Vietnamese Cooking Class

Oh what fun and how delicious!!!
we've been in Nha Trang for 8 days now, Holger completed his diving course and is now a licenced PADI diver while I had to quit my course due to my health. I hope to complete it in Thailand.
So yesterday we went out with the boat to the nearby islands - Holger dived and I snorkeled. It was a beautiful spot with great corals, fish and other marine life. Today Holger dived again :( while I had a great half day of beach and blue water and treated myself to a sunlounger and a parasol in the first row.
In the afternoon we took a Vietnamese cooking class. It was an awesome experience and the 3 dishes we cooked were sooo yummy! Three easy and very typical Vietnamese dishes really worth trying at home: 1. Spring Rolls, 2. Stewed Fish in Clay Pot and 3. Spicy Lemongrass Chicken

1. Spring Rolls
Ingredients:
- 50g minced pork (or other meat)
- small amount Vermicelli (glass noodles)
- 50g black mushrooms
- 50g grated carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 1 or 2 spring onion
- 1 egg yolk, keep the egg white
- 8 rice paper sheets
- 1 lime
- fish sauce, ground garlic, sugar, pepper, salt, oil, Vietnamese basil and some lettuce

Always taste rice paper before using (salt)! Dice onion and carrot finely. Chop the spring onion. Soak vermicelli in water for 10 minutes. Rinse, drain and cut into small pieces. Soak the mushroom in warm water for 10 minutes, then wash them thoroughly, remove the stems and chop finely. Mix all ingredients together with 1 egg yolk and 2 pinches of pepper, 2 pinches of bullion and 1 pinch of salt. Spread each rice paper out. Place 1 table spoon of the stuffing at the base of each sheet, roll it tight. Fry the rolls in hot oil (rolls need to be covered halfway in oil) until they get a nice golden brown color.

Dipping Sauce
Mix 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar and 1-2 limes. Add 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 1/2 Tbsp boiling water, 1 Tbsp chopped garlic, and the preferred amount of chopped chili (about 1 Tbsp).

To enjoy your appetizer for 2 persons, just wrap your roll in lettuce and Vietnamese basil and dip in the sauce :)


2. Stewed Fish and Pork in Clay Pot
Ingredients:
- 100g fish filet
- 50g meat (pork etc.)
- spring onion
- roasted onions
- lemon grass
- 1 big fresh chili
- fish sauce, sugar, pepper, salt, caramel, oil, bullion

Marinate the fish and/or pork with 2 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp caramel (you can do it yourself - just melt some sugar in a pan), chopped spring onions, 1/2 tsp bullion, 2 Tbsp roasted onions.
Heat the clay pot over medium heat, add a bit of cooking oil. Cook the fish/pork in the clay pot until slightly cooked on all sides, then add water to cover the fish/pork. Cover the pot and allow to boil, then reduce the heat. Continue cooking over a low heat until most of the liquid is gone and the fish/pork are golden.
Leave in the clay pot and garnish with spring onions and fresh chili. Serve with steamed rice and some sliced cucumber.


3. Spicy Lemongrass Chicken
Ingredients:
- 150g chicken (highly recommended also with thinly sliced beef!!!)
- shaved lemongrass root
- fresh chili
- 1/2 onion
- curry powder
- sate tom sauce
- caramel, fish sauce, garlic, pepper, salt, sugar, spring onion, water, bullion, ginger if you like

Slice the chicken into bit size pieces, cut the onion into strips, shave the lemongrass roots. Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add some cooking oil. Turn heat off and add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, sate and chili quickly and stir. Then add the chicken and cook quickly! Add about half a rice bowl of water, 1 tsp curry powder, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 Tbsp bullion, salt and pepper to your taste. Finally add the onion for about another minute. Enjoy with steamed rice.

You can cook all dishes within 1 hour, I guess. But since we ate it as soon as we cooked it and took some breaks we lost track of time :) Vietnames Cuisine is really amazing and you'll love the taste of the food because of their spices.

We ended our stay in Nha Trang with a very nice day program and now head to Hanoi by plane to visit the famous Halong Bay.