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When Is Cooking At Home A Waste Of Time? Cooking with Poo Cooking Class, Bangkok. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

When Is Cooking At Home A Waste Of Time?

When is cooking at home a waste of time? Never, as far as we’re concerned – which is why I was disappointed to read a story today that suggested cooking certain cuisines at home was a waste of time. One of them being Thai food. What absolute nonsense. Here’s why…

Regular readers of our site are well aware that we endlessly encourage you to live like locals when you travel by doing a cooking class to learn to make the local cuisine, by shopping at the markets, and by cooking a meal or two at ‘home’, wherever that maybe. It’s a way to make your stay in a destination an experience that feels less like being a tourist and more like being a resident, or a ‘local’.

For us, cooking at home is rarely a waste of time. So when is cooking at home a waste of time?

When Is Cooking At Home A Waste Of Time?

So when is cooking at home a waste of time? Well, a recent story on an Australian news website suggested that cooking certain cuisines at home was a waste of time – and one of the cuisines, astonishingly, was Thai.

The article, “Don’t waste time making this dish at home” was clearly a hastily put together piece with only one person quoted, Elizabeth Meryment, the food critic for Australia’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper. It begins: “Put down your ice cream maker. Ditto the pizza oven. Yes, even the pasta maker, and any other expensive tool you bought so you could cook your favourite restaurant dish at home.”

Sometimes those kitchen items deservedly end up in the back of the pantry soon after being purchased, tossed alongside a horrid electric bread maker. But when I’m back in Australia staying with family or friends, I’ll use all of those aforementioned tools regularly, with the exception of the electric bread maker – they’re uniformly awful.

While I’m usually the only person at Lara’s uncle’s house who makes ice cream – and bread, for that matter – he has two pizza stones that get a workout once a week for bread and pizza when we stay. And his KitchenAid mixer with pasta attachments helps us make everything from fresh tagliatelle to pizza bases to rolling out dough for Russian pilemeni.

My homemade ice cream does cost more than the horrid stuff you generally see in the supermarkets. I’ll use quality eggs, cream and milk to make it, as well as get a consensus of what flavour everyone would like the latest batch to be. Sometimes just a great vanilla bean ice cream is thing of wonder.

I don’t worry about not having preservatives in the ice-cream – it never lasts long enough in the freezer for that. But yes, making bread and pasta requires some skill and experience to get it right every time, but I think the end product justifies a little work. So when is cooking at home a waste of time then?

Well, when food critic Elizabeth Meryment is asked what dishes should never be attempted at home, she says:
“For me, there are a whole heap of no-go areas when it comes to D-I-Y in the kitchen and most of those revolve around Asian food, and especially Thai. I’m actually not sure why anyone would want to make Thai food at home, not even Thai out of a ready-made-kit. Considering you can spend about $10 to get a sensational pad Thai or green chicken curry home delivered, it makes no sense to buy the multitude of ingredients you need for to do it at home.”

When Is Cooking At Home A Waste Of Time? Cooking with Poo Cooking Class, Bangkok. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.
Cooking with Poo Cooking Class, Bangkok.

We were in Australia last year. A “sensational” Thai takeaway dish for $10 couldn’t be further from real life than one of those Aussie reality cooking shows. Most takeaway Thai dishes were over $18 plus delivery for anything approaching ‘average’ and were nowhere near ‘sensational’. The only place we saw a $10 pad Thai was at a shopping centre food court. Let’s just say it was also a long way from “sensational”.

But the idea that Thai requires a multitude of ingredients is somewhat of an overstatement. When we did the cooking course with Poo in Bangkok, Poo’s ingredient list for making a green curry paste at home was this:
1 tbs kaffir lime rind
1 tbs diced galangal
10 green chillies
1 tbs lemongrass
3 diced garlic cloves
1 diced red onion.

While that’s half the list of ingredients that renowned Australian chef and Thai cuisine expert David Thompson uses in his recipe, it’s still going to be a wonderfully fragrant and fresh curry paste. While Poo makes it the old-fashioned way, with a mortar and pestle, she hinted that Thai people have been known to simply stick the ingredients in a blender with a little oil.

