Posts tagged hawker food

BOC Breakfast of Champions. Beef Mi Quang

Apr10
2011 6 Comments

Written by chefshane

Just a quickie today.

Across the road from my house we have a noodle vendor.
As Tom Jones once so famously said, "It's not unusual", especially in a city of noodle vendors like Da Nang, but she does have something quite special.

I usually go for the Bun Bo – a thin rice noodle in a beef and lemongrass broth with strips of slow braised beef that melt in the mouth.

Crouched on a plastic stool at 7am slurping broth, surrounded by wide staring eyes, one feels pretty good. And unusual. But good.

I am the token foreigner in this neighbourhood, all the more unusual because I don't stick to buying imported muesli for breakfast from ocean mart.
This means I'm ripe pickings for anyone who wants to see how a foreigner copes with a bowl of noodles.
A bit intimidating at first, but after a few cities it becomes a regular theme and the people of Da Nang are the friendliest bunch I've met on my travels around this little blue and green rock.
I think of it now as 'eat and amuse the locals' time.

The real deal for brekky here in Da Nang is Mi Quang.
This is a thick rice noodle on top of some salad, moistened with a drizzle of broth and some bony chunks of flesh from your choice of pigs or chicken.
The good part about this tends to be the Banh Trang rice crackers which poke out of the top like billowing sails . The bad part is usually the frenzied wrestling that I end up doing with the bones in order to chew and suck the remnants of meat off them.

My saviour across the road has the ingenious solution of offering a Mi Quang made with the same incredibly tender strips of boneless beef that she uses in the bun bo.

I succumbed, and tucked into a bowlful for breakfast this morning, hoovering them up like an anteater in a poorly kept lolly shop.

The noodles are thick and chewy and they get plopped on top of a bed of lettuce, bean sprouts and herbs.
Next step is a liberal sprinkling of freshly roasted peanuts, and a boiled egg gets pitched into the side of the bowl for good measure.

Not being a morning person, I had to resist the urge to stab her about the head, chest and abdomen with a chopstick for failing to have the fried rice crackers – but it was so good anyway that by the end I was satisfied without them.

We do a cracking Mi Quang at the hotel.
I know that we don't have plastic chairs and that hotels can't possibly be as good as a haggard old lady when it comes to making nice food
But my team of 54 local chefs don't know that yet, and against the odds they pump out an outstanding Mi Quang with a huge fresh salad selection, the rice crackers erect and ready for action, and a boneless chicken in broth that makes your toes curl. in a nice way.

At my last apartment, the local quang vendor offered a bowl of noodles tied together in holy matrimony with a long black hair, which I discovered halfway through the meal.
While I am a fairly hardy eater, this unwanted addition did make my eyeballs bulge and had me steering away from the bony offering. Bones and hair is great on a size 8 supermodel, but bad in a noodle breakfast

My lady across the road has me back in the mood for Mi Quang at breakfast. So much so, that I may even have them again for lunch at work.

Have a great day, and do try out a Mi Quang if you find a good one.

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Salads and light stuff, Vietnam - Tagged beef, Da Nang, Danang, mi quang, noodles, street food

More food from the Ancient Town – Hoi An Vietnam

Mar02
2011 6 Comments

Written by chefshane

I can't seem to stay away from this place.
It's only 30 minutes down the road from where I live and work, and there are some great wine bars, so I have a pretty good excuse.

Hoi An is located on a river, and extends it's tendrils of influence all the way up the waterway to the sea, where it morphs effortlessly into a beautiful white sand beach fringed with palm trees. Or so goes the legend.

Some fly from the major cities of Vietnam to get married and "run like lemmings into the sea"
They should check the weather chart first because the monsoon arrives around September, bringing typhoons and a sea which turns into a tidal surge of relentless dumpers accompanied by a symbiotic tempest for around 6 to 8 months a year.

An aura of doom and gloom pervades the otherwise pristine coast.
Unless you enjoy the variety of inclement weather staples such as grey skies, rain and biting cold, you feel a general sense of suicidal despair for anyone who needs to venture into the elements.

In fact, you could say it becomes a bit like England.
During these times, the Ancient Town gets the lion's share of the action with it's cute wee restored houses hosting art, food, coffee and rooms available to romantically inclined couples with some spare dosh.

The undercover(ish) market ran year round in 2010 and 2011, but now in 2012 it's finally moved inside into a new weatherproof building.

Around Tet, which fell at the start of February last year, the sun decided to come back for a new tour of duty and grace us with it's presence for more than just a few hours.
It seems like normality returns, and Hoi An once again takes it's place as the postcard capital of Vietnam.

