HIVE Creatives Contest | Everyday Cooking in Vietnam...

After checking out @zord189's post on Hive Creative Contest - Everyday Cooking, I decided I would share about one of Vietnam's signature noodle soup known as Bún Bò Huế. This noodle soup has a spicy soup with deep layers of flavour. This Central Vietnamese soup is paired with tender slices of beef and pork, then topped with lots of fresh herbs. The name of this dish came from a city known as Huế in Central Vietnam. This city has a reputation for having spicy foods, something not common with other Vietnamese cuisine.

One significant ingredient in Bún Bò Huế is congealed pork blood. You can coagulate it by sitting fresh blood in a container, then boiling with salt to solidify it. It’s kinda dense, slightly chewy and holds its shape when bitten. I've never made it myself since it is easily bought from the local market near my apartment.

Prepare a bowl with the rice noodles, bean sprouts, banana flower, green leafy vegetables of your choice, mint & Thai basil. Fresh rice noodles is easily available at the local wet market only for a small price. No matter how small of a packet I buy, I could never finish eating it. For the locals, rice noodles is considered to be their staple food unlike rice for us.

I usually prepare the broth in advance so I can use it for later. For the broth, I tend to use pork bones and combination of chicken and pork meat since beef is rather expensive here. Allow the broth to simmer at least 1 - 2 hours for the full fragrant of the meat to seep into the bright. Remember, to strain the meat sediments away every once a while. Once the broth is ready, pour onto the bowl. A final touch is freshly cut young orange tomatoes. Mix into the broth with the noodle to bring out its full flavour of sourish taste. You can add in cut chilies if you like it spicy.

I would sometimes buy some shellfish such as snails or clams which is already clean and add onto the soup to give it a bit of seafood taste. Now, isn't this a simple yet yummy looking noodle dish. Well.. this is Vietnam from my home kitchen.

May not be as orangie as it should be but in terms of taste, it ranks Top 10 in my Vietnamese Recipe Book 😆