Glass noodles with duck (miến vịt)

Glass noodles with duck is another quite popular street food compared to the other glass noodles dishes.
I already shared with your guys about famous glass noodles with chicken in Ky Dong street, I did promise to post some other dishes with glass noodles ...but it took me almost half year to do that! Very sorry!

              Just wonder how many ducks are the victims per day! 

This glass noodles (or we call miến in Vietnamese) stall is in Nguyen Thien Thuat street, I passed by several times and keep talking to myself "let's go there some day"...but only now I have a chance to taste it!

              Glass noodles with duck (miến vịt), bamboo shot, blood cube...

 I ordered a bowl of glass noodles with a plate of duck's salad but here they still serve rice noodles with duck (bún măng vịt) or duck porridge (cháo vịt)!

          Salad (gỏi) with duck's internal organs liver, gizzard (mề), heart and intestine...

           Glass noodles or cellophane noodles are typically popular in North! 

Glass noodles or cellophane noodles is a typical dish from North, we can find more dishes with this kind of noodles in Hà Nội than in South!

         The duck's legs and duck's internal organs! 

Here, they serve quite good miến vịt, but the duck meat ifself to me is just ok, not special! The fish sauce with ginger is slightly too sweet, but the price is quite affordable!
Two big bowls of glass noodles, a quite large plate of salad with duck's liver, gizzard...costs only 90,000 VND, less than 5 USD!

If you want to try, here is the address!

21/8 Nguyễn Thiện Thuật, district 3, HCMC!  

Bánh đúc never has bones...

I never forget this savory cake, its simple taste, its soft and smooth texture.
Yes, it could be one of my favorite snacks in my childhood but more than that, this traditional cake is probably one of not many dishes that has been compared in our folklore as a cruel observation and painful experience in life:
                       
                         "Mấy đời bánh đúc có xương, 
                           Mấy đời dì ghẻ lại thưong con chồng" 
literally means
                          Bánh đúc never has bones 
                          (as) Stepmother never cares husband's children

          Bánh đúc (steamed rice cake) in a southern style, topped with shrimp floss, stirred green onion 

             served with sweet spicy fish sauce. Bánh đúc's texture is so soft, smooth as velvet! 

I can't tell how much true in this proverb but it sounds quite a firm confirmation when it has been compared in that way...because a good bánh đúc is nicely soft and smooth!

Made from rice flour mixed with coconut milk, steamed, bánh đúc is just a little bit salted, very tasty with coconut flavor, and some tapioca starch has been added to make the cake's texture more glutinous!

               Bánh đúc can be topped with fried shallots or some other stuff but not veggies! 

Bánh đúc in South is topped with stirred fried ground shrimp, ground jicama or carrot, green onion...then cut into small slices upon the order and served with sweet, spicy fish sauce, pickled carrot and white radish! Bánh đúc is never served with any fresh veggies!

              Bánh đúc texture is always so soft, so smooth that's why people say...never have bones!

Bánh đúc in North is topped with some other ingredients such as ground pork, ear wood mushroom, sesame, roast peanut, fried shallot...

I like bánh đúc texture, it's soft, bit glutinous, especially the coconut milk makes bánh đúc very tasty, I never tried bánh đúc in Hà Nội with soy sauce! Being a southern-born,  I prefer sweet, spicy fish sauce. I also didn't have a chance to taste bánh đúc made from other flours...it seems that in each province we have different recipe for this traditional countryside savory steamed cake.

The way of eating is also different. In Hà Nội we have bánh đúc with peanut (bánh đúc lạc) with just soy sauce, no any toppings or with braised fish (cá kho) or braised pork meat (thịt kho), bánh đúc in Hà Nội is probably a bit harder not soft and smooth as in South, the shape is similar to a small bowl.

We also have a sweet bánh đúc, flavory of pandan leave, in green marble color, topped with golden sirup, coconut milk, sesame...to be honest this sweet bánh đúc could be one of the best sweets in Vietnam, if we know how to make it superfine! The taste, the color, the flavor and probably the tradition - everything combined in this fabulous sweet!