These are just a few more pics following on from my Thit Nuong post, taken on the same day around 3 weeks ago.

Hoi An has a few 'bread' vendors. Fried bread vendors actually.
I'd like to be more upbeat, but I have to say that their offerings are overly sugary white monstrosities that coat the stomach like semi-dried clag and have a taste like sweetened flour and water.
These donut style versions also get fried in fat, so as well as being gluey and tasteless, they're also a trigger for type 2 Diabetes and a possible regional obesity epidemic.
The saving grace is that they look very pretty in a photograph and they dot the streets on cute little food carts, making the town look more interesting.
There are MUCH better things to eat in Hoi An, and as mentioned here, the banh mi thit fresh toasted baguettes ARE an outstanding bakery offering, so look for those instead.

I keep eating the pickles that show up on so many dishes until there's nothing left.
I guess that means they're pretty good.
They're not exactly kim chee and not really Western style pickles either.
Sour, spicy and a little sweet with some crunch and a good variety of vegetables. Well worth a look at.

Next to the pickles we are some New Year cakes called 'Banh To'.
They're funny things.
I was scared to go near them at first. They look like candles with sesame seeds.
It's hard to get any information about them too unless you speak fluent Vietnamese.
I made a few inquiries and eventually found one seller who could describe the dish to me.

She stabbed a finger at the banh to and then back at me repeatedly, saying 'powder, salt, sugar – you buy' – which is basically a recipe for seasoned playdough and a call to action for poor old muggins here.
The poor description was more due to my lack of language skills.
In fact they're steamed cakes or puddings made from glutinous rice flour, earthy dark brown sugar and ginger.
When cooked they're topped with sesame seeds, and after steaming they get sun dried for a bit to firm them up.
You can hook in with the fingers, or the more refined street diner may wish to dig in with a spoon.
They can also be cut into bits and fried again – which is a popular (an recommended) option.

Here's a closer look at the "Banh to".

I'm not really much of an authority on these. I just snap photos, ask silly questions of uncomprehending street vendors – and occasionally I eat one.

For more info, see this recipe in vietnamese language or pay a visit to this great site called 'playing with my food' where you'll find recipe and method in two separate and informative posts.
According to many sources, including PWMF, these are a Tet specialty, especially popular at the Lunar New Year for offering to ancestors and Gods.
From what I saw, they are also quite popular for offering to tourists, and they'll set you back around 50,000 VND (about $2.50) each.
They're quite stodgy, so try one by all means, but share it with a couple of friends or it will fill you up quicksmart and make you look like a god. And not Adonis either – one of the local ones. Probably "Happy Buddha"

In Thailand you can get orange juice, or you can get sugarcane juice.
In Hoi An Vietnam they've gone the fusion route, and most places offer 'Nuoc Mia' which is a refreshing drink of orange juice and sugarcane juice mixed together and served over ice. In Danang it's found on many street corners.
It's pretty addictive.
Many places do just sugarcane juice as well.
I like sugarcane juice, but it feels almost criminal champing up so much sugarcane into dry matted masses of organic waste just to make a few drinks.
At the end of the day these stands look like ravaged crop circles with flattened cane strewn everywhere.

Here's the cane and the machine ready for action.
Nothing like Victorian England where I believe they also had a caning machine. <ahem>

More of the old Cau Lao noodle action.
This is only found in Hoi An Vietnam. It's a specialty, and found almost everywhere in Hoi An.

And almost nowhere outside of Hoi An. Try it while you;re there.

This one wasn't particularly good – mainly lettuce, no tasty herbs. But I am developing a taste for it.
The sauce was good. But a good salad herb combo under the noodles really makes the dish.

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Vietnam - Tagged banh to, cau lao, Danang, Hoi An, hoi an specialty food, hoi an vietnam, local food, nuoc mia, quang nam, sticky rice cake, street food in hoi an, sugar cane juice, Vietnam, vietnamese food

Khanom Jeen noodles – a cracking Thai feast for 20 baht

Feb22
2011 5 Comments

Written by chefshane

Khanom jeen or "Khanom jin" are thin fermented rice vermicelli noodles, a staple of Thai street food and 'leftover cuisine'.
It can be pretty shabby looking but it's a great tasting noodle dish when dressed up with the sides. .

You'll find the vendors in business at various times of the day and night, but notably appearing around midnight for 'post entertainment' sustenance, with equal numbers of hawkers springing up early morning around dawn for those at the other end of the tribal spectrum.
There are plenty of day time khanom jeen shops too.

