Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Proposal to control invasive species
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Proposal to control invasive species
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Proposal to control invasive species
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Proposal to control invasive species
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Visit hell then heaven
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Proposal to control invasive species

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Visit hell then heaven
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Proposal to control invasive species

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Visit hell then heaven
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Proposal to control invasive species

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven
• Proposal to control invasive species

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven
• Proposal to control invasive species

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Visit hell then heaven
• Proposal to control invasive species

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Visit hell then heaven
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Banks scramble for mid-level managers

Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

Related Articles

• Tiny crab soup does a body good
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Visit hell then heaven
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Banks scramble for mid-level managers

Lurking excitement

Streams and waterfalls give romantic Da Lat a ‘tough’ reputation

Visitors go kayaking on the La Ba River, a new thrilling adventure in Da Lat

Da Lat evokes the leisure of a hillside resort, the romance of lakes, flowers and misty mornings, but it has a dangerous and thrilling undercurrent as well.

The Central Highlands town in Lam Dong Province is a veritable paradise for a series of adventure sports - rock climbing, abseiling, parachuting or biking on rough terrain.

Attesting to the growing popularity of these sports and of Da Lat as an adventure-sports destination are nearly 10 service providers at the end of the sloping Truong Cong Dinh Street. These establishments have professional trainers and instructors, some trained abroad.

For the young and strong at heart, riding elephants, biking up Lang Biang Mountain or climbing down cliffs of the Prenn Falls and overnight stays in the forest are “relaxing” activities.

Among the most adventurous activities on offer is an exploration of the seven-storied Datanla Falls.

On the third floor of the fall is a cliff 20 meters tall that stands almost upright. Passing it is a challenge that is rewarded by gently flowing water on the fourth floor, but the real adventure awaits on the sixth floor with a 25-meter high cliff and a whirlpool. Its decision time... do you accept yet another challenge?

The magnificent seventh floor of the waterfall is sometimes referred to as the “washing machine” because of its crazy, whirling waters.

HOW TO GET THERE

By motorbike: Take National Highway 1A from Ho Chi Minh City. Turn to National Highway No. 20 at Dau Giay T-junction. Da Lat is 306 kilometers from HCMC. By bus or car: From the Mien Dong Bus Station in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District. It takes 7-8 hours and costs around VND100,000 (US$5.14) a ticket. Call (08) 3 836 9859 to book one with Dalattoserco or (08) 3 837 5570 with Phuong Trang, which also drives tourists to Da Lat from Nha Trang (call (058) 3 524 315 – 3 524 945) and Da Nang (call (0511) 3 899 899) By plane: A 45-minute flight takes off from HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 11:10 a.m. every day. There is an additional flight departing at 3 p.m. every Thursday and Saturday. Two flights leave for Da Lat from the Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi every day. Crossing the Tuyen Lam Lake on a rope

If you want a quick way down, a roller-coaster like contraption has been rigged up, adding to the excitement.

All these thrills and danger does not mean safety is not given priority. It is. Trainers will cancel the whole tour at the slightest hint of something unusual, weather-wise.

Vo Duc Trung, director of one of the units, said international schools from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand and several foreign-invested companies have in recent years been sending students and employees on these tours as a way to build up their courage, creativity and adaptation skills, not to mention to confront and solve problems.

Ngo Anh Tuan, a manager and trainer with Da Lat Discovery Travel, told the Lam Dong newspaper that their new tour – crossing the La Ba River on a rubber dinghy – led tourists to feel proud of their own courage and survival skills.

The tour begins with around 45 minutes of warm-up exercises after which they can enjoy the Hang Cop (Tiger Cave) Waterfall and a walk through a pine forest, pass several hills and walk down to the La Ba River.

Here, rubber dinghies wait. Trainers distribute lifejackets and instructions on rowing it through rough waters and tell you not to panic even when the boat capsizes.

This adventure takes about three hours, during which a seven-kilometer stretch of the river and eleven rocky waterfalls are navigated. After a well-deserved rest, there is another sixty-minute walk through forests to reach National Highway No. 20 before heading back to downtown Da Lat.

