I've been making my wife traditional Vietnamese dinners and here are some photos (2 Viewers)

[JohnWH]

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

Top 10 Fish Sauces & Where To Buy Them - Trolley.co.uk

Discover the best 60 fish sauces and see where to buy them across UK's top supermarkets.

www.trolley.co.uk

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

Best wishes and good luck.

 

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[JohnWH]

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]

Late night soup, bone broth and chili'd shrimps, so a thrown together with spare noodle
Súp tôm

 

[JohnWH]

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.

 

[JohnWH]

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.





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]

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.

 

[JohnWH]

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.

 

[wingy]

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]

Looks like a veritable feast tbf, but what is that in the last picture?

That's a finished spring roll wrap made a bit too quickly without enough filling, so not very pretty.

 

[wingy]

That's a finished spring roll wrap made a bit too quickly without enough filling, so not very pretty.

I thought it was some kind of pescatarian (correct word) delight?🫣

 

[JohnWH]

I thought it was some kind of pescatarian (correct word) delight?🫣

It is a bit fish shaped now that I look at it twice. Ha.
Makes me want to cook up another fish or other seafood next. Stay tuned.

 

[JohnWH]

Here's some re-do. Gỏi cuốn , with the noodles and much better wrapped

 

[JohnWH]

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.

 

[JohnWH]

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:

 

[ccfctommy]

Here's some re-do. Gỏi cuốn , with the noodles and much better wrapped

View attachment 38835View attachment 38836

I've seen this wrapped things on the menu at the Vietnamese restraunt in town and wondered what they were!

 

[JohnWH]

Oof a disappointing result vs Derby earlier. Let's wash our mouths with some dental rinse and dig in.

Bánh xèo - allegedly means "sizzling cake", a Vietnamese "crêpe". But no, kind viewers, there's no egg at all! The batter is a mix of rice flour, coconut milk, and tumeric gives it the yellow coloring. Typically filled with a combo of sliced pork belly, shrimp, green onion, and bean sprouts. The wife used-up all the pork belly making gỏi cuốn yesterday, so it's absent. The street foods are typically served with lettuce, mint, cilantro, perilla leaves for flavor, wrapped up and dipped in Nước chấm. The wife also used up all the other greens yesterday with the spring rolls, leaving us with just lettuce. Sigh. I decided to grill red onion for color and flavor on the side.

Our friend the Cá hấp makes a reappearance-- steamed fish with green onion and ginger, drizzled with sauce. Our other usual suspects--cucumber, carrot/daikon pickle--accompany as well. The backbone of the fish peeled off very well tonight, and the skin was edible and delicious.

Somehow between the two of us, we cleaned off all plates but for a few straggling lettuce straps and the fish bones.

 

[bawtryneal]

Hi John
I am new to this thread and congratulations on all the fantastic food and recipes. Has motivated me to have a go at cooking Vietnamese food.
only comment would be is you need some new table mats

 

[JohnWH]

Hi John
I am new to this thread and congratulations on all the fantastic food and recipes. Has motivated me to have a go at cooking Vietnamese food.
only comment would be is you need some new table mats

Hi @bawtryneal thank you for checking out my little corner of the Interweb. I've been told some mainstay Vietnamese ingredients can be harder to find in the UK, but I imagine any Asian grocery especially if there's a large Chinese section should be able to manage the types of condiments and vegetables you see in meals throughout this thread. Fish sauce is a must have, fermented ground shrimp and crab paste are common ingredients for flavoring. Cilantro, culantro, basil, mint, ginger, red Thai or birds eye chilis are common as well. Explore new fish if possible from the seafood sections, fresh and whole if possible, fish caught from southeast Asian seas. Theres a big difference between the stickier (and better) SE style rice vs. the looser Indian basmati rice. Read up on differences between rice noodles and egg noodles, they both bring unique textures and usage in dishes. A pan fried egg noodle with a spicy sauce and topped with chopped mint and prawns (see "housin shrimp" or something similar) could be a good first dish to dive into. Best wishes to you. Also, I love my place mats but wife dislikes them.... I will consider a change based on your brave feedback.

 

[JohnWH]

I did stumble upon a UK website that provides a few good looking recipes that actually uses UK measurements and heat rather than having to do conversions:

Vietnamese pork ribs with smacked cucumber salad

Cooked with Vietnamese spices until soft and tender, these pork ribs are coated with a umami-rich caramel for deliciously sticky results.

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk

 

[bawtryneal]

Thanks for the tips. Appreciated
Going to go shopping early next week and follow some of your examples
Watch this space !!
Will report back.
Trust me on the place mats. You won’t look back.

