Recipes from Ninh Binh

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tbsp lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 125 ml warm water
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced
• Optional: 2 tbsp grated carrot

Method

1. Stir the sugar into the warm water until it has dissolved.
2. Add the fish sauce and the lime juice. Taste: it should be pleasantly salty and sour with a sweet edge. Too strong? Add a little water. Too flat? A little more fish sauce or lime.
3. Add the garlic and chilli last, so they float on top. Add the carrot if you like the colour.
4. Serve in small bowls for dipping, or spoon over noodles and rice. Keeps 3 days in the fridge.

Host's tip. For fried spring rolls, our hosts make it a little sweeter. For fresh rolls, some use hoisin sauce with crushed peanuts instead: 3 tbsp hoisin, 1 tbsp water, 1 tsp peanut butter, warmed together.

Ingredients

• 12 sheets of rice paper (22 cm)
• 100 g rice vermicelli, cooked and cooled
• 200 g firm tofu, cut into fingers and fried golden, or 12 cooked prawns halved lengthways, or 200 g pork belly, boiled and thinly sliced
• 1 small cucumber, cut into thin sticks
• 1 carrot, cut into thin sticks
• A big handful of mixed herbs: mint, coriander, Thai basil, perilla if you can find it
• 12 leaves of soft lettuce
• Optional: bean sprouts, chives
• Nuoc cham or peanut hoisin sauce, for dipping

Method

1. Prepare everything before you start rolling: cooked noodles, sliced vegetables, herbs picked from the stems, filling ready. Rolling goes fast; preparing does not.
2. Fill a wide bowl with lukewarm water. Dip one sheet of rice paper for about 5 seconds, until it is just soft but still holds its shape. Lay it flat on a plate or a clean board. It keeps softening while you work.
3. On the third closest to you, lay a lettuce leaf, then a little noodle, cucumber, carrot and herbs. Keep the pile small and narrow: a fat roll tears.
4. Fold the bottom edge over the filling, fold in both sides, then place the prawn halves or tofu on the sheet just above the roll and keep rolling tightly to the end. The filling shows through the last layer.
5. Set aside seam down and do not let the rolls touch, they stick. Serve within the hour with the dipping sauce.

Host's tip. Rice paper tears when it is too wet, not when it is too dry. Five seconds in the water is enough; it finishes softening on the board.

Ingredients

• 400 g morning glory (water spinach), tough lower stems removed, cut into 10 cm lengths
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce or 1 tsp salt
• Half a tsp sugar
• Optional: 1 chilli, sliced; a squeeze of lime

Method

1. Wash the morning glory well and shake it dry; water in the pan means steaming instead of frying.
2. Heat a wok until it smokes. Add the oil, then the garlic, and stir for 10 seconds until it smells good but is not brown.
3. Throw in all the greens at once. Toss constantly for 1 to 2 minutes until the leaves wilt and the stems turn bright green but still snap.
4. Season with fish sauce and sugar, toss once more, and serve immediately. It waits for nobody.

Host's tip. No morning glory at home? Tenderstem broccoli, green beans or spinach stems work the same way. Same heat, same garlic, same speed.