How To Shop Like a Vietnamese Chef

Have you ever passed by a Vietnamese food shop and thought, ‘I wish I knew what to buy there’? Do you long to know how to make Vietnamese pancakes as deliciously crispy as they are in restaurants? Do you understand how much durian fruit costs? And do you really know morning glory when you see it?

Come shop around with us and discover the secrets of Vietnamese cuisine.

In this episode, we’ll take you on a tour of a Vietnamese grocery store in East London and show you how to cook crispy pancakes, lemongrass chicken, and dumplings.

00:00 Introduction
00:40 What to Buy at a Vietnamese Shop
04:38 Vietnamese Ingredients
05:10 Sizzling Pancake (Bánh Xèo)
07:24 Lemongrass Chicken (Gà Nướng)
09:13 Dumplings (Bánh Bôt Loc)

FULL RECIPE:

VIETNAMESE CRISPY PANCAKES

Crepe batter

150g rice flour
75g corn flour
25g tapioca
200ml coconut milk
400ml water
Turmeric

Filling:
1 spring onion
Beansprouts
Black tiger prawns or king prawns peeled, deshelled & deveined
Oil
Seasoning
Pickled carrot with coriander
Mix grated carrot with coriander seeds, some vinegar and sugar


Nuóc Chám sauce

Combine the following:

100ml fish sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp lime juice
2 fresh red chillies chopped (no seeds)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp sugar

Method

-Whisk crepe ingredients in a bowl until thin butter consistency (add less water initially and then more if needed)
-Heat up the pan to medium-high.
-Add oil and a handful of spring onions to flavour the oil.
-Immediately add prawns and cook for 30 seconds, then flip them.
-Add a handful of beansprouts and pour in batter, leaving no gaps.
-Cover the pan with a lid and steam for about 2 minutes.
-Remove the lid, prizing any stuck batter from the pan with a spatula.
-Add more beansprouts for texture.
-Add oil around the edges on a high heat until crispy.
-Fold over, plate up and serve with lettuce cups, cucumber, Vietnamese herbs, pickled carrots and plenty of nuóc chám dipping sauce.


LEMONGRASS CHICKEN

Marinade (for 1kg chicken thighs)

Combine in a pestle and mortar or powerful blender:

2 sticks lemongrass, tops cut off, crushed and chopped
1 brown onion
5 cloves garlic
20g salt
30g sugar
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
Enough sunflower oil to make a paste


Peanut Butter Sauce

Mix nuóc chám sauce (see recipe) with peanut butter to a dipping consistency – thinner to mix with noodles or thicker for spring rolls or meat.

Method

-Leave the chicken thighs in the marinade for as long as possible (ideally, at least 24 hours) and then heat in a pan, oven, air fryer—or on a charcoal barbecue—till cooked.
-Serve with noodles and fish sauce or in a baguette with Vietnamese herbs, cucumber and pickled carrots.


PRAWN, PORK & CHINESE CHIVE DUMPLING

Ingredients:
Wonton wrappers (the fresh ones are best) – find them in a Vietnamese shop

Filling, combine:

150g prawns, hand-minced
150g pork minced
30g Chinese chives
1 shallot
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper


Dumpling Sauce

75ml light soy sauce
25ml red wine vinegar
1 tsp black sesame oil
Ginger, sliced

Method (for around 14 large dumplings)

-Put a small amount of flour into a bowl of water. Dip your fingers in here regularly and it will stop the other ingredients from sticking to your fingers.
-Place the dumpling wrapper on a chopping board in front of you in a diamond shape. Add the filling to the centre of the diamond. Wet the top two edges of the diamond, then fold the two lower edges up, over the filling, so that they land in line with the two top edges to form what looks like a bulky, tasty triangle.
-Press the dry bottom edges onto the wet top edges so that they stick together, preventing the filling from escaping and air pockets from forming. (If there are air pockets in your dumpling, it will burst open during the cooking process.)
-Take one end of the longest side of the triangle—its ‘base’—and fold it in. Wet the new ‘edge’ that has been created, then fold across the opposite side, sticking it to the wet edge so that the dumpling now looks similar to the Pope’s hat.
-Now, either cook in a traditional steamer—or fry the bottom of the dumplings in a pan with oil on a medium-to-low heat, crisping the base. Once browned, turn the heat of the pan up high.
-Carefully add water to the hot pan, add a lid to contain the steam, and wait till fully cooked.
Serve with dumpling sauce.


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