in Travel 540 Words

Vietnamese cooking class

Because we had such a blast at our Thai cooking class & bc Vietnamese food is my fave cuisine back home, we decided to do a Vietnamese cooking class in Hoi An. It was a different but equally lovely experience. I do think Vietnamese food is generally much more difficult to cook than Thai food bc not only are you making the dish, you’re also making a different sauce to be served w every dish. Perhaps the coolest thing we learned was how to make fresh rice paper… It’s akin to Italians making fresh pasta as the difference vs store bought is night & day. But it’s a long process. Given 2 of the best local Vietnamese restos are within a mile of my place in Chicago, I’m unsure of the practicality to trying to make these dishes on my own but I do think the rice paper would be a great party trick.
We made the following along w accompanying sauces:

– Pancake, wrapped in rice paper

– Papaya/mango salad w shrimp & squid

– Spring roll including fresh rice paper

– Quang chicken

 

The Red Bridge cooking school was co-located w one of the best restos in the city out of town & accessible by both road & boat. We took a boat after our guide toured us through the local market.

 

 

Cooking stations

 

Pancake w rice flour, veggies & greens, prawns as demonstrated by our chef/teacher Mimi

 

Rolling pankcake in rice paper w greens, basil, mint, bean sprouts, etc.

 

Mimi’s beautiful creation

 

 

Here’s mine… not too shabby

 

Prepwork for green papaya & mango salads (one of my obsessions)

Seafood & flavorings for salad


Green papaya & mango salad

 

Spring roll ingredients

 

Fresh rice paper… starts w soaking rice for 7-12 hours

 

It involves this contraption of a cotton tee held atop a boiling pot of water by elastic w a very important slight gap in the side (releases steam & allows you to wet the flat wooden utensil to slide under the paper once its’s steamed there for 65 seconds… that’s the most difficult part)

 

After removing rice paper, simply roll ingredients

 

 

Sauce ingredients

 

Mimi’s perfection

 

My attempt… and YES, I really made the rice paper!!!

Prepwork for local chicken dish

 

Chicken w flavorings & tomatoes ready for the stove

 

 

Mimi’s perfect tomato-rose & cucumber-fan plate garnish

 

My pathetic attempt… who needs a plate garnish anyway?

 

8 thoughts on “Vietnamese cooking class”

  1. I love it! Food looks fantastic! How different is the basic pancake ingredient list from our pancakes? Did you get recipes again? Btw, I think your plate garnish is lovely!

    Like

    Reply

  3. Mouth watering! That pancake dish looks amazing. I must try at least one of those restaurants by you when you get back!!!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment