plate 9: vietnam

AJ and I have been to Vietnam and, just like the locals, religiously slurped up a bowl of pho (pronounced "fur") for breakfast every morning, which gave us incredible energy to get through days of walking and sightseeing. Pho, the Vietnamese national dish, is a noodle soup typically made with beef and rice noodles, topped with bean sprouts, shallot, Vietnamese herbs and chilli, and served in an aromatic broth. There are heaps of variations, but it's sold everywhere in Vietnam - from street stalls to chain stores - and we loved it. As most people do after a good holiday, I vowed to cook this adored Vietnamese dish upon our return - it's now been almost two years since our trip.

I was really excited for the memories, smells and flavours of this warming soup to resurface. Along with my mate Al, we met our mate Sal in her hood of Marrickville - which is like mini Vietnam - who took us on a fabulous tour of the Asian grocery stores that the suburb's famous for. Meandering the aisles transported me back to the trips AJ and I took to the supermarket in Hanoi - for me, first port of call in most cities is a visit to the local supermarket. I loaded my basket with fresh herbs, ginger, limes, lemons, noodles, cans of lychees and a wok. Armed with my foodie goodies, I headed into the kitchen to make the key to a good pho - the stock.

God knows what happened, but as I was halving the recipe, I somehow read 2L as 2 cups. How I didn't tell that this clearly wasn't going to make enough broth for two I've no idea, but in the end the pho had good flavour, but I would've done one thing differently. To save time I made the stock a day ahead and drained it from all the beautiful spices (cinnamon, star anise, cloves and ginger) but I really should've drained it on the day I wanted to eat it so the flavours were more intense. Keep that in mind when you make it.

Next up was the deliciously fresh and super easy-to-make Vietnamese chicken salad. All you have to do is poach the chicken - I used thigh fillets - (just boil some stock or water, plunge the chicken into the pot and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes), shred it, then mix it with pickled leeks (buy them in a jar from Asian grocers) - fresh chilli, bean sprouts, Vietnamese mint and dress it with lime juice.

It was now time for dessert. I realise I've cooked a Western-style three-course meal here and that dessert isn't massive in Vietnam, but I couldn't help myself when I came across the lychee and ginger granita recipe in Vietnamese Home Cooking. It's a shame that today - now that summer's sadly officially ended - was the coldest day we've had in Sydney for a while, but the rain put no dampener on this granita. WOW it was deeelish. It's fabulously refreshing and the ginger (it uses crystallised ginger pieces) gives an awesome spiciness after each mouthful.

It's taken a little while to train my palate to like ginger and fiery fresh chillies, but I'm so thankful I have because these are vital in the Vietnamese kitchen. If you haven't had Vietnamese before, definitely start with the pho - happy cooking x