The rowing journey costs US$60 a person.

Tuan recalled that a US tourist named Justin had emailed him after returning home, saying he keeps missing the adventure that was “full of joy and excitement.”

Related Articles

• Lurking excitement
• HCMC Oktoberfest offers more than just beer

Lurking excitement

Streams and waterfalls give romantic Da Lat a ‘tough’ reputation

Visitors go kayaking on the La Ba River, a new thrilling adventure in Da Lat

Da Lat evokes the leisure of a hillside resort, the romance of lakes, flowers and misty mornings, but it has a dangerous and thrilling undercurrent as well.

The Central Highlands town in Lam Dong Province is a veritable paradise for a series of adventure sports - rock climbing, abseiling, parachuting or biking on rough terrain.

Attesting to the growing popularity of these sports and of Da Lat as an adventure-sports destination are nearly 10 service providers at the end of the sloping Truong Cong Dinh Street. These establishments have professional trainers and instructors, some trained abroad.

For the young and strong at heart, riding elephants, biking up Lang Biang Mountain or climbing down cliffs of the Prenn Falls and overnight stays in the forest are “relaxing” activities.

Among the most adventurous activities on offer is an exploration of the seven-storied Datanla Falls.

On the third floor of the fall is a cliff 20 meters tall that stands almost upright. Passing it is a challenge that is rewarded by gently flowing water on the fourth floor, but the real adventure awaits on the sixth floor with a 25-meter high cliff and a whirlpool. Its decision time... do you accept yet another challenge?

The magnificent seventh floor of the waterfall is sometimes referred to as the “washing machine” because of its crazy, whirling waters.

HOW TO GET THERE

By motorbike: Take National Highway 1A from Ho Chi Minh City. Turn to National Highway No. 20 at Dau Giay T-junction. Da Lat is 306 kilometers from HCMC. By bus or car: From the Mien Dong Bus Station in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District. It takes 7-8 hours and costs around VND100,000 (US$5.14) a ticket. Call (08) 3 836 9859 to book one with Dalattoserco or (08) 3 837 5570 with Phuong Trang, which also drives tourists to Da Lat from Nha Trang (call (058) 3 524 315 – 3 524 945) and Da Nang (call (0511) 3 899 899) By plane: A 45-minute flight takes off from HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 11:10 a.m. every day. There is an additional flight departing at 3 p.m. every Thursday and Saturday. Two flights leave for Da Lat from the Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi every day. Crossing the Tuyen Lam Lake on a rope

If you want a quick way down, a roller-coaster like contraption has been rigged up, adding to the excitement.

All these thrills and danger does not mean safety is not given priority. It is. Trainers will cancel the whole tour at the slightest hint of something unusual, weather-wise.

Vo Duc Trung, director of one of the units, said international schools from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand and several foreign-invested companies have in recent years been sending students and employees on these tours as a way to build up their courage, creativity and adaptation skills, not to mention to confront and solve problems.

Ngo Anh Tuan, a manager and trainer with Da Lat Discovery Travel, told the Lam Dong newspaper that their new tour – crossing the La Ba River on a rubber dinghy – led tourists to feel proud of their own courage and survival skills.

The tour begins with around 45 minutes of warm-up exercises after which they can enjoy the Hang Cop (Tiger Cave) Waterfall and a walk through a pine forest, pass several hills and walk down to the La Ba River.

Here, rubber dinghies wait. Trainers distribute lifejackets and instructions on rowing it through rough waters and tell you not to panic even when the boat capsizes.

This adventure takes about three hours, during which a seven-kilometer stretch of the river and eleven rocky waterfalls are navigated. After a well-deserved rest, there is another sixty-minute walk through forests to reach National Highway No. 20 before heading back to downtown Da Lat.

The rowing journey costs US$60 a person.

Tuan recalled that a US tourist named Justin had emailed him after returning home, saying he keeps missing the adventure that was “full of joy and excitement.”

