Hanoi street food - Hanoi has about 15 different noodle dishes, but when it comes to Bun, the first thing to mention is Bun Cha. No one knows exactly when Bun Cha existed. The ancestors of this dish have not been recorded by posterity. Just know that a long time ago, Bun Cha appeared all over the streets of Hanoi and entered famous literary works.

 

In the book "Hanoi 36 streets", with the most delicate feelings, writer Thach Lam used the echoes of poetry to describe the uniqueness of this dish in the 30s of the last century:

 

“Thousand years of treasures of Thang Long land”

 

Bun Cha is here, isn't it?"

In the past, Hanoi's delicious Bun Cha restaurants were usually street vendors selling on the street or in markets. Now they have all become luxury and popular shops, but the most famous is Bun Cha Hang Manh. Although it is no longer baked with a pair of fresh bamboo but with a pair of wire mesh, vermicelli is no longer a thin leaf vermicelli but a puppet vermicelli, but Bun Cha today still retains the attractive nuances and flavors of the old Ha Thanh land.

 

To get a delicious bun cha dish, although it is not fussy, it also has to go through a lot of processing stages.

Bun Cha usually has 2 types of spring rolls at the same time, which are minced and fried. Minced pork chop is made from minced pork shoulder, minced into balls, marinated with salt, pepper, fish sauce over 35 degrees of protein, sugar, finely minced dried onions, vegetable oil or water fat. Depending on the freshness of the meat, after mixing the seasoning, if the meat seems a bit dry, add a little oil so that the meat can easily stick when molded into 2 finger-sized pieces and then press it to flatten it slightly. If you like to be more sophisticated, then wrap each piece of spring rolls in a banana leaf and then bake, the pieces will not be browned and more fragrant. Also, grilled pork belly usually uses thinly sliced ​​pork belly, marinated in the same seasoning as the ball and grilled on charcoal. Once seasoned, both types of patties can be grilled separately or together in a steel tong over pink charcoal. The brazier must be small and there should be only a little coal in the furnace. Thus, the patties will be grilled to a golden yellow, cooked just right and fragrant.

 

The vermicelli to eat is not a white vermicelli, thin thread, and since ancient times, Phu Do village is still known as a famous place for making this delicious and delicious vermicelli. Next, making dipping sauce for bun cha is also an art and is also considered as the "soul" of this dish. Must choose a delicious fish sauce, add garlic, lemon or vinegar along with sugar, chili, pepper... so that the sauce is just right, not too spicy but not too sweet or too dark. The flavor of the dipping sauce can be enhanced by adding thinly sliced ​​green papaya pieces with small squares that have been salted and soaked in vinegar until the plastic is clean and soft. Finally, Bun Cha will somewhat lose its distinctive flavor and richness if it lacks raw vegetables to accompany it such as lettuce, coriander, perilla, marjoram .. All these spices make Bun Cha more enchanting

 

It can be said that Bun Cha has become a very familiar dish for Hanoi in daily life, imbued with local culture. Nowadays, Hanoi bun cha is present everywhere and is loved by many people, especially by foreign tourists during their Vietnam food tour. As for Hanoians, no matter where they live, they never forget this traditional dish.
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