Vietnam Left Me Wanting More
Some cuisines have balance down to a science. Flavors meld with each other, hitting each of the five areas of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. Vietnam is the world’s fifteenth most populous country, stretching from China, along the South China Sea, and wrapping under Cambia all the way to the Gulf of Thailand. It’s just over 1000 miles long, and 30 miles wide at its narrowest point.
Vietnamese cuisine is both unique, but also influenced heavily by other cultures. Much as we saw with Macau and the Portuguese, France had a penchant for colonization and Vietnam was ruled by the French as part of French Indochina from 1887 to 1954. The influence of the French has had a lasting impact on Vietnamese cuisine with remarkable pastries and iconic foods such as the Bánh Mì.
The main thing I learned about Vietnamese food was that it’s a sleeper in that once you start trying more and more dishes, you awaken to a fresh, vibrant cuisine that is satisfying at every level, somehow subtle and bold at the same time. All recipes this week are from the cookbook Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, by Andrea Nguyen.
The first things we made was a Ginger and Chicken in Caramel Sauce. Your first thought is that this would be sweet, but I didn’t find it to be at all. The caramel is sugar and water cooked down into a bittersweet syrup. It is then rehydrated some with additional water, so while it has some viscosity, it isn’t syrupy. It was a bit of work making the caramel, but I later found that it is a very common ingredient and making a full batch payed off in saved time later in the week.
As a side, we made a lightly pickled salad of bean sprouts and carrots. This was the perfect foil to any sweetness that may have been in the chicken. I must have eaten nearly half a pound of sprouts as it was so refreshing that it lifted the entire meal.
The next night we made fresh spring rolls. These were really pretty easy and FULL of flavor, especially with the spicy hoisin dipping sauce. Inside is rice noodles, salad greens, fresh herbs, slices of marinated pork, and shrimp. As you will see, it was a great first exposure to fresh herbs being central to a dish.
Grilled, marinated pork noodle bowls is a dish that order every month or so from our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. It’s my favorite thing on their menu and hands down my favorite thing I cooked this week. The pork was marinated in shallots, sugar, and fish sauce, then grilled or broiled. I broiled mine on wire racks in my oven. It’s served with rice noodles, tons of fresh herbs and greens (pictured is mint, cilantro, perilla leaf, cucumber, and red leaf lettuce) and a sauce made of fish sauce, lime juice, and a hint of chilis. The idea is to place the ingredients out and let everyone build their own bowl.
Finally, we capped the week off with soup. This was called chicken dumpling soup, but contrary to the Western world’s idea of dumplings, this time the chicken was the dumpling. It started by marinating chicken breast, thighs, and some leftover pork shoulder in a fish sauce base with tapioca and baking powder. Then before making the soup, everything was turned into a paste in the food processor. The soup is a very simple broth of sautéed onions and water, seasoned later by a bit of fish sauce. The meat paste is formed into balls with two spoons and cooked in the broth. At the end, I added fresh chrysanthemum leaves and a ton of black pepper. The soup was subtle yet full of flavor. The texture of meatballs is the real star here. They are very similar to the fish balls found all over Southeast Asia.
I had no idea just how much I would like the food of Vietnam and I can’t wait to continue exploring this cookbook. The freshness of everything we ate this week felt like it ushered in Spring.
Join us next time as we shift to a more regionally focused series for a couple of months. We’ll be diving into the countries of the Mediterranean Basin in an effort to eat a little healthier and fresh leading up to the summer.