Vietnamese home cooking

Whats so great about cooking at home? You always know what goes in it. No MSG or artificial flavorings, lean meats, and fresh produce. Whats not to like? Well, when it comes to Vietnamese food, a lot of the dishes that I grew up with can't be found in restaurants. Also, recipes vary from family to family, and of course even though my aunt makes the same things, I'm biased to how my parents cook.

I made some yummy pork and egg stew. It sounds a little weird, but is really tasty. It's made with marinated pork, boiled eggs, coconut juice, and fish sauce. I make a little caramel to add some sweetness.

This is just a simple vegetable dish my parents make. Its just julienned green beans with egg.

I also made eggrolls with vermicelli noodles. Back in the states, we call variations of the dish "bun thit nuong" (noodles and grilled meat), "bun cha gio" (noodles and eggrolls), or "bun tom/bo nuong" (noodles and grilled shrimp/beef). I find it funny that in Paris the asian restaurants will serve "bo bun", and they word it backwards. My eggrolls have ground pork, shrimp, glass noodles, black fungus mushrooms, carrots, and seasonings. They also freeze pretty well, so I usually make a ton of them at once and save them for a day where I don't really feel like cooking. I serve them with vermicelli noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, cilantro, and, of course, a fish dipping sauce.