Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes : sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more elements, which are also based around a five-pronged philosophy. Vietnamese recipes use ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird's eye chili, lime, and Thai basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised as using fresh ingredients, not using much dairy or oil, having interesting textures, and making use of herbs and vegetables. The cuisine is also low in sugar and is almost always naturally gluten-free, as many of the dishes are rice-based instead of wheat-based, made with rice noodles, rice papers and rice flour.
Phở or pho is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat – usually beef, and sometimes chicken. Phở is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street-stalls, and restaurants country-wide. Residents of the city of Nam Định were the first to create Vietnamese traditional phở. It is considered Vietnam's national dish, and is said to be influenced by Chinese and French cultures.
Cellophane noodles, or fensi, sometimes called glass noodles, are a type of transparent noodle made from starch and water. A stabilizer such as chitosan may also be used.
Pancit, also spelled pansít, is a general term referring to various traditional noodle dishes in Filipino cuisine. There are numerous types of pancit, often named based on the noodles used, method of cooking, place of origin or the ingredients. Most pancit dishes are characteristically served with calamansi, which adds a citrusy flavor profile.
Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is a common dish across East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Himalayan states of South Asia. Various types of noodles are used, such as rice noodles, wheat noodles and egg noodles.
Rice vermicelli is a thin form of noodle. It is sometimes referred to as "rice noodles" or "rice sticks", but should not be confused with cellophane noodles, a different Asian type of vermicelli made from mung bean starch or rice starch rather than rice grains themselves.
Gỏi cuốn, nem cuốn, salad roll, summer roll, fresh spring roll, or rice paper roll is a Vietnamese dish traditionally consisting of pork, prawn, vegetables, bún, and other ingredients wrapped in bánh tráng. Unlike other spring roll dishes, which are believed to originate from China, Vietnamese gỏi cuốn is a national creation using bánh tráng.
Fried noodles are common throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Many varieties, cooking styles, and ingredients exist.
Shahe fen (沙河粉), or hor fun / he fen (河粉), is a type of wide Chinese noodle made from rice. Its Minnan Chinese name, 粿條, is adapted into alternate names which are widely encountered in Southeast Asia, such as kway teow, kwetiau, and kuetiau; Thai: ก๋วยเตี๋ยว (kuaitiao). Shahe fen is often stir-fried with meat and/or vegetables in a dish called chao fen. While chao fen is a transliteration of Mandarin, chow fun from Cantonese is the name most often given to the dish in Chinese restaurants in North America.
Bánh canh are thick Vietnamese noodles that can be made from tapioca flour or a mixture of rice and tapioca flour. "Cake" refers to the thick sheet of uncooked dough from which the noodles are cut.
Vietnamese cuisine includes many types of noodles. They come in different colors and textures and can be served wet or dry, hot or cold, and fresh (tươi), dried (khô), or fried.
Lomi or pancit lomi is a Filipino dish made with a variety of thick fresh egg noodles of about a quarter of an inch in diameter, soaked in lye water to give it more texture. Because of its popularity at least in the eastern part of Batangas, there are as many styles of cooking lomi as there are eateries, panciterias or restaurants offering the dish. Variations in recipes and quality are therefore very common.
Mont di is a collective term for Burmese dishes made with thin rice noodles. The vermicelli is used fresh, as it ferments quickly in Myanmar's tropical climate. There are a number of mont di dishes, and the Rakhine mont di of the Arakanese from western Myanmar is the most popular. Mandalay mont di is another well-known dish. A handful of regional rice vermicelli dishes, such as Mawlamyaing mohinga and Kengtung khao sen, are also interchangeably called "mont di."
Bún mắm is a fermented thick Vietnamese vermicelli soup sometimes called "Vietnamese gumbo."
Beef kway teow or beef kwetiau is a Maritime Southeast Asian dish of flat rice noodles stir-fried and topped with slices of beef or sometimes beef offal, served either dry or with soup. The dish is commonly found in Southeast Asian countries, especially Singapore and Indonesia, and can trace its origin to Chinese tradition. It is a popular dish in Singaporean cuisine and among Chinese Indonesians, where it locally known in Indonesian as kwetiau sapi.
Indonesian noodles are a significant aspect of Indonesian cuisine which is itself very diverse. Indonesian cuisine recognizes many types of noodles, with each region of the country often developing its own distinct recipes.
Bún kèn, also known as trumpet rice noodle soup, is a dish of Cambodian origin that is a specialty of Phú Quốc. The name originates from the Mekong Delta Khmer people's term "ken", which refers to dishes cooked with coconut milk.