Related Articles

• Lurking excitement
• HCMC Oktoberfest offers more than just beer

Lurking excitement

Streams and waterfalls give romantic Da Lat a ‘tough’ reputation

Visitors go kayaking on the La Ba River, a new thrilling adventure in Da Lat

Da Lat evokes the leisure of a hillside resort, the romance of lakes, flowers and misty mornings, but it has a dangerous and thrilling undercurrent as well.

The Central Highlands town in Lam Dong Province is a veritable paradise for a series of adventure sports - rock climbing, abseiling, parachuting or biking on rough terrain.

Attesting to the growing popularity of these sports and of Da Lat as an adventure-sports destination are nearly 10 service providers at the end of the sloping Truong Cong Dinh Street. These establishments have professional trainers and instructors, some trained abroad.

For the young and strong at heart, riding elephants, biking up Lang Biang Mountain or climbing down cliffs of the Prenn Falls and overnight stays in the forest are “relaxing” activities.

Among the most adventurous activities on offer is an exploration of the seven-storied Datanla Falls.

On the third floor of the fall is a cliff 20 meters tall that stands almost upright. Passing it is a challenge that is rewarded by gently flowing water on the fourth floor, but the real adventure awaits on the sixth floor with a 25-meter high cliff and a whirlpool. Its decision time... do you accept yet another challenge?

The magnificent seventh floor of the waterfall is sometimes referred to as the “washing machine” because of its crazy, whirling waters.

HOW TO GET THERE

By motorbike: Take National Highway 1A from Ho Chi Minh City. Turn to National Highway No. 20 at Dau Giay T-junction. Da Lat is 306 kilometers from HCMC. By bus or car: From the Mien Dong Bus Station in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District. It takes 7-8 hours and costs around VND100,000 (US$5.14) a ticket. Call (08) 3 836 9859 to book one with Dalattoserco or (08) 3 837 5570 with Phuong Trang, which also drives tourists to Da Lat from Nha Trang (call (058) 3 524 315 – 3 524 945) and Da Nang (call (0511) 3 899 899) By plane: A 45-minute flight takes off from HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 11:10 a.m. every day. There is an additional flight departing at 3 p.m. every Thursday and Saturday. Two flights leave for Da Lat from the Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi every day. Crossing the Tuyen Lam Lake on a rope

If you want a quick way down, a roller-coaster like contraption has been rigged up, adding to the excitement.

All these thrills and danger does not mean safety is not given priority. It is. Trainers will cancel the whole tour at the slightest hint of something unusual, weather-wise.

Vo Duc Trung, director of one of the units, said international schools from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand and several foreign-invested companies have in recent years been sending students and employees on these tours as a way to build up their courage, creativity and adaptation skills, not to mention to confront and solve problems.

Ngo Anh Tuan, a manager and trainer with Da Lat Discovery Travel, told the Lam Dong newspaper that their new tour – crossing the La Ba River on a rubber dinghy – led tourists to feel proud of their own courage and survival skills.

The tour begins with around 45 minutes of warm-up exercises after which they can enjoy the Hang Cop (Tiger Cave) Waterfall and a walk through a pine forest, pass several hills and walk down to the La Ba River.

Here, rubber dinghies wait. Trainers distribute lifejackets and instructions on rowing it through rough waters and tell you not to panic even when the boat capsizes.

This adventure takes about three hours, during which a seven-kilometer stretch of the river and eleven rocky waterfalls are navigated. After a well-deserved rest, there is another sixty-minute walk through forests to reach National Highway No. 20 before heading back to downtown Da Lat.

The rowing journey costs US$60 a person.

Tuan recalled that a US tourist named Justin had emailed him after returning home, saying he keeps missing the adventure that was “full of joy and excitement.”

Related Articles

• Lurking excitement

Lurking excitement

Streams and waterfalls give romantic Da Lat a ‘tough’ reputation

Visitors go kayaking on the La Ba River, a new thrilling adventure in Da Lat

Da Lat evokes the leisure of a hillside resort, the romance of lakes, flowers and misty mornings, but it has a dangerous and thrilling undercurrent as well.