These days it's not easy to find bánh đúc on the street, compared with some other traditional dishes like bánh cuốn (roll rice cake) or bánh ướt (wet cake). I don't know why...such a good and tasty snack for the afternoon light meal!

Honeycomb cake filled with coconut shreds (bánh bò dừa)

Everyone of us always have something to remember from the childhood.
That "something"could be some people or some place we may never see again! Or something we, at that time, desired to obtain or just simply to taste.
When I was a kid, how much I wished to have a bicycle, and till now I still remember how my father helped me during my first ride on my new bike! It took me an evening to learn the skill!

When I grown up, being a school boy, how much I wished to have enough pocket money to buy some street snacks in front of my school. My mom rarely gave me the pocket money!

In the past it seemed we couldn't find many street snacks as today, they were only few stalls of ready-to-eat fruits, or papaya salad with beef liver, or centella health drink (nước rau má) and one of them was my favorite: honeycomb cake filled with coconut shreds!

               Rare big honeycomb cake, these days instead we find only smaller version! 

 In my mind, I still have a very clear image of the vendor of the honeycomb cake in front of my school. A dark-suntanned, tall, middle-aged man, his harsh face and always with a hat, he should be a Chinese due to the accent.
He was always silently busy to bake the cakes, to fill them with coconut shreds, to display the cakes on the shelf or to cut it into small slices. I aways only had enough money to buy a 1/8 piece of cake, but if someone bought a bigger slice, 1/4, he added more coconut...

             I love the cake texture, soft and flavorful, but specially - sweet coconut shreds! 

I love this honeycomb cake, probably because of the sweet coconut shreds, the soft, flavorful texture of the cake. It look like two parts of the round shape box - the top cover and the bottom. the vendor fills the bottom with coconut shreds and cover it with the top!

             Bánh bò dừa has two covers : top and bottom as a box of round shape! 

I have no idea where is the cake's origin. Some people said Mekong delta, because of coconut fillings...Hard to say as even the today vendors have no exact answers to this question! 

These days by somehow bánh bò dừa is much smaller, not that soft and flavorful as before...but I was lucky to see just by chance a vendor near to An Đông market - he's selling a big honeycomb cake filled with coconut shreds - as the one I used to eat in the past! 

            Filled with coconut shreds, the whole cake costs only 20,000 VND! 

 

Special edition: exotic snacks on the streets of Cambodia!

Writing about street food in Sai Gon, from time to time I wonder what will be in my next post? When there is a plenty of foods out there, on the streets. Many things that I still didn't touch, that I'd love to reserve for later!
So not to get bored, as we say in Vietnamese: "Get bored with rice, change to beef noodles" (be careful as "rice" and "beef noodles" here have been humanized...to "wives" and "mistresses"), I would love to suggest you to go further, beyond Vietnamese borders...to Cambodia, our neighboring country for some exotic foods that I saw on my way to Siem Reap in my first trip to the Word's Heritage: Angkor Wat!

           On my way to the World's Heritage - The Ankor temples!

I've been to Phnom-Penh several times in the past, but only for business, sometime I did within-a-day trip to Phnom-Penh but never to Siem Reap, so my last-week trip to Angkor was my first time!
Phnom-Penh changed a lot! It's no longer the same city that I visited 6-7 years ago. Much more vibrant, much more fun! And much more things to offer to tourists, esp. those exotic street snacks vendors that I met everywhere on my way to Siem Reap!

           Surprised by a numbers of street vendors selling most exotic snacks: insects! 

Worm cake with shreds of pork skin! (Bánh tằm bì)

Worm cake sounds really scary, but don't worry it's not made from any insects!
It's another speciality from Mekong Delta, like bánh xèo, bánh khọt...and looks like the big noodles that I prefer calling them "Vietnamese udon"!

              Bánh tằm bì - worm cake with shreds of pork skin, greased green onion!

I said "speciality" from Mekong Delta because this worm cake never go without coconut sauce! That's the big difference between Southern and Northern cuisine. Here in South, especially in Mekong Delta - the coconut sauce is an important ingredient to enrich the taste, from the main course, to the sweet course, but never in North!
And as it's named - bánh tằm bì, it's always topped with shreds of pork skin, mixed with some cooked pork meat (bì) which is a part of our famous broken rice!