Now, if, like the Sunday Telegraph food critic, you’re still skeptical about how easy it is to make Thai, just buy a jar of curry paste from the supermarket. While it’s not the same as a freshly made paste, the pastes preserve very well in a jar. One very prominent Thai chef – who probably won’t want to be quoted – confessed to me that the most popular brand of curry paste available in the supermarkets wasn’t bad at all.

Another Thai chef in Bangkok who makes several batches of curry pastes daily told me the secret to using these store-bought pastes is to heat up some oil first before adding the paste to help “wake up the flavours” of the paste, something they don’t do with fresh paste where it’s spooned into the bubbling coconut milk.

Regardless of whether you use fresh or store-bought paste, here’s the exhaustive list of the other ingredients you’ll need:
500 ml coconut milk
4 kaffir lime leaves; torn, not sliced
6 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
300g chicken/pork/beef
200g eggplant
250ml water
20 Thai basil leaves

That’s it. It’s not exactly a “multitude” of ingredients nor is it an impossible list to fill in a medium-sized rural town in Australia such as Bendigo, where we stay with Lara’s uncle – one where it is impossible to find a Thai restaurant with “sensational” takeaway dishes.

Of course, if you make Thai food regularly you’ll appreciate that you’ll be using palm sugar instead of regular sugar, and using it often – so it doesn’t end up in the back of the cupboard for about three years, like Ms Meryment’s did.

When we wrote a story on Poo’s cooking course for Australian travel magazine Get Lost, the recipe had so few steps that it just appeared as a single paragraph in print, not a set-by-step breakdown:
“Add 250ml coconut milk to saucepan and bring to boil. Add curry paste and stir for 2 minutes. Add torn kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, sugar, and meat, and simmer until meat is cooked. Add eggplant, 250ml coconut milk and water. When eggplant is soft, add Thai basil, and serve with rice.”

When Is Cooking At Home A Waste Of Time? Cooking with Poo Cooking Class, Bangkok. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.
Green Curry. Cooking with Poo Cooking Class, Bangkok.

Easy. And it’s delicious. (That’s the paste being prepared in the pic above). It is basic because the whole point of Poo’s classes and recipes are to show foreigners how easy it is to cook Thai. I usually add a few pieces of sliced chilli to mine to give it some more kick, but the flavour profile is that of a simple, clean Thai green curry.

If you are going to talk about cookie-cutter takeaway-menu Thai, a pad Thai is just as easy to knock over to go with your curry. The hardest thing to cook for your meal will be the steamed rice. Just buy a good rice cooker. That’s what they’ll have at the Thai takeaway shop anyway, just much bigger than the one in the back of your cupboard.

So when is cooking at home a waste of time then? Well, oddly enough, the one dish that Ms Meryment says is a cinch to do at home is pizza:
“Pizza is one of the easiest and most successful things to make at home, with relatively few ingredients. If you have flour and yeast in the pantry you can make a good base in 30 minutes and all you need on top of that is tomato pasta (sic) and a tub of bocconcini. In the time it takes to get a pizza in the oven you could have a soggy processed pizza home delivered. It’s not worth it.”

Sure you can make pizza at home that’s easily better than takeaway pizza – we used to joke on our family pizza-making nights when discussing toppings that someone ordered a ’chicken with BBQ sauce’ or ‘cheese-stuffed crust’ as a reference to how horrible the local home delivery pizza was. Takeaway pizza steams in a box, rendering the base of the pizza soft and soggy, the slice flopping like a rag doll cat when you pick it up – a thing we also had on hand at Lara’s uncle’s house – those cats are cuter than soggy pizza.

But to make great pizza is arguably harder than making Thai food. Unless you’ve bought a real wood-fired pizza oven that gets up to a gazillion degrees and cooks pizzas in 45 seconds, you’re not going to get great pizza, you’re going to get average pizza. Great pizza comes from the sort of pizza oven we had at the holiday rental in Puglia where we needed a pizza peel the length of a barge pole to get anywhere near the furnace. And, keep in mind that most Italian pizza makers rest their dough for at least 24 hours before making pizza…

Having said that, I still don’t think making pizza at home with family and friends is a waste of time. We’ve had great fun cooking together on our family pizza nights, even if the pizzas took an agonising three minutes in the oven. But now there are fantastic home pizza ovens like the Ooni Koda 16 Gas Pizza Oven, which is fantastic for home pizza fanatics.

