Eat to see the bowl, walk to see the way.

Eat to see the bowl, walk to see the way.

Last time we were in Vietnam, this adage, Eat to see the bowl, walk to see the way, was left on our pillow one night at a new hotel in Hue. We don't always eat on the street even though it's mostly very good. and rat ngon or very tasty. In fact the only times we've experienced tummy troubles has been from western restaurants. Most of the time now, the food comes from our own kitchen.



The space is small, but with the help of Hoa Binh ( always aghast at how much we pay for any small morsel) and two new cookbooks (one a gift from Helen before leaving Australia, another purchased at Bookworm, Hanoi's English language book store on Pho Yen The), we're eating well!

Yesterday, I cooked Eggplant with Tofu

Ingredients
3 T olive oil
1 piece ( about 500gm) of tofu drained and cut into slices
half a chopped onion
3 tablespoons soya sauce
3 tomatoes peeled cut into chunks
1 small hot pepper, (I skipped this)

2 long skinny eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes
a handful of muchrooms (here they are quite exotic, longstemed with a frilly end)
half a kohlrabi, cut into small pieces

4 or five spring onions, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons Ha Binh's tomato paste ( or something inferior if you can't get this!)

Directions
1 Boil tofu for 20 to 30 minutes then cool and cut into slices
2 Heat oil in pan until very hot. Stir fry tofu in pan until brown on all sides. Set aside. to cool.

3 Stir fry onion ,until soft then add soya sauce and 1T water, along with tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, kohlrabi, green onions, and tomato paste and simmer for about 10 mins, or until vegetables are soft. Add tofu and continue cooking until tofu is heated through.
4 Serve with rice.

Last night at the supermarket I found Tapioca and have made creamed tapioca with starfruit in a mango coulis for dessert today. Who needs Master Chef!

One of the things I find interesting about eating out in Hanoi is that you share your meal with absolute strangers. Being an extrovert, I find that wonderful.

On the corner of our street is a small outdoor breakfast cafe serving noodles. During the day, the space just adjacent is used for repairing motorcycles. We haven't eaten there but perhaps Vespa soup might be quite nice!