             Served with herbs (basil), cucumber, pickled carrot and white radish! 

Worm cake (tằm) is thick and a bit harder compared to another "udon", made from rice flour and served without any soup. Hand made bánh tằm, when people spin dough into the tằm, is considered the best quality!
It's hard to describe the taste of bánh tằm bì, it's a combination of different flavors: sweetness from rich coconut sauce and fish sauce, savory from pork skin, cooked pork meat, tasteful greased onion, mild from worm cake, freshness from cucumber, aroma from Vietnamese basil...
I like bánh tằm bì, probably because of the unique and tasteful mixture of pork skin and coconut sauce that we never have while eating our broken rice!

                 Worm cake (bánh tằm) is made from rice flour, better rice, better cake! 

Bánh tằm bì is served with spicy sweet fish sauce and coconut sauce! I know that many of us try to avoid coconut sauce these days, but no way not to add tasteful coconut sauce, otherwise what we eat is no longer bánh tằm bì!

                Sweet, spicy fish sauce mixed with pickled carrot & white radish, next to coconut sauce! 

Bánh tằm bì is popular but not easy to find a good place to taste bánh tằm bì, only at some specific eateries. It's not like bánh xèo that has been promoted widely in town for many many years.
But I'm quite sure that we can find bánh tằm bì in Bến Thành market, or at Thanh Bình - a popular eating spot mostly for tourists, right behind Bến Thành market!  
But for locals no Bến Thành, no Thanh Bình...we have some other places that offer better bánh tằm at a good price! Check it out!

Bánh tằm bì Đồng Tháp at 352 Nguyễn Trãi, district 5  
Bánh tằm bì Tô Châu at 271 Nguyễn Trãi, district 1 (opposite of City plaza) 

Cassava, manioc or khoai mỳ!

Củ Chi tunnel - a famous place for many tourists. I can't remember how many times I've been there with my business guests or close friends...but my first time was long long ago when I still worked for a Korean firm.
I probably never forget my feelings when I was left alone in the tunnel. Totally dark. No enough air to breath or because of fear I couldn't breath. No idea where was the way out. I kept running running and running....until I saw the light at the end of the tunnel! How much relief I felt at that time...I didn't have time to think if I stuck there in the tunnel...what will happen! That was in 1993!

          Street vendor of different snacks: simple cooked cassava, small grilled cassava cakes...

            A variety of street snacks made from cassava

              Street snack made from steamed cassava, mixed with coconut shreds, sugar, salt & sesame

Despite that unexpected horrified incident I keep coming back to Củ Chi with different friends, partners...I always share with them that story. Some laughed! Some horrified! But I still have another thing to remember at Củ Chi - cooked cassava (khoai mỳ luộc)! 

              Cooked cassava (khoai mỳ luộc) topped with coconut shreds... 

Yes, cooked cassava served with salt & sesame! I'm sure - there is no people living in Sài Gòn, never tried this simple snack. By some how this could be one of favorite and cheapest snacks for quick breakfast, lazy lunch or light meal before a heavy dinner!
Why they serve cooked cassava to tourists for free at Củ Chi tunnel?
Simply because that was the most consumed food instead of rice during the war, and Củ Chi's cassava is famous for its quality!

              Cassava cooked with coconut sauce - very tasty!       
 
Cooked cassava (khoai mỳ luộc) is very popular even now, esp. in the morning, easy to see many street vendors, selling this simple snack, together with different cooked sweet potatoes. Như Lan and Bánh mỳ Hà Nội - two famous local bakery shops always have the cassava cooked with coconut sauce in their sale. At Như Lan they sell by weight - 100 gr, 200 gr... while other street vendors sell by pieces! Two big pieces of cooked cassava cost around 10,000 - 15,000 VND!

             Small grilled cassava cake 

There is many good things made from cassava. One of my favorite in my childhood was a cooked cassava which has been ground by a grinder then mixed with coconut shreds, salt, sesame and sugar! While eating I love to shape it to small balls! I didn't see it for many many years!
Instead of that, these days I see many vendors with small grilled cassava cakes but to me, the most famous from this special roots is baked cassava cake! Hope I will share that with you soon - a homemade cassava cake!