The Central Highlands town in Lam Dong Province is a veritable paradise for a series of adventure sports - rock climbing, abseiling, parachuting or biking on rough terrain.

Attesting to the growing popularity of these sports and of Da Lat as an adventure-sports destination are nearly 10 service providers at the end of the sloping Truong Cong Dinh Street. These establishments have professional trainers and instructors, some trained abroad.

For the young and strong at heart, riding elephants, biking up Lang Biang Mountain or climbing down cliffs of the Prenn Falls and overnight stays in the forest are “relaxing” activities.

Among the most adventurous activities on offer is an exploration of the seven-storied Datanla Falls.

On the third floor of the fall is a cliff 20 meters tall that stands almost upright. Passing it is a challenge that is rewarded by gently flowing water on the fourth floor, but the real adventure awaits on the sixth floor with a 25-meter high cliff and a whirlpool. Its decision time... do you accept yet another challenge?

The magnificent seventh floor of the waterfall is sometimes referred to as the “washing machine” because of its crazy, whirling waters.

HOW TO GET THERE

By motorbike: Take National Highway 1A from Ho Chi Minh City. Turn to National Highway No. 20 at Dau Giay T-junction. Da Lat is 306 kilometers from HCMC. By bus or car: From the Mien Dong Bus Station in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District. It takes 7-8 hours and costs around VND100,000 (US$5.14) a ticket. Call (08) 3 836 9859 to book one with Dalattoserco or (08) 3 837 5570 with Phuong Trang, which also drives tourists to Da Lat from Nha Trang (call (058) 3 524 315 – 3 524 945) and Da Nang (call (0511) 3 899 899) By plane: A 45-minute flight takes off from HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 11:10 a.m. every day. There is an additional flight departing at 3 p.m. every Thursday and Saturday. Two flights leave for Da Lat from the Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi every day. Crossing the Tuyen Lam Lake on a rope

If you want a quick way down, a roller-coaster like contraption has been rigged up, adding to the excitement.

All these thrills and danger does not mean safety is not given priority. It is. Trainers will cancel the whole tour at the slightest hint of something unusual, weather-wise.

Vo Duc Trung, director of one of the units, said international schools from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand and several foreign-invested companies have in recent years been sending students and employees on these tours as a way to build up their courage, creativity and adaptation skills, not to mention to confront and solve problems.

Ngo Anh Tuan, a manager and trainer with Da Lat Discovery Travel, told the Lam Dong newspaper that their new tour – crossing the La Ba River on a rubber dinghy – led tourists to feel proud of their own courage and survival skills.

The tour begins with around 45 minutes of warm-up exercises after which they can enjoy the Hang Cop (Tiger Cave) Waterfall and a walk through a pine forest, pass several hills and walk down to the La Ba River.

Here, rubber dinghies wait. Trainers distribute lifejackets and instructions on rowing it through rough waters and tell you not to panic even when the boat capsizes.

This adventure takes about three hours, during which a seven-kilometer stretch of the river and eleven rocky waterfalls are navigated. After a well-deserved rest, there is another sixty-minute walk through forests to reach National Highway No. 20 before heading back to downtown Da Lat.

The rowing journey costs US$60 a person.

Tuan recalled that a US tourist named Justin had emailed him after returning home, saying he keeps missing the adventure that was “full of joy and excitement.”

Related Articles

• Lurking excitement

The chè lady

The best dessert in Ho Chi Minh City is being ladled up on a street corner

Ms. Thanh preparing chè đậu at her spot near the corner of Cao Ba Nha and Cong Quynh streets in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1

Thanh, 50, lives in an endless cycle of chè.

Every night, before going to bed, she starts soaking the beans and glutinous rice for tomorrow’s batch. Up at 3 a.m., she begins boiling pot after pot of the subtly sweet, bean-based dessert.