As someone who has been reviewing restaurants for guidebooks and magazines and writing about food professionally for many years, I believe that in order to be able to do my job professionally, I need to have some idea of how to cook the type of food I’m writing about. For instance, I would have been too embarrassed to interview David Thompson without knowing how to cook a Thai curry.

When I was – misguidedly – considering entering the world of cheffing in Sydney many years ago, I worked my way through the first cookbooks of Neil Perry and Tetsuya from cover to cover, cooking every dish. If you want to know what a “multitude of ingredients” looks like, try cooking one of Tetsuya’s dishes!

Back in Australia last year, we house-and-cat-sat for a couple of our close friends. Being the nosy type when it comes to kitchens, I was astounded by how many Asian ingredients they had in the fridge and in the cupboards. Feeling inspired when they returned from holidays, I made them a Northern Thai feast with ingredients that are now readily available in Sydney – a feast of dishes you’re unlikely to find on any takeaway menus in Sydney. My favourite Issan sausages, betel leaves, and excellent Thai pork crackling were just some of the ingredients I found in a Thai supermarket in Sydney that were inspiring to work with.

On another night, I did a Sichuan menu for the same friends, inspired by dishes we ate at Spice Temple and Dainty Sichuan in Melbourne. Admittedly, those dishes weren’t quick stir-fries. Both feasts took around three hours to cook, but everyone joined in, from prepping ingredients to preparing the BBQ, to just making sure wine glasses were full and the music loud. It was fantastic fun. And way better food than any takeaway.

Later that year, after a couple of months overseas, we arrived back at our friend’s house in Sydney for a few days before heading off again on our current journey. Catching up with them, I was surprised – and a little chuffed – to hear that they had recreated my entire Sichuan menu for a dinner party they had with a big group of friends.

To me, that’s what cooking at home is about. Learning to cook new dishes, especially dishes from a cuisine you’re unfamiliar with cooking, and discovering dishes that you want to add to your cooking repertoire. It’s also about enjoying time in the kitchen – as much as the dinner table – with family and friends.

So when is cooking at home a waste of time? Never, as far as I’m concerned, no matter how tricky the dishes might be. Every time you cook you learn something and if you’re a competent cook it’s nearly always going to be better than takeaway. Even the mythical and sensational $10 Thai home delivery dish.

What are you thoughts? When is cooking at home a waste of time for you?

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About Terence Carter

Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gina says

    May 1, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    As someone who loves to cook, I agree with you. Even when my new dishes don’t turn out perfect, I still learn from my mistakes.

  2. Zara @ Backpack ME says

    May 8, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    Agreed!
    Cooking at home, whatever the dish or cuisine might be, is NEVER a waste of time. Even if your ingredients end up costing you more than eating out (which in most cases doesn’t actually happen if you shop at the right place), home food tends to be healthier and it’s such a good activity to cook! Only someone who doesn’t like to cook (or home cooked food) could make such a statement!

  3. Lara Dunston says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    Totally agree with you – I’m not as good a cook as Terence, so I make plenty of mistakes too! :)

  4. Lara Dunston says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    Hi Zara – we’re inclined to agree with your last statement. We were astonished that a food critic – and therefore you’d assume a food-lover – would think like that too be honest. Cooking at home is always cheaper in our experience, and it’s so much fun when you do it with family and friends too.

  5. Grace @ Sandier Pastures says

    January 23, 2014 at 4:25 pm

    I like it if I know what’s going into my food so I love to cook at home and never did I think it’s a waste of time!

  6. Lara Dunston says

    January 23, 2014 at 10:29 pm

    Exactly. That’s a very good reason to cook everything yourself from scratch – aside from the fact it just tastes better. Hope you’re well, Grace! x

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About Grantourismo

Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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