45 minutes tops ended up taking almost 2 and a half hours, with prep and my own mismanagement. Got great feedback from the wife, so that helps.

Gà Nướng - baked and broiled chicken. The seasoning / marinade included spicy chili, garlic, and cinnamon. Did a bit of rotunda of assorted vegetables for side item.

Cà Tím Hấp Mỡ Hành - steamed eggplant. Topped with fresh green onion + fried red onion, after steaming sautéed briefly with chili oil and the red chilis for oompf. The wife gave me notes after-the-fact not to "toss" the eggplants as they are fragile once cooked, oops.

Bánh Tôm Chiên Khoai Lang - the highlight, but also the most frustrating. Battered. Tapioca. Fried sweet potato & shrimp 🍤 fritters. I love fried foods, but never fry things at home. Our cooktop seems to have an unreliable heat, and the oil wasn't quite hot enough for the first batch. The rest turned out nice and crispy. I thought a Mắm Tôm shrimp paste dip sauce would go well with it, but the nước chấm was soo much better. "Tasted Vietnamese" she said, so mission accomplished...


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Also, for spooky Halloween fun, the spiders my wife made:

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