Khanom Jeen noodles can be found after that traumatic late night bar crawl, or as you head off in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. Try not to drip nam ya sauce all over that nicely pressed tie or bushy tail though.

It's an addictive business slurping rhizome-scented coconut gravy out of a tasty bowl of noodles. Your spoon and fork seem to tease you rather than help, and you have to resist the urge to upend the bowl and use your hands as a makeshift funnel

This is what you look for.

A business-like woman in an apron surrounded by 4 or more pots and a basket of fresh looking thin white noodles

Khanom Jeen noodles are thin white noodles made from fermented rice.
They're very similar to Vietnamese bun noodles.
They come in fresh, slightly sticky bundles and are usually served at room temperature with a hot or warm sauce.

In Vietnam, these noodles are eaten with 'bun oc' or snails stewed with green banana, as 'bun doui' or stewed pork in broth, with bun bo hue, a spicy beef and lemongrass soup, and also in a central Vietnamese fish noodle soup called bun cha ca

In Thailand most things are eaten with rice.
In Thai language 'eat' is "Gin Khao" which literally translates as 'eat rice'. In reality it refers to anything you can put in your mouth.
This goes to show how 'rice-centric' the cuisine is.
Khanom jeen noodles are pretty much the only other accompaniment for curry other than steamed rice.
You'll often see Thais making a curry to eat with rice, then re-heating the curry the next day and splashing it over room temperature khanom jeen noodles bought fresh from the market.

Why do I parrot on about room temperature?

Like pasta, these wee bundles of joy are pretty tacky and sticky. They'll latch onto dry fingers like leeches. This is a very attractive trait when you are ladling a sauce over the top.
The sauce sticks to the noodles and you have a tasty treat to dig into.

Reheating the noodles by blanching makes them watery and they lose their ability for the sauce to cling, just like pasta. You could microwave them, but then they'd over cook.
In a tropical climate like Thailand it works very well to ladle hot or warm sauce over the ambient temp noodles, so I never question the method.

My favourite topping is 'nam yah' which is a lightly spiced coconut gravy with fish, fish balls and an earthy krachai flavour.
Krachai is a rhizome (pictured below) also known as 'lesser ginger' or finger-root.
It looks like a skinny dead man's fingers and is a classic ingredient in fish and seafood dishes in Thailand.In the West you can buy it in jars in a pickle or brine solution in the Asian shops.
krachai

There are other sauces – and you will normally find a green curry option at most khanom jeen stands.

I find it hard to sell this dish as it's pretty hard to describe on a menu.
It is minced fish in a thin coconut sauce spiced with freshly pounded curry paste and loads of Krachai.
Sort of like a runny fish & coconut bolognaise on rice noodles.
When you say 'fish' on a menu, people expect to see a hunk of fish or big chunks of it. It's frustrating to walk to a table and explain that it's blended into the sauce.
In Dubai I overcame the problem by making the classic dish then adding some chunks of sea bass and some large prawns, turning it into an upmarket hawker dish – the original but with chunks of premium seafood as well.
Naturally I had to adjust the price tag to cover the premium extra ingredients, but it worked for everybody and we sold a lot of them.
This really is a great dish 'au naturale' however and should be tried in its authentic 'street food' state.

If you trust me enough to try this dish (and you should!), then the vendor will give you a plate that looks something like this.
You'll look at it, possibly recoil in horror, and then wonder how that plain, shabby-looking bowl of slop could possibly assuage your hunger and your wanton lust for porno-food-pleasure.
All will become clear.
Resist the urge to punch the hawker and throw your food to the ground.
Look around for the condiments and side dishes.
These are included in the cost, and are an essential part of the meal.

They shouldn't be hard to find.
Most khanom jeen places sell only that dish, and the selection of side dishes is usually pretty extensive. They are a major drawcard of khanom jeen and the locals wont be shy about helping themselves to them.

Here you see shredded banana flower, bean sprouts, and pickled vegetables. There's always green beans, cucumber, cabbage and morning glory on offer too.
You've got table condiments to adjust salty, sweet, spicy, so dig in and adjust the overall flavour to your personal taste.

An essential part of the meal to me is the whole toasted dry red chilli. If you're lucky, they'll be in a jar or container on the table. They should be dark, crispy and aromatic.

