A Very Vietnamese Thanksgiving Pt. 2 of 3

Pictures of making Banh Hoi followed by a recipe for fish sauce

One of my FAVORITE Vietnamese dishes that I eat at any family gathering is Banh Hoi. The last time my mom made this dish, I ate a whole plate in one day #sorrynotsorry. Banh Hoi is a traditional Vietnamese dish that is made out of steamed vermicelli noodles, topped with scallion oil, and served with fish sauce *recipe given later on). It is SUPER easy to make. And now that my mom has taught me, she expects me to make it on my own any time I want it (although food is always better prepared by your parents.. it's a fact).

My mom and I made a makeshift steamer by boiling water, topping it with a flat strainer, and covering with a lid. We can get pretty crafty in the kitchen when we need to be. My mom and I are pretty similar in being ingenuitive and finding all the ways to make multitaskers out of ordinary items; I definitely was NOT adopted, as much as my sister used to tell me when we were younger.

All we did was soak the vermicelli noodles, steam them for 3 minutes, and then topped it with the scallion oil. The scallion oil was composed of 1 cup of corn oil and one bunch of scallions, finely chopped. We boiled the oil for 2 minutes with the scallions to infuse the flavors together.

  

To accompany the Banh Hoi, we needed to make lam nuoc mam (loosely translated to prepared fish sauce). Although it doesn’t sound appetizing, fish sauce is the equivalent to ketchup in America. The Vietnamese use fish sauce with EV-ER-YTHING. We’ve used it with salads, meats, noodles, egg rolls, and everything in between. I’ve made fish sauce quite a few times now and have the recipe ingrained in my memory, although I always refer to my notes so that I don’t mess it up. Wouldn’t want to disappoint the family.

Here are the ingredients! (I almost forgot the chili garlic sauce).

You'll need to microwave the coconut soda first, then add the rest of the ingredients. Adding the sugar to the microwaved coconut soda. The warm soda helps to dissolve the sugar.

Then stir until the ingredients are well combined and all of the sugar has dissolved! Once the fish sauce has cooled down, you can taste it and see how it needs to be adjusted. It should be well balanced between salty, sweet, and sour. If you are interested in learning more about Vietnamese food and perfecting the recipes, you must have a balance between those flavors. It'll take some practice (asking some of your Vietnamese friends to be taste testers never hurts), but if you keep at it, you will learn our ways.

Ingredients:

2 cans of coconut soda

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of fish sauce (base of the “prepared fish sauce”)

2 garlic cloves. chopped

1 tbsp of chili garlic sauce

1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions:

1. Microwave the coconut soda for 1.5 - 2 minutes on medium high heat
2. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar
3. Add in fish sauce, garlic, chili garlic sauce, and lime juice
4. Stir the sauce until everything is well combined
5. Let cool and taste to adjust any of the flavorings.
6. Store in the fridge for up to 1 month (although my family and I have kept it for up to 3)