By Liane Arno

MATT does love his beer and when in Rome – do as the Romans do.  And so when we were on assignment in Vietnam he was keen to try the Vietnamese beer.  Just as they introduced bread to Vietnam, the French colonialists introduced beer.  At the time it was only for the glorified gentry.  Because of the shortage of glass during the Indochinese war, when the Vietnamese fought to evict the French, reusable kegs were used to make and serve the beer.  When Vietnam gained its independence they took over the production of the beer and decided to bring beer to the masses and ‘Bia Hoi’ or fresh beer was born.  Each day kegs of beer are delivered to the street vendors but because it has no preservatives it needs to be drunk on the day.

Every day around 4pm everyone flocks to the Bia Hoi junctions of Hanoi to drink the beer.  The second to worst tricky bit is to get yourself down onto the tiny plastic seats that in Australia would only be found in children’s parties and used by those no older than six years of age.  You can imagine that Matt’s legs spilled out all over the place.  The worst trickiest bit is then standing up after you have had a couple of the beers.  I think Matt’s trick of rolling off the seat and then pushing up from all fours seemed to be the most successful, the least elegant, and the funniest exit strategy as far as the locals were concerned.

Of course there needs to be something to soak up the beer and our absolute favourite was Bún chả.  Rashers of pork belly and fragrantly spiced pork patties are caramelised over charcoal embedding them with a smoky richness.  These are served along with vermicelli noodles and a heap of greens in an amazing broth.  Matt has experimented on getting it perfect and here is his recipe.  

By the way – for vegetarians – we are going to try out replacing the pork belly and pork patties with mushrooms and tofu.  We are sure it will be just as tasty. 

Make the following and set aside:

• 1 cup of vermicelli noodles
• 1 finely sliced papaya (it is in the supermarkets again)
• 1 finely sliced carrot
• A huge bowl of greenery – anything you have around from mint to parsley to young spinach/silver beet/lettuce to Asian greens to chives to spring onion stalks

To start the marinade process combine and blitz into a paste

• 4 shallots
• 2 stalks lemon grass
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 small fresh red chili
• 6 stalks of spring onions

Add this to a marinade of:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Add half the marinade mix to each of the following which are in separate bowls and sit for at least 30 minutes

• 400g pork belly (skin removed)
• 400g pork mince

While waiting for the marinating meat make the broth. Combine the following in a pot and bring to boil slowly and then keep warm.

• 10 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 small chopped chili
• 150 ml fish sauce
• 1½ l water
• 40 ml white vinegar
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 9 tbsp sugar (yes that is not a typo!)
• Pepper to taste

When your meat has finished marinating use a tablespoon to make small meatballs and cook on preheated grill.  Place the sliced pork belly on a ‘toast rack’ (for ease of turning), place on grill and cook on both sides until cooked on both sides until golden brown.

Now you are ready to plate up. Put all of the bits and pieces you have prepared in the middle of the table and a bowl of the broth in front of each guest. Have them pop in whatever they fancy – and make sure you warn your guests not to wear white as dribbling is sure to follow.