If it weren't for the following day's 'sizzling sphincter' which tends to catch up with you, I'd eat them like popcorn. The flavour and texture that red-brown dark-toasted chillies impart is an experience that shouldn't be missed. They make EVERYTHING taste good

This is what your khanom jeen should look like after you give it a good seeing-to with the side dishes.
It isn't a huge dish – but for 20 baht or thereabouts, it isn't a big issue to order another one if you're still hungry.
Many people eat two plates, so then you can try a different sauce.
I'm trying to promote healthy eating. ie I'm trying to stop drinking a bottle of wine and eating a block of cheese every night.So this is a good time to mention the herbs, leaves & greens.

Your 20 baht includes unlimited herbage and raw edible vegetables, so go wild.
Lots of fresh mint, basil, dill, baby sataw beans, baby cucumbers, green beans help to keep the tummy gremlins at bay. You can chomp away like a brontosaurus without attracting a second glance.

This particular khanom jeen stand is located on the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 19 at the base of the stairs of Asoke BTS station. The skytrain makes zipping around Bangkok an absolute breeze. So after breakfast, it's time to hit the town.

Want to make your own khanom jeen nam ya?

Khanom Jeen Nam Ya recipe (serves 3)

150g Fish fillet (or 250g 'pla chorn fish on the bone) Catfish is OK
400ml Coconut milk
70g Nam Ya paste 2 heaped tbsp (recipe below) or 35g red curry paste 1 heaped tbsp
40g Krachai (85g if using commercial red curry paste)
2g Salt
3g Sugar
25g Fish sauce (or to taste)

600ml water

Simmer the fish with water and all above ingredients.
Remove fish meat from bone when cooked, and puree in mortar and pestle, or pulse briefly in a blender.
Saute curry paste in a little oil in a saucepan until aromatic then add coconut milk. Stir to a boil then add fish puree and stir to gravy consistency with fish cooking water. Simmer 10-15 minutes. If it becomes too thick or looks like it will split, add some water. Most Thais add a little MSG and Knorr stock powder to give a fuller taste. Up to you.
Finish with freshly chopped krachai and chilli ground together in mortar and pestle (to taste).
Give a final season to taste with salt, fish sauce, sugar to adjust the balance of flavours.

Here's a recipe for Nam Ya paste.
Many people use red curry paste. That's fine, especially if Thai curry paste from a market, or one that you make yourself. The long life commercial ones tend to be overly spicy and lacking in taste and aromats, so it really is much better to make your own.

If using one from a jar or sachet, reduce the quantity and increase the amount of krachai, and add some finely chopped lemongrass and shallots

Curry paste for Nam Ya sauce (to make your own)

4-6 each dry red chilli, large
80g Krachai finely chopped
20g peeled & thinly sliced fresh galangal root
30g Lemongrass, finely chopped white soft part
30g peeled red shallots (hom daeng)
30g Thai garlic (if Western garlic, reduce by 1/3)
salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Remove the seeds from the dry red chillies, then soak in water until soft.
Pound ingredients together in a heavy granite mortar and pestle until thick and combined into a rich paste

Enjoy! Thanks for visiting chef-a-gogo. Please take a moment to share this page or leave a comment..

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Fish & Seafood, Healthy & Low fat, Quick & easy, Thai food classics, The essentials - Tagged bangkok, bangkok food, fish and coconut curry, khanom jeen, khanom jin, nam ya, nam ya paste, noodles, red curry paste recipe, street food, Thai noodle dish, thailand

Bun Thit Nuong BBQ meat skewers in Hoi An ancient town

Feb20
2011 7 Comments

Written by chefshane

I'm back in Vietnam after a hectic 9 days in Thailand.
Shopping, eating and enjoying the thirty degree heat of Bangkok. Yum. Life was good.
Just before leaving I had to go to Hoi An to get a suit.
Hoi An is a lovely tourist town with a real charm to it, despite what some jaded expats may say about it.
The tailors are very good, and it's worth comparing price and quality with your other destinations if you need tailoring.

Hoi An has an attitude and a memorable charm regardless of how many tourists walk the streets.
I live 30km away from Hoi An and every trip there is a fun one. Normally an inebriated one too. The bars and restaurants are great.
Many of the signs are amusing, and the old buildings are a pleasure to absorb as you wander around.

We needed to go to a tailor,and our driver took us to "Yaly" – the big famous one.
I expressed doubts as we pulled up at the grand entrance, and we had that sinking feeling within minutes of entering.
Overpriced, with unmotivated staff and a general lack of knowledge.

With a local recommendation after an emergency phone call, we ended up at Blue tailors – a smaller shop who were friendly, helpful and skilful.
They cut great clothes at a reasonable price (50% of Yaly!)
Hoi An is full of small tailors catering to the tourist market, and most do an excellent job at a very competitive rate.

