Vietnamese Food with Friends in Penang
Eating in with foreign friends is truly a blessed experience. Food cooked with true influence from back home and dished out according to the cook's village's style. And the best is we get the common folk dishes, so simple yet take lots of love to prepare and a lifetime of eating it back home. For those in the know, there is a large Vietnamese community in Penang and with it shipments of Vietnamese seafood and other fresh and dry food have been making their way into Malaysia. Asked the ladies who cook and you know where to get it.
The most common dish will be the Vietnamese rolls. Square rice paper, stiff and unyielding when pulled out from the packet, will be wiped with a wet cloth or just with a few sweep of the wet lettuce and viola you have a rice 'skin' so supple and attractive that you want to eat it. Stacking order:
1) Lettuce and other leaves and herbs (depending on the types available) are placed on the rice paper 2) Followed by rice vermicelli
3) Shredded carrot and cucumber slices
4) Finally the pork and shrimps
The dipping sauce is the most important and is a combination of fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, garlic and chillis. The key to a good roll is not to overpacked. Make sure the left and right of the rice paper has enough space to fold over. It must be rolled with a firm hand. A loose roll will unravel at the first bite. Bon appetit!
Another roll from their village. Each their own style. Rice netting rolls packed again with lots of pork deep-fried. Crunchy and aromatic.
The most common dish will be the Vietnamese rolls. Square rice paper, stiff and unyielding when pulled out from the packet, will be wiped with a wet cloth or just with a few sweep of the wet lettuce and viola you have a rice 'skin' so supple and attractive that you want to eat it. Stacking order:
1) Lettuce and other leaves and herbs (depending on the types available) are placed on the rice paper 2) Followed by rice vermicelli
3) Shredded carrot and cucumber slices
4) Finally the pork and shrimps
The dipping sauce is the most important and is a combination of fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, garlic and chillis. The key to a good roll is not to overpacked. Make sure the left and right of the rice paper has enough space to fold over. It must be rolled with a firm hand. A loose roll will unravel at the first bite. Bon appetit!
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