The Vietnamese salad dishes include rare beef in lime juice salad (locally known as bò tái chanh), banana blossom salad (nộm hoa chuối), Huế fig salad (gỏi vả) and lotus root salad (gỏi ngó sen).

Other salads which made the list are jellyfish salad (gỏi sứa), raw herring salad (gỏi cá trích), white sardine salad (gỏi cá mai), shredded chicken salad (gỏi gà), beef salad (gỏi bò), mixed phở (phở trộn) and mixed salad (nộm).

Master chef Phạm Tuấn Hải said bò tái chanh is a popular dish that almost every Vietnamese person will enjoy. The dish is particularly suitable for eating in the summer months, as it is a welcome break from the heat, helping the diner cool down.

Hải said ingredients to make the dish include fillet of beef, onion, garlic, fresh chilli, coriander, basil, lemongrass, fresh lemon, shrimp crackers, roasted peanut, vinegar, cooking oil, fish sauce, broth mix and sugar.

The dipping sauce is very important to make the dish even tastier, Hải said, revealing a recipe which includes four tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of water, four of fish sauce, half a coffee spoon of lemon juice, a spoonful of minced garlic, the same of minced fresh chilli and one coffee-sized spoon of sugar. All the ingredients then need to be stirred well.

Hải said the sauce used to mix into the dish should be more condensed than the dipping sauce, because it helps keep the beef moist.

Beef should be fried to a turn, quickly, to ensure it is still full of taste without being crispy. To avoid the dish becoming bitter, cooks should let the beef cool before it is doused in lemon juice and only then should you put in two tablespoons of the sauce, fried lemongrass and a large sliced onion, as well as basil, coriander, chilli and roasted peanut. All the ingredients then need to be well mixed.

A perfect dish has an eye-catching colour and is naturally fragrant from the fresh herbs. The meat will be tender and sweet, with a bite of sour from the lemon juice and onion slices said Hải, adding that the dish is even more enjoyable when using a shrimp cracker to scoop up the salad and dip it in dipping sauce.

Banana blossom salad or nộm hoa chuối

Banana blossom salad is a popular and rustic dish in Vietnamese meals. It is also an indispensable dish for a wedding party or when you are receiving guests, said Tạ Ngọc Anh from the northern province of Cao Bằng, where the Tày ethnic group often harvest the blossoms from the forests to make the dish.

Anh, 65, said banana blossoms are enriched with vitamins and minerals such as kali, calcium, and magnesium, among many others.

The ingredients for the dish include banana blossom, cucumber, carrot, onion, peanuts, lemon, garlic, fresh chilli, basil, coriander, salt, fish sauce, sugar, and vinegar. Anh said the dish is often mixed with boiled pork ears, chicken, boiled bacon, or shrimp, adding that it creates another level of flavour in any meal.

“People in the country’s three regions love this dish so much,” said Anh.

Huế fig salad gỏi vả

The imperial city of Huế has many specialities such as beef vermicelli and sesame candy, but foodies also love it for the fig salad, locally known as gỏi vả, according to local Trần Thị Sang.

Housewives in Huế often use figs to cook or stew with pork leg or beef, but the most popular way to serve them is as a salad, gỏi vả, when the fruit is mixed with vinegar, sugar, and garlic, among other flavourings, said Sang.

In the past, the dish was only cooked at special occasions such as a family party or the Tết (Lunar New Year) festival; however, nowadays, it is available year-round and sold in markets or supermarkets.

“This Huế speciality is simply made for an affordable price and imbued with rural identity, but those foodies who try it will be fascinated with its own special characteristics such as tartness, creaminess and the sweetness of shrimp, pork, peanuts and fresh herbs. A combination that makes this salad simply unforgettable,” said Sang.

It is a dish that is completely and irresistibly delicious. VNS