While Mr. & Mrs. A. went to Japan for food, we went on a 12 day culinary tour of Vietnam which included cooking classes in three cities. We realized when we got there that taking cooking classes in foreign cities seems to be a popular pastime for this new generation of tourists - the four of us on the tour were the oldest in the class. Indeed, we found that it is a great way of learning, not just about cooking techniques but also about the culture. Before the classroom part started, we were taken on a tour of a Hanoi market. Read about this on my travel blog.
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| The classroom |
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| Our instructor Duyen explaining the basics of Vietnamese cooking |
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| Ginger - a key ingredient in Vietnamese cooking - toasted on a gas stove |
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| Dyuen showed us the basic cooking technique for Beef Pho - Vietnamese do not cook the beef (not even briefly) - they just put raw slices in the bowl and rely on the hot soup to cook the beef to just the right doneness. What you see below is overcooked beef pho - for foreigners! |
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| How to make lattice patterns with a green mango |
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| Making the batter |
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| Preparing the individual portions for deep frying |
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| Deep frying the prawn |
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How to slice peppers and green papaya for decoration |
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| Checking the green papaya for freshness - white juice should come out |
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| Making a lattice pattern with green papaya |
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| Here's the green papaya salad - very popular here |
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| The technique behind wrapping spring rolls, using different kinds of rice paper - we'll learn this more than once on our trip |
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| We had to eat our own creations, including the dipping sauce, which, in my opinion, was the best we tasted on our trip |
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| Making banana dessert with coconut milk |
And here's the eye-opener (or you may want to close it if you're squeamish) - a boiled egg with duck-embryo inside. The keen assistant held the embryo by its neck for photos - and everyone just went wild taking shots, then he carved it up so everyone got a taste, myself included. Looking back, I felt sick at the thought...it's amazing what crowd mentality can make one do.
Here's someething less grisly -
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| A Vietnamese milk fruit - it gives when ripe - very sweet inside |
It was a great cultural and culinary experience!