All of that running around and negotiating makes one hungry.
A street food standard in Hoi An is 'thit nuong'.
This consists of grilled skewers of meat, some herbs and greens, and a few rice paper wrappers to roll it all up in.
Normally some noodles as well to pad out the meal, which make up the 'bun' part when it becomes bun thit nuong.
Bun are thin white rice vermicelli, a little similar to 'khanom jeen' noodles.

This delicious meal of bbq pork skewers also comes with a cracking peanut tomato sauce.
It's a cross between satay and ketchup, with a few toasted sesame seeds to round it off.

First look for a lady with a conical hat and a charcoal barbecue.

This can come in two forms – a regular stall that you can come back to, or a wandering minstrel type of a vendor.
The wandering version struts her stuff with the barbecue and the food hanging off two sides of a bamboo pole like some culinary "Justice" icon.
Unlike minstrels, they rarely sing, although with my knowledge of Vietnamese people, she probably wouldn't shrink from the mike at karaoke.

Both have equally good food.
It all comes down to whether you want to perch on a tiny plastic stool, or huddle on a marginally larger plastic chair – but with a table to eat off.
Of course you can always look for the signs to find your vendor, and try not to giggle when you order your 'rice paper rools'

Or just look along the streets and around corners for the sizzling meat.
Some folks just use the nose as a form of 'food GPS' to sniff out the best food stands. A bit like a truffle hound.

Bun thit nuong is a balanced meal.

The flavours and textures are designed to complement each other in a delectable package of hot and cold tastes.

Unfortunately for my figure, I also like to go without the salad, noodles and rice paper.
Looking at it objectively, that's why I'm a fat bastard that waddles around like a foie gras goose.

The whole reason for the refreshing mix of herbs, salad greens, noodles and rice paper is to flesh out the food pyramid into a nutritious, rock solid triangle.

When the meat looks and smells this good, one's tempted to jettison the greens and scoff down meat, sauce and sesame seeds like a vacuum cleaner.
This tends to result in a belt of blubber around the waist that even a sperm whale would be ashamed of.

Thit Nuong recipe

250g pork meat
2 each shallots
2 each garlic cloves
20g sugar
5g pepper
30g fish sauce
20g sesame oil
20g sesame seeds

To serve

fresh bun noodles
lettuce
basil leaves
spring onion
cucumber
mint
banana flower
green banana

fresh rice paper for rolling

Slice the pork thinly, keeping the fat on. A little bit of fat gives the rich mouth feel, the flavour, the moisture and the pure unadulterated sex appeal that makes a barbecue so mouth-wateringly delicious. The fat will smoke as it drips, making the meat delicious.Better to use some fat, and just eat a smaller portion than it is to trim it all off and eat more of a dryer, poor tasting product.
You could be shot or run down tomorrow. So today, keep the pork streaky and delicious.
Pound, blend or mix all marinade ingredients into a paste.
Marinate the pork thoroughly for a few hours or overnight if you can.The pork is thinly sliced so it gets plenty of flavour from the coating of marinade.
Thread onto skewers or between bamboo splints. Grill over medium heat. Charcoal is best!
Serve with rice paper, herbs & salad & vegetables, dipping sauce
Hold rice paper, top with herbs and your choice of salad, top with thit nuong bbq meat off the skewer, and roll tightly
Dip in sauce and eat

Tomato peanut sauce

50g ground roasted peanuts
100g smooth peanut butter (or + 100g ground peanuts if not using)
1dsp tomato paste
100g chicken stock
10g garlic
30g Sriracha Chilli sauce to taste (optional)
20g sugar
20g hoi sin sauce

Some folks use lemongrass too, which is a delicious addition
Fry garlic, tomato paste.
Add remaining ingredients except peanuts. Mix together & simmer.
Top with ground roasted peanuts

Enjoy.making bun thit nuong.
Please take a moment to share this page, and thanks for stopping by chef-a-gogo
Chef Shane is the Executive Chef at Lifestyle Resort Danang in Central Vietnam, 30 minutes drive from Hoi An ancient town

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Quick & easy, Vietnam - Tagged bun thit nuong, Danang, Danang Vietnam, food in Danang, food in hoi an, Hoi An, Hoi An ancient town, hoi an food, hoi an meat skewers, hoi an pork skewers, hoi an street food, street food, thit nuong, Vietnam, vietnamese food, visiting danang, what to eat in hoi an

Posts tagged hawker food

BOC Breakfast of Champions. Beef Mi Quang

More food from the Ancient Town – Hoi An Vietnam