World Wanderings: Cooking class with Hao!

Today I woke up excited: I was going to learn how to cook bún bò Huế (spicy beef noodle soup originating from Hue) and bánh loc, followed by a motorbike lesson through the deserted country roads of Thanh Tien village. My teacher: Hao, a local university student that's been involved with Rose Vietnam for a while. She picked me up at my hotel and together we went to a local market to buy our necessary ingredients. As with most families, Hao's family doesn't have a fridge at home, so most meals start with such a visit. The plus side is that you know that everything is fresh. In fact, the shrimps we bought were still alive and I was attacked by a jumping fish while making my way through the seafood section! To my surprise, meat, especially beef, is very expensive here. Seafood is cheaper, but not cheap. Vegetables and rice noodles on the other hand is almost given. A fun fact: at the veggie stand, Hao just told the lady that she was making bún bò Huế for 3 people and the lady just put an assortment of veggies, herbs, onions, and even a pineapple in a bag! Good system I thought!

We started with making the bánh loc, which to me seemed to be the Vietnamese style of Japanese gyoza, basically dumplings. However, bánh loc are made with rice paste which you form into small circles with your fingers. You then put in one small shrimp and a small piece of pork before sealing similarly to a gyoza. However, since the rice paste is sticky, you don't need anything to help it hold. The shrimp and pork were cooked previously in a sweet and spicy sauce consisting of oil, sugar, fish sauce, and chilli peppers. After making all the dumplings, half were boiled and the other half fried. The boiled ones had a slightly translucent appearance with a texture that reminded me of mochi. The fried ones were a yummy mix of a crunchy exterior and chewy interior! All were eaten with yet more fish sauce. In case I haven't mentioned it yet: don't come to Vietnam if you don't like fish sauce! It's everywhere.

Getting the right sized insides was a challenge for me,
so was finding the optimal thickness of the paste, but I had fun trying!

One guess which was one of my first attempts... I have to admit that I was happy with the flair I added to the last ones!

Making bún bò Huế was much easier. You basically cut up the onions and pineapple (surprise!) and boiled everything along with the pork. The broth consisted of oil, salt, fish sauce, and chili peppers. Near the end you added the beef and you were ready to eat! The thick rice vermicelli we bought were already cooked, and most of the vegetables you added raw. Presentation was important here: in the bottom of the bowl went the raw veggies, then the vermicelli, and then to top it off you add the beef and make sure there's enough broth to go around. Yum!