 

[bawtryneal]

PUSB
At the match and must admit to be worried. You never know with the mighty skyblues.

 

[JohnWH]

PUSB
At the match and must admit to be worried. You never know with the mighty skyblues.

So, I am saddened to say that just after we went down 2 goals I was so very bitter and didn't watch the rest; we went Asian supermarket shopping instead. Now I look like the jackass. Luckily watched the second half on Paramount+ and glad to report my weekend is NOT ruined.

 

[JohnWH]

And speaking of being bitter, it motivated the meal for tonight!

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Canh Khổ Qua- a bitter melon soup. Boy, this is apparently a very hit or miss dish, something you either love or hate. The melon is very bitter and chewy. It is stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, ground shrimp, mung bean clear noodle, and black fungus. Then just added to a light broth base with onion. The wife chose to chop it further for easier eating, and preferred more broth and less rice. I went contrarian, having the big boys whole, scooped rice on the side, and just a spoonful of broth to glaze. Bean sprouts to accompany as a side item. The melon went well with the red chili sauce.

Thanh Long - the dragon fruit. A lovely, lively lookin' fruit with a vibrant paradise look, and a soft texture and light sweetness. This helped offset the bitter melon.

 

[JohnWH]

And I hope you'll notice @bawtryneal that the place mats are coincidentally absent tonight!

 

[JohnWH]

One positive of doing a big shop yesterday is having the ingredients available for some long thought-up dinner ideas. Someone along the way asked about something for a slow cooker:

Got anything suitable for a slow cooker?

And so I thought I'd try out a marinade for pork ribs. A long rib rack we got for a good price, half for the slow cooker, other half for the flavor and meat for the soup pictured.

​

Sườn sả kho - them ribs! I did take a nap today and ribs slow cooked likely too long and became very fall-off-the-bone; I had intended to get almost to that point then broil for a finished char, but determined they'd be too fragile for the attempt. The marinade was heavy on lemongrass, assisted with plenty of garlic, ginger, fish sauce. Marinated since yesterday afternoon, and the meat cooked juicy and full of the lemongrass flavor. Mm. So lesson is, marinade long, keep an eye on your slow cooker timing (and don't doze off).



Canh rau dền thịt băm - a pork base soup, with rau dền the name for the purplish amaranth leaves wilted in it (same as the leaves under the ribs). The leaves provide the soup with its signature purple coloring. The soup bone ribs can then be enjoyed in the soup, along with meatballs from the leftover Bánh xèo pork and shrimp mix. She loves brothy soup.



Lastly, a cucumber, onion, and shrimp salad, using a splash of fish sauce, apple cider vinegar sugar, lime juice for zest.

 

[ccfctommy]

This is the most wholesome thread on Sky Blues Talk!

 

[JohnWH]

This is the most wholesome thread on Sky Blues Talk!

The team can't always win.
But, we all gotta eat, right? Thank you for your kind comments.

 

[JohnWH]

Things sound like they got crispy at the Doug King show on Monday.

So, here's a picture of a delicious crispy duck my wife bought from one of those little "Chinese" barbecue shops (actually owned, run by Vietnamese staff of course) found next to the Asian supermarket. Greasy and moist.

 

[JohnWH]

Place mats are back, deal with it haters. Replacements are currently under consideration.

Bún riêu cua -- crab noodle soup. Bún riêu has a bit of variety, including fish or snail in place of the crab apparently. Light density pork and minced crab form sort of meatballs for this dish. Giò heo are the sliced pig feet used for the hours of simmering broth, then placed on the side. Annatto seeds briefly in hot oil, then removed, provide a sharp and bright red coloring for the broth. Onions were grilled in this red oil, simmered in the soup, then removed from the broth once they've added their flavoring. Quartered tomatoes & a few shrimp top off the soup. Mung bean sprouts and basil were the toppings of choice this evening. Shrimp paste for the table, added for personal taste. Wife wanted some additional fish cake patties for her soup, but not for me. The pig feet are mostly thick skin and cartilage, I gave one a go, but not my cuppa so she finished most of them.

Chôm Chôm - these are the scary hairy rambutan fruits on the side. Just slice and peel off the outer shell, then there's a fleshy white fruit in the center, almost like an eyeball. Tastes good, not sweet so a good after dinner palate cleanser.

Got very positive feedback from the significant other. The three-ish hours spent on everything was worth it.

 

[Nick]

That Dragon Fruit looks really nice, I have never actually seen one like that.