Chicken rice with "gà xối mỡ"

Again chicken rice!
But this time we have a special chicken, not steamed, not boiled, not deep fried - and in Vietnamese it sounds nicely funny! It's difficult to translate into English within one word and the dish is so popular among foodies - cơm gà xối mỡ!  
Gà xối mỡ should be another version of Chinese chicken rice, it has been localized to the local taste for many many years. I'm not a real big fan for this tasty dish but some of my friend and my nephews - yes! They know where the best, where just so so!

Gà xối mỡ or literally means "chicken poured by oil", and the oil should be animal's natural one! We don't dip chicken in the oil, instead of that we "shower" them on the rack with the boiling natural oil! Spoon by spoon, one after another, until the chicken's skin becomes golden crispy and it's just cooked but still a little bit bloody pink near the bone! Any difference between deep-fried or poured-by-oil or not? To me probably no, but to the chef or some picky foodies - maybe a big yes!

I did mention previously about the chicken quality, it's extremely important - chicken should be a "garden" one (i.e purely "domestic"breed not mixed or imported one from the industrial farms!). Our chicken is smaller in size but much better in meat quality! And it should be a young hen (female chicken), not laid over three eggs (!?), this kind of hen (probably we call "gà mái tơ!), giving the best meat!

About the rice, not only cooked with chicken broth but also mixed with chicken fat, so chicken rice is not only tasty but quite rich in fat!
Good thing that "gà xối mỡ" is widely served in the streets, almost at night and curiously more popular in Chinatown. Probably too hot to "pour oil on chicken" in the cramped tiny kitchen, so they prefer doing right on the sidewalk? Not really, as we still can find many "indoor" places!

So, where is the best Gà Xối Mỡ ? Different people, different ideas...but one of the most popular spots could be in Trần Phú street, Lão Hương Thân, used to be at the corner of Ngô Quyền and Trần Hưng Đạo, but now moved to the new address - 402 Trần Phú, district 5!  Give it a try!

Sui cao - Chinese traditional food in Saigon

Before 1975 Chinatown in Saigon could be one of the largest Chinatowns in South East Asia, but after the incident in 1979, the town had changed...a lot! No more signage in Chinese characters that I used to see, no more sparkling Chinese restaurants...with joyful, louder speaking Chinese...it became quiet, deserted for many years until early 1990s, the town began reviving!

As I'm living in district 5, right at the entrance gate to Chinatown, but every time with someone I try something there, it's always a new discovery to me! So many things in this vibrant part of the city! Tonight with friend I came to a small place in 125 Chau Van Liem street, famous for their homemade sui cao and noodles (different from dumpling noodles that I did review before). That place has been recommended by a Japanese foodie living in Saigon for 10 years!

            Fried sủi cảo - filled with meat and veggies, dip sauce is chili saté with soya sauce!  

Sủi cảo Đại Nương (Đại nương literally means Big Lady (!?), so hopefully she's a great chef too!) The most popular and probably favorite dish here is sủi cảo, so we have either steamed or fried ones! But there is something we need to know about this traditional Chinese dish! 

             Steamed sủi cảo are also good but we prefer fried ones!

Sủi cảo is important to many Chinese, as it's a part of their traditional meal during the Lunar New Year Eve, it's symbolized as the reunion after a hardworking year, away from home, now everyone in family gathering behind the dinning table for a good meal, good stories!

Sủi cảo fillings is chopped meat with veggies. I heard that the combination of meat and veggies sounds in Chinese  as "a fortune", when people prepare the fillings, how they chop is important - the longer, the louder they chop the meat together with veggies - the bigger and last-longer - their fortune! Interesting!   

"Stretching" candy! (Kẹo kéo)

This special "stretching candy" or we say kẹo kéo in Vietnamese, the name describes exactly how does it looks - this candy! Stretch and stretch...the longer we stretch, the longer, the thinner candy we have!
Many Vietnamese love this candy, especially in our childhood, it should be one of very few candies that we find as a sweet on the street, along with cotton candy!

            Kẹo kéo vendor - an old image from the past seems attract today's youth! 

                  Kẹo kéo vendor is stretching skillfully a candy... from a huge mass of candy!

