The Lure of Hanoi Chicken by Ruth Paget

The Lure of Hanoi Chicken by Ruth Paget 

I bought The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches by Andrea Nguyen for its cover photo of a succulent, grilled chicken baguette sandwich with pickled daikon radishes and carrots, spicy chile peppers, cucumber slices, and cilantro. 

I thought I could make that sandwich and bought this cookbook for its savory, spicy, and perky fresh recipes. 

Nguyen writes that the banh mi’s (pronounced bun me) ingredients hearken back to Vietnam’s colonial past: 

-the baguette bread is of French origin 

-several condiments such as hoisin sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce are of Chinese origin 

Nguyen helps first-time Vietnamese cooks with a pantry listing and later in the book provides recipes for everything from pickles and condiments to Indonesian saté chicken as a filling. Among the pantry items Nguyen lists the following items: 

-baguette buns 

-red chile peppers 

-cilantro 

-garlic 

-ginger 

-lemongrass 

-shallots 

-Chinese five spice powder 

-curry powder 

-fish sauce 

-hoisin sauce 

-oyster sauce 

-sesame oil 

-sriracha chile sauce 

-vinegar 

Nguyen lists how to construct a basic banh mi as follows: 

1-Hollow out the center of the slice of baguette to firmly hold the fillings in place 

2-Season the bottom layer of bread with condiments 

3-Place protein filling on the bottom layer of bread 

4-Place pickled vegetables on top of the protein 

5-Place cucumber slices on top of pickled vegetables 

6-Place cilantro on top of cucumber slices 

7-Place the top baguette slice over everything. Press down the top of the baguette and serve. 

Nguyen finishes the book with pan-Asian filling selections that will find fans including: 

-Indonesian Chicken Saté 

-Sri Lankan Black Curry 

-Spicy Wok-Seared Shrimp 

-Doner Kebab 

-Peppery Portabello Mushrooms 

Nguyen’s recipes for Hanoi Grilled Chicken Thighs sounds especially perky with its combination of lime juice and fish sauce seasoning. 

Cultural information plus doable recipes make The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches by Andrea Nguyen a great buy, especially for families who would like to try Vietnamese food for the first time. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Sampling Vietnamese Cuisine with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sampling Vietnamese Cuisine with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My family’s many Vietnamese restaurant outings in Monterey, California were the product of my meals at Chicago’s Mekong House in the 1980s and Vietnamese meals in Paris’ Vietnamese restaurants in the 1990s.  (Vietnamese restaurants outnumber Chinese restaurants in Paris, since Vietnam was once a French colony as part of Indochina.)

When we moved to Monterey, I noticed the Orient Restaurant while shopping and took my daughter Florence to it for lunch on what was the first of several Friday afternoons when she got out of school at noon.

“What kind of food do they have there?” Florence asked.

“They have Mongolian beef,” I responded knowing that I had mentioned the one exotic food item that Florence liked from Chinese dining adventures as well as Korean ones where we ate bulgogi, which resembles Mongolian beef.  She preferred Mongolian beef to burgers and fries.

“The Vietnamese actually beat back the Mongols from their country twice,” I continued.

“Who are the Mongols again?” she asked.

“Horse riders who ruled from China to Persia,” I responded with my quick historical summary of the Mongol hordes.

“Why do they have Mongolian beef at a Vietnamese restaurant, if they beat the Mongols?” Florence asked.

“They serve both Chinese and Vietnamese food, because that’s what their customers want,” I said.

When we arrived at the restaurant, an altar with a four-foot high laughing Buddha and a three-foot high vase full of sunflowers greeted us at the entrance.  The pale green restaurant walls and black, marble-top tables showed that they were prosperous.

I ordered lemongrass chicken, and Florence ordered Mongolian beef.  When Florence tasted the Mongolian beef, I asked her what she thought of it.

“Spicy,” she said as she moved a red chili pepper off to the side of her plate.  The green onion looked the same as what goes into Chinese Mongolian beef, but the Orient’s version was saucier and had mushrooms and bamboo shoots in it.  It came with rice.

“Is it a little sweet like bulgogi?” I asked.

“No, but I like it.  I don’t mind spicy food,” she said.  She had inherited my liking for hot and spicy food.

“Try the lemongrass chicken,” I said, putting a nugget on her plate.  She put it in her mouth and grimaced.  I like slightly sour foods, but Florence does not.  Lemongrass chicken arrives at the table sizzling with the aroma of chilies, garlic, and citrus in the air.  I like the out-of-the-ordinary ingredients.

“They have a Buddha on their altar,” Florence remarked as she finished her meal.

The altar held many things: incense sticks in a bowl full of sand, cups that looked like egg holders which were full to the brim with a clear liquid probably a rice wine, a stemmed platter of mangos stacked in a pyramid, rose-colored silk tulips, two electric candles, a bowl of rice, and a statue of long-haired, bearded Taoist Immortal.

On the way out after our meal, Florence bent down to look at the altar that was on the floor while I picked up the take-out menu.

“Is the guy with a beard Buddha, too?” she asked.

“He’s a Taoist Immortal; someone who lives forever,” I said, fending off trying to explain Taoism, which believers themselves claim is unknowable.

“Did you know that people who believe in the Tao find doing everyday things beautiful?” I said and smiled.

“What do you mean,” Florence asked.

“Doing stuff like buying groceries, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, and going to school are all beautiful for someone who believes in the Tao,” I said.

Florence looked at me and said, “Doing laundry isn’t beautiful.”

“It is if you like clean clothes,” I responded.

Florence shook her head and said, “You’re weird, mom.”

“Weird and happy,” I retorted.  “Can’t you think of one ordinary thing that you could call beautiful?” I asked.

“I guess eating lunch,” Florence answered.

“Exactly like eating lunch,” I said as I pinched her cheek.  I liked having time to take my daughter out to lunch.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie