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-Tassos
hi Tasso,
I’m a student from Saigon, Vietnam and I’m living in Groningen now. I read your food column on UK today and feel really happy that you decided to write about “chả giò”. Just want to correct a tiny mistake in the name of the dish, it’s “chả giò”, not “cha giò”. I’m really appreciated your work because it’s really an authentic way of making “chả giò”, especially the recipe of “nước chấm” and “bánh tráng”. The ingredients vary across many provinces from North to South. In the South, especially in my city, instead of using daikon, people use “củ sắn nước” (turnip?) because it’s sweeter and softer than daikon.
There’s another way of eating “chả giò” which I really like. That is to eat it with soft rice noodle (bún tươi) and “nước chấm”, mix everything with lots of different vegetables (húng quế, lettuce leaves, diếp cá – fish mit,…). You can try it! (it’s kinda hard to find “bún tươi” in Groningen though
)
Hi An!
I am so glad you sent this message! We’ve met right? You’re in the same department as I am. If so, I wanted to ask your opinion before I left for my trip a couple of weeks ago, and again a couple of days after I returned, during the practicum, but both times, I never got the chance.
The missing accent was lost in the transfer of files, unfortunately. It’s chả giò, right? As for the ingredients and variations, I agree completely. I haven’t found củ sắn nước in Groningen yet (jicama in English, yamboon in Dutch), but turnip is a good alternative. I went with daikon because I know it’s easy and cheap to find at the market, where I usually shop. I’ll look around for củ sắn nước next time I am at Amazing Oriental.
How different are bún tươi from bánh hỏi? Those are very easy to find in Groningen and I make Bún Thịt Nướng all the time (in fact, I am hoping to write about it in the UK at some point).
Thanks again for the feedback! Let me know if you’d like to work on a recipe together at some point
-t
Hi Tasso,
I’m not in your practicum groups so we’ve never met before.
Both “bún tươi” and “bánh hỏi” are made of rice flour. It’s just their textures are different which brings different tastes. Ah, bánh hỏi is drier I think. I prefer “bún tươi”, and people used it more often in Bún Thịt Nướng (wow, where did you eat it in Vietnam?). Bánh hỏi is used mostly in wrap and roll dishes in the south mainly with chả giò and thịt nướng
. I like to eat grilled fish with vegetables and nước chấm with bánh hỏi. If you go to Mekong delta, you can see this wrap and roll dish is very popular 
. Basically the difference between bún tươi and bánh hỏi lies in the way we eat them 
.
I remember that you told us in the last lecture that you’d so somewhere for your holidays but I didn’t know you’d go to VN
. If I have known that before, I’d have recommended you some restaurants in my city because to me some restaurants famous for tourists is just “so so” 
.
I’m not good at cooking though. I’m not sure if I can help you in any recipe but I’m always willing to.
I’m not saying that I’m an expert but when it comes to Vietnamese food I’m always excited about trying new dishes 
.
Btw, have you ever made bánh xèo (Vietnamese pancake)?
It’s my favorite!
Have a nice day,
An.
An,
Both bánh xèo and bún thịt nướng are things I wanted to eat while in VN, but never got the chance. I used to eat bún thịt nướng a lot when I lived in California, where there are a lot of Vietnamese immigrants and restaurants. But I’ve been looking for good recipes for the pancakes to make them at home now that I’m back. Any advice is welcome! I brought back a couple of bags of dried mushrooms and some tiny dried shrimp to try in fillings (I had some bánh cuốn with dried shrimp for breakfast once and I’d like to recreate them)…
-Tassos