Sept 2023
9/9/2023
This food pictured to the left, is Hanoi's version of a dish called "Bún đậu mắm tôm" ("boon dote mam tome" is a very loose pronunciation). Bún - means noodle, đậu - means tofu, and mắm tôm - is a fermented fish sauce. The mắm tôm is not seen in the picture, it's located off to the right. I somehow managed to leave this main ingredient out of the picture? That's okay, just imagine a small bowl of foamy, pinkish-brown fermented shrimp sauce with sliced red pepper, lime juice, and salt mixed into it. I am planning to discuss mắm tôm in a later post that will be titled “Food I didn’t know I was supposed to hate!" I'll have a picture of some mắm tôm in that post.
In the picture to the left here, I have numbered the food items. Everything except for #4, #9 & #10 is from a pig. The bowl has sliced red pepper in it.
#1= boiled pig leg (calf) [tender]
#2= boiled pig offal (i.e., intestine) [crunchy]
#3= deep-fried breaded stomach [crunchy]
#4= deep-fried tofu [mushy]
#5= deep-fried breaded minced pork and tendon [tender and crunchy]
#6= pan-fried blood sausage (yes, made from pig's blood) [chewy]
#7= deep-fried pork spring roll [well…it's like eating a spring roll]
#8= pan fried breaded minced pork [chewy]
#9= soft tangled rice vermicelli
#10= fresh mint leaf, perilla leaf, basil leaf, oregano leaf, and cucumber leaf
All is served on a banana leaf. In case you're wondering…yes all of it is delicious. Everything, including the rice is dipped in the the mắm tôm. When I say “crunchy” I mean it is identical to chewing on a piece of cartilage on a chicken drumstick at the knuckle end.
SEPTEMBER p. 2