Vietnamese Health Tip #6: Cooking 101 - Lay off the oil!

The Vietnamese employ a variety of cooking methods, all with an ever-present theme - lay off the oil! Don't want to mislead - there are a number of dishes that do involve oil-rich pan-frying or deep-frying. But from what I've observed, these dishes are viewed as treats, not as every day meals (e.g. bánh xèo [savory, crispy crepe], bắp xào [fried corn], or anything labeled "chiên" [fried]). In general, Vietnamese cooking is known for fresh ingredients (see Vietnamese Health Tip #1), copious herbs and vegetables (see Vietnamese Health Tip #2), and the absolute minimum use of oil (if used at all). So then, how do they do it? What are the typical, everyday cooking methods?

1) Braising - This is perhaps the most common cooking practice in Vietnam, as it requires little heat, but results in maximum flavor, thanks to the sauces and rendered juices. Braising translates to pan-searing the protein, and then finishing it in a covered pot with sauce/broth and herbs/seasoning, at a low temperature. The primary modifications in Vietnamese cooking - the pan-searing is usually accomplished with broth or a fish sauce-water combination, and the sauce/broth in the covered pot (a claypot) is usually nước màu (caramel sauce made of sugar/palm sugar and water). Vietnamese herbs abound in the pot, of course, and the claypot medium itself adds another dimension of flavor. The photo on the right shows a popular example - braised fish with nước màu.

2) Steaming -Similar to braising, the steaming cooking method traps all of the vitamins and minerals from the protein, vegetables, herbs, or grains, yielding all of those wonderful nutrients to the eater. For some reason I always believed that steaming was a bland way to cook anything, but boy was I wrong. Throw in some fresh herbs, or even just a bay leaf, some garlic, and some lemon juice...BAM, flavor! One of my favorite steaming-grilling combination techniques in Vietnamese cuisine is cooking on hot stones in a clay pot. For example, to make the dish, "bò lúc lắc" (sizzling beef), the chef "sizzles" the beef on hot stones in a clay pot with fresh herbs, seasoning, and broth, and then covers the pot to steam the dish, allowing the flavors to infuse into the meat. And yet another steaming technique: steaming food in banana leaves (see photo above).

3) Grilling - All over the streets of Vietnam and throughout Vietnamese restaurant menus, you'll see this word - "nướng" [grilled] or "thịt nướng" [grilled meat]. The grilling process in Vietnamese cooking usually consists of soaking the protein/vegetable in a fish/caramel sauce-based marinade (infused with herbs and other flavors, of course), sandwiching the protein/vegetable between two wire-mesh grates, and cooking over extremely hot coals. The cook will constantly fan the coals to keep the heat high, and will turn the food constantly to prevent burning but to ensure even-grilling. The use of the wire-mesh grates encourages a lot of the fat to drip off (watch out, George Foreman), resulting in a generally lean dish.

4) Simmering/Poaching - Simmering and poaching primarily apply to Vietnamese soup dishes. A later post to come on soups, stay-tuned, but again, simmering is another great way to infuse nutrients from fresh herbs, bones/marrow, and other ingredients. The remaining broth is used in the dish at hand (generally soup), or reserved for use in the future. When it comes to food, nothing goes to waste in Vietnam (a future post on this topic, too!). On the right is a photo of a clever homemade simmering device.

5) Stir-frying - Frying, that means

oil, right? Not necessarily, in Vietnamese cooking. Oftentimes stir-fried dishes are sauteed with just a touch of oil or animal fat, but mostly stock, broth, or water. The photo at right shows the dish chả cá (pan-fried fish) - the chef used no oil in this instance.

See some themes here? Little to no use of oil, and all of these methods tend to preserve and even enhance the freshness and flavor of the ingredients. Nom nom nom.

Want to read more? + Serious Eats - A Basic Introduction to Vietnamese Food + Luke Nguyen - Vietnamese Cooking Tips + CNN - Healthiest Ethnic Cuisines

#HealthTip #NoOil #Cooking101