Cooking methods in Vietnamese Cuisine

Vietnam_an ancient country with deeply rooted tradition_have created beautiful cooking art including amazing and creative cooking methods. Although Vietnam was ruled by other countries for thousands years during its history, this country still strongly remain its own value and culture, including its cuisine. This week I am going to introduce you guys some common Vietnamese cooking method usually observed in preparing all ingredients

1.     Fried dishes

Like most of Asian countries, in Vietnamese dishes, the meats are deep-fried  for a crispy outer coating, then stir fry together with vegetables and flavorings. This method involves more oil and high temperatures.

2.     Steaming

You can steam food in steamer-woven bamboo or metal trays, stacked one atop of the other. This method usually is used to make sticky rice or seafood. By this method, you can keep nutrition for your dishes and maintain free-oil healthy food for your family.

3.     Stewing

This method is specially used for meat with herbs and seasonings. Traditionally, stewed dishes are usually cooked by the earthware pot for a very long time until the meat become tender in texture.

4.     Stir-fry

This technique is usually applied for vegetable, mushroom themselves, sometime chef can mix with meat and fish sauce. It request high fire, quickly pan searing and stir frying

5.     Boiling

Famous for healthy food, a lot of dishes are made by this method because of its freshness and healthy. Usually, when boiling the vegetable, people still keep the water after boiling to make vegetable soup for family

6.     Grilling

There is a variety of dishes are made from this method such as skewered dishes, cooked in bamboo tubes over fire, char-grilled over open fire; wrapped by banana leaves and grilled; grilled marinated meat, grilled then topped with melted lard, peanuts and chopped green onions.

7.     Fresh wrap

This method is very simple but bring an amazing healthy taste for the dish. You only need to broil all vegetable ingredients ( accept salad) then wrap in the rice paper and serve with dipping sauces.

8.     Bóp thấu/tái chanh:

Raw meat or seafood preparing with lime and vinegar to freshly cook the meat

9.     Others

There are a lot of other cooking techniques used widely in cooking art in Vietnam such as congee, soup, roasting, hot pot, curry and cook in a vinegar-based hotpot

Eating styles of Vietnamese population

In the past few years, Vietnamese cuisine has become more and more popular all around the world because of its awesome taste and freshness. There are a lot of food lovers who want to know more about not only Vietnamese culinary but also the Vietnamese Culture as eating styles in Vietnam reflect completely our culture as well as lifestyle.

1.    Meal time

Vietnamese meals are divided into separate courses: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In Vietnam you will discover one unmistakable fact: people love noodles! They can eat noodles everyday, especially for breakfast because it’s very tasty and nutritious , that keeps them feel healthy the whole day. Due to the typical working schedule in Vietnam ( we have noon break by 11-12 o’clock), officers usually have lunch by that time, quite earlier compared to Western eating habit. For dinner, people tend to have food from 6 to 8 o’clock with family or even for business-aimed dinners.

Breakfast is typically large and may consist of soup with rice noodles topped with meat or poultry; a boiled egg with meat and veggies on bread; rice gruel with bits of meat and veggies. Lunch and dinner include similar foods such as rice, fish or meat, a vegetable dish, and a big bowl of soup. Fish sauce, fresh and pickled vegetables, snacks and other condiments accompany the meal

2.    A typical meal in Vietnamese family

If you attend a meal with a Vietnamese family, you would realize it reflect clearly the culture. All the food is served at once and shared from common dishes. Unlike other countries, people don’t prefer having individual portion, family would like to pick food from the same large dish, that reflect the Vietnam’s spirit of solidarity.

           Usually, food and rice are to serve the eldest person first like grandparent, wait until everyone else has been served, then asks him or her for permission to start eating. Wives tend to pick up food for husband and refusing food is considered rude. Only small amounts should be taken from each dish. An empty plate or cup indicates that a diner is still hungry or thirsty, so leaving a small amount of food or beverage signals satiety and completion of the meal ( even when people have food outside). Dining is done around a low table with family gathered around sitting on mats. Chopsticks are the most common tool, however, spoons and fingers are considered appropriate for certain foods such as sea food. The use of forks has become more and more common in urban areas.

3.    Drinking style

Green tea is the most common beverage in Vietnam. It is common practice to prepare enough tea for the whole day first thing in the morning because traditional Vietnamese hospitality dictates that one must be able to serve tea immediately if unexpected visitors drop by the house. Tea is served before and after meals.

There is much more interesting facts about Vietnamese cuisine and Vietnamese culture. So you food lovers, why don’t you go out and have elaborate meals prepared by the local restaurants or buy one of the excellent cookbooks on the market and start experimenting at home 

Journey of Vietnamese Cuisine: Southern Vietnamese Food

Almost every nation’s southern inhabitants prefer the food spicier than the rest of the country and Vietnam is no exception. Also, food here tends to be sweeter in taste. You can see it obvious in most of the restaurant outside Vietnam because the majority of abroad 

Vietnamese community is from South area. Southern Vietnamese food has more impact by the outside than the other area and one can find traces of India in the Southern Vietnamese curries, traces of the French colonists in their baked goods and pates and similarities with Cambodian food.

One of the significant characteristics of Southern Vietnam is the warm weather and fertile soil. As a result, these characteristics become an ideal condition for a wide range of fruit, vegetables, herbs… Foods here are often vibrant and flavorful with uses of garlic, shallots, coconut milk and fresh herbs.

The long shorelines make this region become heaven of seafood. Seafood appears in lots of dishes, especially fish sauce_the spirit of Vietnamese cuisine. The famous original place for this sauce is Phu Quoc_the largest island in Vietnam. The rich fishing grounds offshore provides the anchovy catch from which the prized sauce is made. Pepper cultivation is located inland in the center of the island. More recently apearl farm was established.

Here are some popular delicious dishes originated from Southern Vietnam

If northern Vietnam is famous for Hanoi's dishes, Southern Vietnam can be proud of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) for its bold street food culture. One of the most famous dishes from this place is Saigon-styled broken rice which is admired by a lot of tourists.