The variety of flavours & ingredients in authentic Vietnamese cuisine is fascinating to me.  Coming from Toronto, I already thought we had good exposure to international cuisines, but after visiting Vietnam, I realized just how much more we were missing!  After taking a cooking class in Hoi An, I was able to appreciate the emphasis on fresh ingredients and how to build subtle flavours with herbs and aromatics.  A lot of our dishes started with throwing together a combination of items and mashing them up into a paste with mortar and pestle.

This half-day class was a lot of fun and the great thing is that it’s very hands-on.  But the best part was sampling all the dishes we prepared.  We were 11 people, so we actually made 11 dishes together.  Highly recommended! 🙂

Cooking School:  Green Bamboo   (+84 (0)905815600 van@greenbamboo-hoian.com)
The Itinerary:  You get picked up at your hotel, and the day starts with a trip to the market.  Van takes the time to explain all the weird and wonderful things you’ll encounter.  Then your group will head back to Van’s beautiful home to prepare and cook the dishes you have selected.  Duration:  8 AM to 3 PM

The Rules:

1. Each person gets to pick a dish to prepare from start to finish
2. Be open to new flavours
3. Have fun!

Our extensive menu (yes, we actually made every single dish from scratch with fresh ingredients):

• Stew pork belly with coconut milk – my favourite!
• Fish in clay pot (cá kho tộ) with pork belly
• Fish BBQ in banana leaf (lemon grass, fresh turmeric shallot and garlic)
• Cha Ca (Hanoi Specialty)
• Beef noodles soup (Pho Bo)
• Beef BBQ in La Lot leaf (piper leaves)
• Stir fry chicken with lemon grass and chili
• Chicken rissoles with lemon grass, garlic and shallot
• Stir fry shrimp with lemon grass and chili
• Fried spring roll with spring onion (shrimp and meat)
• Fresh spring rolls (spring onion, mint, lemon basil, carrot and green bean) with pork and shrimp

Go to my next post to see where else we ate in Hoi An.

Pork belly simmering in coconut milk

Stew pork belly with coconut milk – final product

Fish in clay pot – prepwork

Fish in clay pot

Kevin grilling his whole fish

Fish BBQ in banana leaf

Cha Ca – grilling the fish first

Cha Ca – Step 2 – sauteeing with dill and herbs

Cha Ca – plated

Pho Bo

Beef La Lot leaf – before grilling

Beef BBQ in La Lot leaf

Stir fry chicken with lemongrass & chili

Chicken rissoles with lemon grass, garlic & shallot

Stir fry shrimp with lemon grass and chili

Fried Spring Rolls