11 artery-clogging and delicious Vietnamese dishes

Vietnamese cuisine is known for being fresh. But for every zinging piece of papaya there’s a fatty artery clogger hiding in the fryer. Here are some of the latter. 

11. Bot chien

This is a simple dish, a bit like a fry up. Cubes of rice flour dough are sautéed in a wok, an egg broken over the top and chives and peanuts added.

The whole gooey mess is plated, with a side of papaya slivers and doused in rice vinegar.

Visit: Cong Quynh street where it intersects with Pham Ngu Lao in Saigon’s backpacker district.

10. Bo nuong

Nuong means barbecue and bo, in this case, beef. Although it isn’t really barbecue.

Unlike ribs or chicken, other popular options, the marinated beef strips aren’t grilled over hot coals but instead cooked table side, by you. In a skillet. Filled with butter / margarine. With no run off.

Visit: Ma May street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter any evening.

9. Banh chuoi

Banh chuoi is a banana fritter. A banana, sliced lengthways, drenched in batter then dumped into the deep fryer to fizz and spit until it’s pulled out golden brown, the batter pocked and puffed up and dripping in fat.

Bunched slivers of sweet potato receive the same treatment.

8. Xoi

Sticky rice can be nothing more than the glutinous white side to a bigger meal. But other varieties, such as xoi xao or xoi ngo -- sticky rice with corn kernels -- are less innocuous.

They are served with a generous squirt of oil, sliced mung bean cake, soy sauce and a choice of toppings which can include cha lua, a kind of bologna, or thick cuts of marinated pork belly, or a preserved egg.

Visit: Xoi Yen, Nguyen Huu Huan street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

7. Banh my

These are the famous baguettes which a couple of years ago became so popular in the United States.

The southern style involves more fresh vegetables but the northern variety, with its large and crisper baguette, egg fried in a kilo of goo, thick dabs of pate and only a scant slice of cucumber for crunch factor is an excellent way to fill up on calories or soak up too many bia hois.

6. Banh goi

These are not originally from Vietnam but like banh bao (steamed pork buns) have become popular snacks. Resembling a samosa they’re filled instead with minced pork, wood ear mushrooms, glass noodles and sometimes a slice of fatty, deep pink Chinese sausage and half a steamed quail egg. Then deep fried.

Visit: Ly Quoc Su street in the Old Quarter

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