Foot and Fire

By GERLIE M. UY Eating is one of the highlights of every trip, next to photo shoots of course. And in vietnam, Pho is the mother of all meals...After a week of partaking Pho, we almost adapted to the no-salt taste and always-with-herbs mixture. In Tam Coc, a friend "luckily" picked a summer roll with lampunaya inside, we were all amused. My friends had their first taste of the abundant Dragon Fruit  there too. Meanwhile, I enjoyed their instant Pho on our last supper before heading to the airport; it tasted like the real thing. The instant hit among us was the deep fried dpring rolls and the beef/chicken with mushrooms and onions of Sa Pa Global hotel... Fried chicken with stir fried bamboo shoot. Unlike the way we cook it, they do not blanch the shoot so that it taste and smells so wrong. Fried chicken on top of fried rice. PHO BO, or beef noodle soup.. we were accustomed to its almost no-salt taste after a week of having it...LOL Condiments for the Pho... L_R Chili sauce w...

This is one of the dishes we cooked up at the Saigon Culinary Art Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Lotus stem is tasteless, aroma-less but super crunchy; perfect for salad. Since this recipe called for pork and shrimps, I omitted these two. In the following recipe, I shall include pork and shrimp for your perusal. Marinade 1 T lemon juice 2 T sugar 2 T white vinegar 2 T fish sauce (patis or nuoc mam cham) A pinch of salt and pepper 180g Lotus stem (cucumber, carrots, green papaya, cabbage or turnip may be used)  100 g pork tenderloin 100 g shrimp 10g celery 20 g carrots Garnishing 1 big chili 1 chili flower 5g knot weed (may use sweet basil) 5-7 g mint leaves 1/2 T fried peanuts 1/2 T fried shallots (may use onions) Preparation MARINADE: Mix all marinade ingredients except fish sauce, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve completely. VEGETABLES: Cut in julienne the lotus stem, carrot and big chili. Cut celery in 1-2 cm length. PORK: Prepare pork by boiling it over medium h...