Love
it or hate it, fish sauce is the soul of Vietnamese cuisine. If you don’t find
a tiny bowl of nuoc mam next to the
local dish you are served, there’s a good chance that it has already been
included in the food during cooking as a key component.
The
saltiness and sweetness of the oil-rich anchovies fermented for months strike
your taste buds at once. Its pungent aroma, unwanted for some but fantastic for
others, makes fish sauce a robust sidekick to any dish.
Given
the country's long coastline, you can imagine the special connection the locals
have with their fish sauce. The country consumes around 200 million liters of
fish sauce every year at a cost of between VND7.2 and 7.5 trillion ($320-333
million), according to the General Statistics Office.
For
anyone who is still in doubt, try these 6 local dishes that fish sauce works
its magic best with.
Banh xeo
Photo by Ngoisao.
Dubbed
the Vietnamese sister of the crepe, these sizzling cakes are the perfect rival
to their western counterpart. The pancakes made from rice flour and coconut
milk is topped with pork, prawns or in some cases duck before being fired until
crispy and folded in half.
Banh xeo is not complete without a sweet
and sour fish sauce with pickle. All gourmets agree on one point: it’s the
sauce that sets the stalls apart.
Broken rice
Photo by VnExpress/Phong Vinh
Born
as a popular comfort food option among the working class in the south, the dish
has gradually found its way to Vietnam's culinary hall of fame.
Traditionally
a serving only consisted of rice, scallion oil garnish and shredded pork skin.
Over time, the dish has evolved with higher living standards. Instead of pig
skin, southerners now add shredded pork.
The
sauce is the spirit of the dish. Many broken rice eateries have been shunned
purely because they failed to create a decent sauce. The sauce served with the
dish is savory thanks to refined sugar, premium fish sauce and sometimes a
little bit of pineapple juice. Garlic and chili are also added.
Fried spring rolls
Photo by VnExpress/Phong Vinh
They're
called cha gio in the South and nem ran in the North. Either way they're
one of the most popular dishes in the country, usually prepared for family
gatherings and traditional holidays. The ground pork is mixed with wood ear
mushrooms and carrots before being wrapped in rice paper and deep-fried.
It’s
served next to a bowl of fish sauce mixed with lemon juice, sugar, garlic,
chili peppers and water.
Bun cha
Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Trang
The
cha, or grilled pork, is quite the naked version of the one above, where the
fatty pork is either sliced or made into meatballs, and grilled without the
wrapping.
The
noodles are added later in the form of rice vermicelli (called bun in
Vietnamese). What defines the taste of the whole dish is the dipping sauce,
which is usually lighter and sweeter than the one served with cha gio.
Fresh spring rolls
Photo by VnExpress/Phong Vinh
Instead
of deep-frying the rolls, the Vietnamese also have a cooler way to enjoy them:
pre-cooking the pork and wrapping it in rice paper with prawns, fresh herbs and
rice vermicelli.
The
common dipping sauce is mam nem, a
pastier version of nuoc mam.
Steamed rice rolls
Photo by VnExpress/Phong Vinh
If
you are familiar with our food series 'Hanoi
Bang Bang', you'll remember banh cuon
or steamed rice rolls were featured as a restorative breakfast and a reliable
midnight belly-warmer in the capital.
The
sauce accompanying the tender rolls filled with chicken or pork decides the
winner in the steamy competition between the best banh cuon cooks in town. Our pick was an eatery that combines bone
broth with the fish sauce to create the perfect blend.
Theo VNE