Vietnamese food

abui1806 · 30 Sep 2016 at 02:34

the_r_sole said:
Found the food in Vietnam lovely, had a home stay where we cooked with the family, and also a couple of visits to families to eat with them (also did one of the cooking courses in hoi an but getting the ingredients on the west coast of Scotland isn't too easy!)
Never had that egg thing, had a salted egg which was during a hangover and gave me the book!!

I live in Southampton and I can get most of the ingredients from the China town shop. Wonder if there is one in Scotland

Craig1981 · 30 Sep 2016 at 10:56

abui1806 said:
I live in Southampton and I can get most of the ingredients from the China town shop. Wonder if there is one in Scotland

You'd probably have to go to a city like Glasgow or Edinburgh to have much hope of finding that kinda stuff.

the_r_sole · 30 Sep 2016 at 11:19

abui1806 said:
I live in Southampton and I can get most of the ingredients from the China town shop. Wonder if there is one in Scotland

yeah, I can get some of the stuff, the biggest problem is getting fresh herbs to give the right flavours and the fish etc

Begbie · 30 Sep 2016 at 14:55

abui1806 said:
You have a point there mate. Most of the food is not really well presented but they taste heavenly

I agree, heavenly.

the_r_sole said:
yeah, I can get some of the stuff, the biggest problem is getting fresh herbs to give the right flavours and the fish etc

What can't you get?

I want to make some Pho, but the process is pretty long and I have a tiny kitchen I share with 5 others. I don't think they'd be too happy

the_r_sole · 30 Sep 2016 at 22:30

Begbie said:
I agree, heavenly.

What can't you get?

I want to make some Pho, but the process is pretty long and I have a tiny kitchen I share with 5 others. I don't think they'd be too happy

Hot mint and Vietnamese balm are two herbs I've never seen here

abui1806 · 2 Oct 2016 at 12:53

the_r_sole said:
Hot mint and Vietnamese balm are two herbs I've never seen here

I still managed to find Vietnamese basil in here but that's the closest herb to Vietnamese' loads of others I could ever get in the UK

gobbo · 7 Oct 2016 at 14:21

the_r_sole said:
Hot mint and Vietnamese balm are two herbs I've never seen here

Grow them, both are happy enough inside.

I've got lemongrass, thai basil, and fish mint all growing happily. JungleSeeds are good for getting the seeds and advice from

abui1806 · 10 Oct 2016 at 02:38

gobbo said:
Grow them, both are happy enough inside.

I've got lemongrass, thai basil, and fish mint all growing happily. JungleSeeds are good for getting the seeds and advice from

That's a good idea though. I'm thinking about growing all types of herb and vegetable in my garden instead of flowers

bingham67 · 4 Nov 2016 at 22:14

Having come back from Vietnam I am really missing the Pho it was gorgeous anyone know of any decent places in London for it just quick google given me Com Viet in Covent Garden.

£9 for pho in London I paid £1.20 in Ho Chi Minh

HazardO · 6 Feb 2017 at 11:27

Had my first attempt at making pho for dinner on Saturday.

Used one of these kits:
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=244957

Then added:
thinly sliced sirloin steak
shiitake mushrooms
mangetout
tender stem broccoli
and bean sprouts

Garnish:
mint
thai basil
coriander
spring onion
birds eye chilies

It was really tasty TBH, despite a couple of rookie mistakes on the way:

1) The kit has a sort of stock and herb teabag for the broth which comes in a foil wrapper. Brians of Britain here took the instructions too literally and didn't take the bag out of the foil initially!
2) The beef and the noodles were supposed to be cooked by just pouring boiling water over them. I tried to cook all the veg at the same time. Everything came out perfectly except the noodles which were overdone and fell to pieces. Next time I'll ignore the instructions and cook the noodles separately from the rest of the bulk

The wife enjoyed it, so I'll be doing that one again.