I remember that long in the past some vendors offered us even a game of lucky wheel, we bet money, how much we won, how many candy bars we got. Usually not much or even nothing! But the vendor gave us anyway at least one bar! He always tried to make us, loyal customers, happy!
Quite some time ago, suddenly as a new trend (I really have no idea from where the trend came!) stretching candy vendors were only young men or good looking gals, even with heavy make-up, in fancy pink-sky blue clothes, with noisy music. So whenever we heard the music from the street, we knew it - they arrived - joyful kẹo kéo vendors!

                                 He is kind to show a candy bar, it could be longer but easy to be broken!  

Love potion - ginseng drink at Le Hong Phong

It's not a love potion, so don't jump up to find out where is it!
It's just a simple natural sweet drink with different flavors. But to emphasize their magic sale I would love to compare it to love potion, I really don't know why at this specific place - they sell hundred and hundred glasses, if not thousand, per day! Just a simple natural beverage, but a good refreshment!

             Three most popular drinks at Nước sâm Hồng Phong!

I'm talking about "nước sâm Hồng Phong", literally means "ginseng drink at Hông Phong".
First thing first - this is not a ginseng but by somehow they keep calling it, probably because it's good to cool off our thirst during the heat, to quench ourselves! Hồng Phong is a shortened version of the street name where this beverage shop is located.
Most popular drinks here are (from left to right for the above picture) : nước sâm (beverage made of some plants, herbs...), nước rong biễn (sea weed drink) and trà cúc (chrysanthemum tea)!

Deep fried cake "Cóng" from Mekong Delta

I really had no idea why we call this deep fried savory cake "Cóng", also no glue about the name, the meaning, the origin...until one of my many trips to Cần Thơ, to try this speciality and to discover the name's origin! People probably named  the cake Cóng, after the cake's mold!

            Bánh cóng - a speciality from Mekong Delta

The cake's mold is quite unique, it looks like a ladle - big serving spoon for soup, but the handle has been designed specially long with a hook at the end ... for deep frying function!
By the way, in Vietnamese, to call this big serving spoon we have different words: in North - we call "môi" or "mui", in South - "vá" and it causes a big confusion between people from North and South when we talk to each other.

Coconut candy (kẹo dừa)

Coconut candy or kẹo dừa, one of the most popular candies in Vietnam, esp. in the South, along with banana candy! Both of them are purely traditional candies from Mekong Delta. Coconut candies are mostly from Bến Tre, the coconut's homeland!

          In small workshop in Cái Bè (Tiền Giang), the workers demonstrate how to make the candy!  

Kẹo dừa is simple but very tasty! Mainly with original coconut flavor, sweet, soft...sometime mixed with durian or pandan leave flavor or roasted peanut. I enjoy durian, but I don't like coconut candy with durian flavor, I prefer a combination of coconut and peanut! Long in the past I didn't like how to unwrap the paper from the candy as they sticked together : the paper and candy! Nowadays we have double wrapping: inside with edible rice paper and outside oil paper! The problem solved!  

             Coconut candy made of coconut cream mixed with malt sirup...

Coconut candies are very affordable, so affordable that's why kids in Saigon rarely request these candies as gift from anyone, but people from Mekong Delta keep buying it as presents to their relatives living in big cities like Saigon, Hanoi...and everyone always enjoy regardless of their value.

Eating coconut candy, I prefer taking not only one but two pieces...at once, in order to feel the rich and tasty coconut flavor, but at the same time my mouth can do exercise...because the coconut candy is not that soft, always pretty chewy!

              It could be added with durian flavor or roasted peanut to enrich the taste! 

The production line for coconut candies is quite simple, but to make a good quality candies is far from ease! We need to select a right coconut with super fresh flesh, then grate them, press them to extract the coconut cream and milk! The next step is how to mix with the good quality malt sirup...and this is the maker's secret how much to add the sirup or probably some other ingredients...we never know!

           Ready-to-pack candies! 

The coconut candies have been exported to some markets as US, Canada or Europe, to be sold in some grocery stores for overseas Vietnamese or other Asians who loves the flavor of this special candies, there was a time or maybe still now, the legal fight between a famous Vietnamese coconut candies manufacturer with Thai or Chinese ones as they produce candies somewhere else in China or Thailand, different flavor, different quality, but always label as "Product of Vietnam"!

          The final packaging with the maker's label! 

I regret that no one in Vietnam can build up a good brand for coconut candies from the Land of Coconut - "Bến Tre", with super quality, in rich collection, with eye-catching packaging so we can be proud of it as the Swiss - with their chocolate! Let's hope for one beautiful day!