Hello Hanoi......Or in Vietnamese, Xin Chao Ha Noi.
I knew only a little of Veitnam before this trip, and that mainly centred around the Vietnam War and even less about Vietnamese food, the knowledge of which consisted really of a noodle soup called Pho (pronounced Far) and Vietnamese spring rolls.
Anyway after our visa was stamped and bags picked up we went to try and navigate to the city via public transport. You can pay to get a taxi into town, but we went for the cheaper option, which was the minibus. Basically stuffing as many people in a bus as possible and charging you 80,000 Dong per person to do so (about £2.). An hour later we were dropped at the hotel in the bustling old quarter, after picking up a map we wondered off to have our first taste of Vietnamese food. There were countless street stalls with hobbit sized plastic tables and chairs selling food, so we went for the one that looked the fullest with locals and asked for Pho, a soup made with a broth, rice noodles, bean sprouts, herbs, spring onions and if you want chicken and/or beef. It was delicious, a herby, spicy soup with enough carbs to fill you up and a clear broth that makes you feel healthier eating it. Yum.
For those wanting to make it, I've put a recipe below reliably informed from a lady in Hanoi, and a video on how you can put it together.
Anyway after food, we went to sightsee, and took in the Opera House, Temple of Literature, Water puppet show, flag tower and Hao Lo prison, otherwise known as the Hanoi Hilton. Albeit, if Ian was in charge of the tour instead of me, we would have ended up in the Hilton Hotel and not the prison...muppet! We spent the remainder of the day, meandering round Hanoi, trying to cross roads in the mental traffic and occasionally stopping off at one of the many street bars to drink glasses of Hanoi beer at about 20p each, a bargain!
As an FYi , Local beer in Hanoi is Bia Hanoi, and to ask for it in Vietnamese just say "Mot ly Bia (one beer please).
We ended our day in the old quarter, which turns into the night market and obviously a few more drinks!
Pho recipe
1. Stock/broth. To make this boil 2kg beef bones for 5 minutes and then rinse in hot water. Then put bones in another large pot with 2 litres of water, add 1 roasted onion (oven roasted for 30 minutes), 2 star anise, 20 grams of ginger, 2 cloves, 1 cardamom, 5 shallots, black pepper, 2 whole chillies, 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 50 grams of sugar. Bring to boil and simmer for at least 90 minutes, then drain through a fine
sieve so the broth should have no sediment.
2. Rice noodles (vermicelli is fine)
3. Bean sprouts
4. Coriander and Thai Basil
5. Spring onions
6. Chicken (cooked) and or beef tenderloin.
To put the soup together, place the noodles in the broth for about 1 minute, until soft, take out and place in soup bowl. Place handful of bean sprouts in broth for a few seconds and then remove and add to the bowl. Add spring onions to the bowl and then handful of cooked chicken (great if leftover from a Sunday lunch). (If you want you can finely slice some raw beef and add to the broth for a few minutes to cook and then add to your soup bowl.) Finally add some spring herbs and then ladle over some of the broth before adding more black pepper.
You should serve with wedges of lime and extra chilli/garlic sauce if additional heat required.
I knew only a little of Veitnam before this trip, and that mainly centred around the Vietnam War and even less about Vietnamese food, the knowledge of which consisted really of a noodle soup called Pho (pronounced Far) and Vietnamese spring rolls.
Anyway after our visa was stamped and bags picked up we went to try and navigate to the city via public transport. You can pay to get a taxi into town, but we went for the cheaper option, which was the minibus. Basically stuffing as many people in a bus as possible and charging you 80,000 Dong per person to do so (about £2.). An hour later we were dropped at the hotel in the bustling old quarter, after picking up a map we wondered off to have our first taste of Vietnamese food. There were countless street stalls with hobbit sized plastic tables and chairs selling food, so we went for the one that looked the fullest with locals and asked for Pho, a soup made with a broth, rice noodles, bean sprouts, herbs, spring onions and if you want chicken and/or beef. It was delicious, a herby, spicy soup with enough carbs to fill you up and a clear broth that makes you feel healthier eating it. Yum.
For those wanting to make it, I've put a recipe below reliably informed from a lady in Hanoi, and a video on how you can put it together.
Anyway after food, we went to sightsee, and took in the Opera House, Temple of Literature, Water puppet show, flag tower and Hao Lo prison, otherwise known as the Hanoi Hilton. Albeit, if Ian was in charge of the tour instead of me, we would have ended up in the Hilton Hotel and not the prison...muppet! We spent the remainder of the day, meandering round Hanoi, trying to cross roads in the mental traffic and occasionally stopping off at one of the many street bars to drink glasses of Hanoi beer at about 20p each, a bargain!
As an FYi , Local beer in Hanoi is Bia Hanoi, and to ask for it in Vietnamese just say "Mot ly Bia (one beer please).
We ended our day in the old quarter, which turns into the night market and obviously a few more drinks!
Pho recipe
sieve so the broth should have no sediment.
2. Rice noodles (vermicelli is fine)
3. Bean sprouts
4. Coriander and Thai Basil
5. Spring onions
6. Chicken (cooked) and or beef tenderloin.
To put the soup together, place the noodles in the broth for about 1 minute, until soft, take out and place in soup bowl. Place handful of bean sprouts in broth for a few seconds and then remove and add to the bowl. Add spring onions to the bowl and then handful of cooked chicken (great if leftover from a Sunday lunch). (If you want you can finely slice some raw beef and add to the broth for a few minutes to cook and then add to your soup bowl.) Finally add some spring herbs and then ladle over some of the broth before adding more black pepper.
You should serve with wedges of lime and extra chilli/garlic sauce if additional heat required.
The stock is the longest to cook, but I was also told that you can use good beef, chicken or veg stock, rather than make your own.
Ingredients for the Vietnamese rolls
Vietnamese spring rolls
The rolls are relatively easy to make, but you do want a good dripping sauce. Of course you can use chilli sauce or even soy but my favourite is Nuoc Cham.
Nuoc Cham dipping sauce
- 5 tablespoons of lime juice
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
- 5 tablespoons of shallot oil
- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- Half a red chilli finely chopped
Ingredients for the Vietnamese rolls
- julienned carrots
- julienned cucumber
- fried pork mince with chilli, shallot, salt and pepper
- vermicelli noodles (rehydrated in water)
- rice paper
- sliced omelette
- sautéed vegetables (finely chopped) for vegetarians
- cooked prawns
- coriander, thai basil or mint.
To make the rolls, take the rice paper and rehydrate in water if necessary. Place the noodles at the centre of the paper towards the bottom, add a mixture of the ingredients above, whatever you fancy. I personally like, pork, carrots, coriander. Then roll like a cigar, place in dipping sauce and eat.
Yummm! Away this weekend but plan to make next week and then will send you a pic of the end result. Keep 'em coming!
ReplyDelete