Bánh canh! literally soup cake!? I really have no idea why we call like this!
To me it's special because the size of the noodle!
Like sumo size compared to other our thin noodles! And chewy! I always prefer chewy texture!
Extremely popular for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Different variations with different recipes: crab, shrimp, flower crab, pork knuckle, snakehead fish...
I love to use a word "udon" to describe our "big"noodle!
May be Japanese can't not find any similarity between the two noodles, but anyway for me simply to say "udon" and it sounds lovely!
Let's start with the most popular!
Vietnamese "udon" with crab and pork knuckle (bánh canh cua giò heo)
Actually this is a combination of two dishes: with crab (bánh canh cua) and with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo)! You can add pork knuckle to crab dish but not the other way around!
I do prefer noodle with crab. I love the color of the dish.
Dark orange or red thick soup with strong crab flavor! Don't forget to add a little bit of chopped fresh chili
and squeeze some lemon juice! Spicy and sour flavors make your crab "udon"much more tasty!
Depends on the place, they may add crab meat, deep fried fish cake, or pork ham (chả), cooked shrimp!
Big noodle with crab probably comes from central, or Huế (our former feudal capital)!
Here, they love to create noodle by own recipe and for that reason we can't find it anywhere else in the market!
Vietnamese "udon" with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo)
I have to say I don't like this dish served at "bánh xèo Đinh Công Tráng" where is famous only for their
pancake, not other dishes! Not good! Not good and not good! Better try only their bánh xèo!
Even we say pork knuckle, but you can select some slices of cooked pork or a whole big
knuckle as at Bánh canh Trảng Bàng! Here, the "udon" or big noodle made from special rice flour,
different from other "udon" in town!
Pork meat from Tây Ninh is famous for their freshness, a tiny tiny bowl of fish sauce with black pepper is always served together. Deep pork meat, either knuckle or slices in the sauce before eating!
