Making bo nhung dam Vietnamese Street Food | Ep1.1

But before I hop on board for my journey across the country, I'm going to explore the biggest city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh. My favourite market to go to is a market called Joc Go, also known as Old Market on Don Thap. I love just riding my bike there, stopping at all the small stores, buying my fresh meat, fresh seafood and all the beautiful herbs as well. It's a one-stop shop, it's been there for over 100 years and I want to make the most of it while it's still here. On the right-hand side, my favourite butcher right here. I'm going to make a wonderful Vietnamese beef fondue. My mum grew up in what was then Saigon and this dish was one of her favourites, passed to her from her mum and now to me. What's great about this place is the meat's right there, it's so fresh and you don't need to get off the bike, you just order what you need, they prepare it for you and sometimes they ask you what you want to cook and they give you ideas as well, which is also awesome. All right, I got my beef, now it's time for the next stop, which is all my fresh herbs and vegetables and this is my lady right here. We've got to be careful though. So I'm getting some perilla leaf, some beautiful iceberg lettuce, some mint, some coriander, fresh herbs, look it's so fresh here, I love it. And the beauty about it is you just pull in really cheap, really affordable herbs, you pull back out to the next store and what I really love about this spot here, there's this gorgeous old building and directly behind is a massive modern big Tesco building. So I really want to come here a lot and you know, appreciate the old Saigon which is the real Saigon. 49,000 dong, it's like $2.50 for all of that. I've got my beef, I've got my fresh herbs, what's next? Shopping list is in my head. Coconut juice and noodles and rice paper. And it's a very traditional dish I'm doing today. I'm going to do Ba Yum Yum, which is basically a Vietnamese beef fondue with a beautiful dipping sauce made from the anchovies that have been fermented. I'm going to make the sauce first. Now this sauce is going to be just a bit of water, around a tablespoon of sugar and this lovely stuff here, which is Mum Rook or Mum Nam, very, very deep colour fermented anchovies. Oh, I also call this the purple monster because it's really, really strong flavoured and pungent. I'm going to get a handful of my sliced pineapple that I got from the lovely ladies there and we're going to pound that. Now all the local ladies come to this market once or twice a day. They come very early in the morning, around six or seven o'clock and they might come again in the late afternoon to buy more fresh ingredients. I'm just going to slice up some lemongrass. Just slice fine, that can go in. Okay, now I've just got to move a little bit because this gentleman needs to get through. Okay. You've got to always give way to the big delivery guy. Alrighty. Okay. So he's gone through, he's going to put someone nice for me. I'm going to make my broth. I'm going to put some young coconut that I bought from the store here. You need around 250 mils. There you go. Just some white vinegar, lemongrass, more lemongrass. I've got my sliced onions, that goes in as well. So rice paper, I'm going to duck it into my hot water, onto my board, perilla leaf, mint. Jeez, I can tell you the heat in Saigon at the moment is very harsh. My herbs are wilting very quickly. So I better work fast. I add coriander, noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, sliced cucumber, and some gorgeous star fruit. My water has been boiling, infusing all the flavours ready for my beef. Or like a beef shabu-shabu, you're just putting it in the broth there. Hello. I love motorbikes in Vietnam. They seem to squeeze through any small spaces and they do it so well. All right, now that goes out. Now I like that medium, medium rare, but it's up to you. If you want to have it well done, cook it for longer. Put that into your roll. Fold the sides in. Lunch break, lunch break in Saigon. All right, I'm gonna wrap that up. And you want a nice straight wrap like that. Dip into my wonderful sauce. It's what I love about Vietnamese cuisine. So fresh, bought from the market down there. I've just dunked and dipped my beautiful sliced beef. Love it. Bo yum yum, Vietnamese beef fondue.