Contrasting textures, fresh flavours and hot and sour sacues … In this extract from Rick Stein’s latest book, Far Eastern Odyssey, the intrepid chef recreates some of the tantalising dishes he encountered in Vietnam
Rick Stein | The Observer | Sunday 19 July 2009
What an introduction to Vietnam: to board a riverboat in Phnom Penh and meander down the Mekong. As we crossed the border from Cambodia the personality of the Vietnamese was immediately apparent. Everywhere on the banks was industriousness: boats being mended, cooking on junks, intense cultivation of vegetables and fruit. Fish farms on either bank: floating pontoons with a couple of wooden huts, each with a barking guard dog or two.
On board we enjoyed some of the classic dishes of the country: at one stage Vietnamese spring rolls, the fresh ones with limpid rice-paper pancakes wrapped round prawns and pork with mint, Thai sweet basil, bean sprouts, garlic chives and shredded lettuce; on another occasion a pile of crunchy yellow fritters made with shredded potatoes and prawns perfumed with turmeric. This use of leafy herbs and crunchy items is very common.
Here, a bowl of chicken broth and rice noodles is eaten with crunchy vegetables and salad leaves together with chargrilled minced pork flavoured with garlic and fish sauce. Continue reading ‘A taste of the east’
