Earth, Wind and Fire

After Hanoi, we left to visit one of the seven wonders of the natural world and a UNESCO heritage site, Halong Bay.  There are many cruise operators that service tourists wishing to see the bay, we chose one of the cheapest, which was Paragon cruises and cost £120 for one night and two day cruise for two people.  For this we got all our food, kayaking, monkey bay, a cruise of the area and bus transfer to and from Hanoi.  It is beautiful, well worth a visit and you will make some new friends along the way, even if you think it is a tad overpriced.  Beware, drinks (including water) is not included and are western prices, best to pick up some beers en route and place in your bag before getting on board.

Anyway, whilst listening to the tour guide Wan talk about the history of Vietnam and Halong Bay on the 4 hour bus journey, he mentioned the flag of Vietnam and how the star had 5 points to represent the 5 types of people in Vietnam - intellectuals, businessmen, farmers, workers and the military. It also represents the 5 elements - wood, fire, earth, metal and water. I read somewhere sometime ago that in some cuisines and indeed centuries ago in England, a yin-yang balance (or equivalent) is appled to the preparing and cooking of meals as it was/is considered to be beneficial to the health of the human body.  This must be applied then to Vietnamese cuisine, right?

Indeed it is, I learned.  There are 5 fundamental taste elements in Vietnamese food - spicy (metal), sour (wood) bitter (fire), salty (water) and sweet (earth) and so most meals contain ingredients that are affiliated to one of the elements.

In addition, most meals try to have 5 colours, normally white (metal), green (wood), yellow (earth), red (fire) and black (water).  In honour of the yin-yang balance, below is a meal I made with a lot of direction from a chef who took me to a local market to purchase the ingredients.

Green papaya and Mango salad with prawns.

Salad:

- 100 grams julienned papaya (green)

- 50 grams julienned carrots (orange)

- 50 grams julienned mango (yellow)

- 1/2 small white onion (white)

- 1 chilli deseeded and thinly sliced (red)

Cut all the vegetables, but rinse the cut papaya and carrots in water before adding the other ingredients.

Salad dressing:

- 5 tablespoons of lime juice

- 1 tablespoon of sugar

- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce

- 10 tablespoons of shallot oil

- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

- Half a red chilli finely chopped

Mix the dressing and taste, add more of any of the ingredients if you feel the balance is not quite right.  Place of the salad and toss together.

Prawns:

- Add a little oil to a frying pan and heat.  

- Add 1 clove of garlic chopped then add 6 prawns (peeled and deveined).  

- Add 1/4 teaspoon curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon of oyster sauce, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and a little water. 

- Cook for about 3 minutes or until prawns are cooked through.

To serve, place the dressed salad (as much as you want) on a plate, then scatter over
some chopped peanuts, add the prawns on top and a final shake of black pepper, finely chopped spring onions and some mint leaves or chilli.

I know papaya can be difficult to come by, but the papaya and mango can be replaced with other vegetables - cucumber, peppers, grapefruit, orange etc, you just have to try and remember that it should have 5 different colours.