Egged on to culinary bliss in Saigon
A plate of mega flour-cube |
Even if I might not have tasted them, I thought I knew of all Vietnamese foods when I moved to Saigon a decade or so ago. One dish proved me wrong emphatically and took my breath away.
My first sighting was a large, thick, flat, round, black hotplate on which many white cubes sizzled. These were made of rice flour. Intrigued, I approached the cart standing on a street corner.
What happened next was another surprise, something I did not expect at all. The vendor cracked eggs over the cubes and proceeded to scatter chopped onion over them.
I had no idea what the dish was but its smell and the way people were eating it with an obvious relish made my mouth water.
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Suffice it to say that I am an addict now and am always on the lookout for my bot
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This is corroborated by my colleague's Singaporean friend whose father is Chinese.
The friend said chai tow
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The dish is served crisp with a sweet rice vinegar and soy sauce concoction and some shredded pickled young papaya and carrot.
This is a dish that will give “greasy” a good name, crispy on the outside but soft inside, with the fried green onion giving it an appetizing aroma.
Ngoc, a Vietnamese Chinese woman who has been selling bot
She said it was hard to tell exactly when the dish arrived in Saigon but it was the Chinese who brought it here.
But the Saigonese version is quite different from the original, as the rice flour cakes are
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Try this dish for yourself at one of the eateries along Vo Van Tan Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 3. In no time, it will grow on you.
Source: VnExpress
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