By nine, she hires a man to help her haul her low red stools, washing buckets and serving bowls to her little corner on Cong Quynh and Cao Ba Nha streets in District 1. The operation takes two trips. The xe om (motorbike taxi) driver doesn’t seem to mind. And no one has ever bothered to steal her dented aluminum vessels filled with sticky rice and sweet coconut soup.

“They’re very heavy,” she said.

Thanh cracks on a coal fire and begins simmering the dessert just as the streets fill with throngs of motorbikes and mini-trucks. By 11 a.m., she is open for business. For the remainder of the day, she navigates between the pots like an octopus – ladling coconut milk soup on top of wads of rice on top of more soup.

She moves in fluid sweeps of her hands and arms. Occasionally, she rises to tend her fire, or to lift a shopping bag hanging off the rusty coils of barbed wire behind her and dump a mass of cubed taro, manioc or sweet potato into the pale sweet broth.

The motions follow a sort of flawless pattern, one that has been practiced seven days per week for some 30 years. Thanh hardly ever takes a day off and she only goes home when she has sold off every last scoop of chè. This may happen as early as 4 p.m. Don’t expect to find her after 6 or 7 p.m.

Once home, she usually eats half a bowl of rice and is in bed by 9 p.m.

In her free moments on the corner, when she is not being harried by customers, she uses an open-bottomed cup to fill clear plastic baggies with the various desserts. When customers sidle up on motorbikes, she twists a rubber band quickly around the baggies and hands them over with a grin.

She doesn’t eat her own concoctions. Instead, she lunches on a cup of tepid winter melon soup. Some days, she says, she doesn’t get around to eating it.

Thanh has an excellent stomach, she swears, and it tolerates whatever she chooses to eat or not eat.

She used to make many varieties of chè, but she is getting old, she says. So, now, there are just five – all of which are slathered in her frothy coconut broth. Chè khoai combines al dente bits of purple taro in a gummy sticky rice porridge. Chè táo xọn consists of a clear tapioca gel studded with green lentils while chè bắp eats like some sort of condensed creamed corn. Chè bà ba simmers bright orange chunks of cassava and chewy translucent tapioca cubes in a lighter version of the coconut base. She serves it with a spoonful of boiled peanuts.

Thanh says that even if we watched her make her chè đậu, we still wouldn’t know how to cook the white cow beans without turning them to mush. They are perfectly firm as your teeth sink into the glutinous mass of sticky rice swimming in the creamy coconut soup.

Chè đậu has a familiar feel in the mouth, not unlike Christmas cookie dough, though all of Thanh’s concoctions maintain a subtle flavor that can’t be found in most western sweets. She is selling comfort food – simple, gooey – with a soft homey flavor that can only be likened to the taste of carrot soups.

Even though her little spot is located on a neat stretch of sidewalk under a striped awning, she wears a conical famer’s hat on top of her tidy hair bun. On two separate visits, she wore a long-sleeved sweater – even in the stifling midday heat.

One day she forgot the items. She looked down to see her arms covered in grime. When she ran a hand through her hair, it came away caked in dust and dirt.

“I was so ashamed,” she said as she deftly moved between her pots. “I worried my customers would think I wasn’t clean. But it wasn’t me. It’s the dirty street.”

Over the years, Thanh has cultivated a certain amnesia about this corner that, she says, keeps her sane. She has seen many strange things in her days there. “But I don’t want to keep them all,” she says. “So the following day, I just let them pass.”

In the past three decades, Thanh has remained one of the few constants on this stretch of Cong Quynh.

She estimates that 70 percent of the families sold their homes and moved away since her mother started selling chè here before her.

“It used to be small homes,” she says. “Now I’m surrounded by palaces.”

Those that bought into the neighborhood knocked down the old homes to build bigger ones. While the value of the buildings around her has shot up several million dollars, Thanh’s treats remain an immutable bargain.

Three years ago, she had to move her operation across the street because a new restaurant opened up behind her. Last year, she raised her prices from VND3,000 to VND4,000 (15 to 20 US cents) per bowl.

Related Articles

• The chè lady