Braised Mushrooms with Soy Sauce 49
Soups
Beef and Pork Leg Soup 51
Hanoi Chicken Noodle Soup 52
Beef Noodle Soup 54
Crab Soup with Tofu and Rice Noodles 57
Cabbage Roll Soup 58
Preserved Pork Head Meat 58
Clam Soup with Starfruit and Herbs 60
Vegetables and Rice
Grilled Eggplant Salad with Crabmeat 62
Fried Tofu with Lemongrass and Five Spice 64
Stir-fried Vegetables with Fish Sauce 64
Pumpkin Braised in Coconut Milk 67
Stir-fried Water Spinach with Yellow Bean Sauce 67
Clam Rice 68
Imperial Fried Rice 68
Seafood
Vietnamese Fish Stew 70
Sweet and Sour Fish Soup 71
Stuffed Squid 72
Marinated Grilled Squid 75
Spicy Jumbo Shrimp 76
Stir-fried Squid with Vegetables and Pineapple 76
Crabs with Tamarind Sauce 78
Crabs Simmered in Beer 79
Crisp Soft-shelled Crabs, Oysters and Clams with Sweet and Sour Sauce 81
Whole Fish with Ginger Lemongrass Sauce 82
Braised Fish with Galangal Sauce 82
Minced Salmon with Sesame Seed Rice Crackers 85
Poultry
Braised Duck with Ginger 86
Banana Blossom Salad with Duck 86
Honey Roasted Chicken 88
Chicken Curry in Coconut Milk 89
Spicy Duck with Orange Sauce 91
Stir-fried Chicken Chunks with Mango and Cashews 91
Meat
Sauteed Frogs' Leg or Chicken Wings with Lemongrass 92
Snails Stuffed with Minced Pork 92
Braised Pork with Fish Sauce 95
Pork Stewed in Coconut Juice 95
Grilled Pork Meatballs 96
Grilled Pork Skewers with Rice Noodles 96
Grilled Beef Rolls Wrapped in Wild Betel Leaves 99
Fragrant Beef Stew 100
Vietnamese Beef Hot Pot 102
Desserts
Husband and Wife Cakes 105
Steamed Rice Flour and Mung Bean Cakes with Coconut Sauce 105
Bananas and Sago Pearls in Coconut Cream 106
Slush Ice Lychee in Coconut Milk 106
Pineapple Tartlets 109
Quick Banana Coconut Cake 109
Measurements and conversions 110
Index of Recipes 111
Mail-order/online Sources 112
A prime example of one of the many fancy new restaurants. Vietnam House, catering to tourists and returning Viet Kieu, or overseas Vietnamese.
Food in Vietnam
One of Asia's best kept culinary secrets—but not any more!
Vietnam is a country on the rise. An almost palpable sense of optimism hangs in the balmy air. The Vietnam War (known here as the "American War") has not been forgotten. nor have the years of oppression and foreign rule, but the country is moving on. The effects of doi moi, the economic reform policy allowing small-scale private enterprise, introduced by the communist government in 1986, are becoming more and more evident The accumulation of personal wealth is now encouraged, joint ventures with overseas companies are welcomed, and many overseas Vietnamese are returning to their country to start businesses after years abroad.
The fancy new restaurants that are restoring life to old colonial buildings, and the modern hotels steadily creeping into the skyline, are just two of the many signs signaling Vietnam's renaissance And one needn't go farther than a few steps onto any street to experience the thriving culinary scene that is so much a part of this new vitality.
On the streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi in the early morning, food stalls appear on the sidewalks in front of old shop houses. Clusters of tiny chairs and tables surround a steaming hot cauldron of soup set on an open flame; soon the chairs will be filled with people huddled over their morning bowl of pho, a tasty beef broth served with rice noodles and fresh herbs. At another streetside restaurant, a team of female chefs is busy making open-faced omelets in blackened pans over small charcoal grills. Vendors with carts full of baguettes, cheese and sausages are making sandwiches and serving a refreshing beverage of young coconut Another vendor is wrapping sticky rice in a banana leaf, and handing it to a young schoolboy who is waiting impatiently with his mother.
The markets are a hive of activity as well, literally overflowing with fresh goods trucked in from the nearby villages. the bountiful coastal waters, and the central highlands. Throughout the day. crowds of people fill their baskets from the rows of fresh vegetables and tropical fruits, live fish and game, pickled meats and vegetables, candied fruit, dried and packaged goods, rice and bottles of the pungent nuoc mam fish sauce.
There is a renewed vitality in Vietnam that revolves around food. At night, a seemingly endless stream of vehicles parades through the streets. Handsome young men, elegantly dressed women, young couples, and entire families speed about on motorbikes,
