A Northern Vietnamese family meal: caramelized pork belly, tofu in tomato sauce, mustard green soup and boiled water spinach

As someone from Hanoi living far from home, I want to tell you about the Northern Vietnamese family meal, one meal at a time, each for a family of four. Today it is the meal of an ordinary evening: pork belly fried until the edges crisp, fried tofu in tomato sauce, a bowl of mustard green soup, a plate of boiled water spinach and a dish of quick pickles.

Far from Hanoi, what I miss most is not a fancy dish. I miss the evening meal: parents and children gathered around, a bowl of steaming white rice, a plate of savory fried pork, a hot bowl of soup, a plate of green vegetables, a few pieces of sweet and sour pickle. Nothing showy, and yet when it is over the whole family feels warm in the belly and in the heart.

What is on today's tray

• Crisp-edged pork belly: the first savory dish. Rich and fatty, fragrant with shallot, and the pieces with browned edges are perfect with rice.
• Fried tofu in tomato sauce: the second savory dish. The skin is golden, the inside soft and soaked in sweet and sour sauce, a good match for the strong pork.
• Mustard green soup with minced pork: a hot, light soup to sip between mouthfuls of rice.
• Boiled water spinach with a bowl of its cooking water and lime: a plain, crunchy, deep green vegetable.
• Quick pickles and a dipping bowl: a sweet and sour, crisp side dish that cuts the richness for the whole meal.

Why this meal works together

A good Northern Vietnamese meal is not about having many dishes. It is about each dish sitting in its right place. The pork is strong and fatty, so next to it you need something plain and green: the plate of boiled water spinach, and that is also why many families boil the vegetable without salt. The tofu in tomato sauce brings a sweet and sour note so the rice never feels flat. The hot soup soothes the mouth. The pickles, sweet and sour and crunchy, cut the richness at once. Savory, fatty, sour, sweet, light, plain, crunchy: five dishes, and everything is covered.

Shopping for four

• Pork belly, 400 g, half lean and half fat.
• Tofu, 5 blocks, and 4 ripe tomatoes.
• Mustard greens, 400 g, and minced lean pork shoulder, 120 g.
• Water spinach, 500 g, and 1 lime.
• 1 carrot and 1 kohlrabi for the quick pickles.
• Dried shallots, scallions, garlic, chili, fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, pepper, cooking oil.
• About 300 g of rice, enough for four.

Cook in this order and it takes 45 minutes

Five dishes sounds like a lot, but it is not hard work, because some dishes cook themselves while you make the others. The skill is knowing which to start first and which to leave for last so everything reaches the table hot.

1. Minute 0: wash the rice and start the rice cooker. Pick the water spinach and the mustard greens. Slice the pork belly and marinate it.
2. Minute 10: put the pan of pork on the stove over low heat. From here the pork cooks by itself, you only stir now and then.
3. Minute 15: cut the tofu, pat it dry and fry it in a second pan.
4. Minute 30: cook the tomato sauce and add the tofu, simmering on low heat.
5. Minute 35: cook the mustard green soup, which takes only a few minutes.
6. Minute 40: boil the water spinach and lift it into a basket.
7. Minute 45: turn off all the burners and set the tray. Cook the soup and the vegetable last so they reach the table green and hot. The quick pickles are made earlier in the day or the day before.

Crisp-edged pork belly

This is the dish that goes best with rice on the tray, and also the easiest, because it needs no oil and almost no standing at the stove. When the smell of frying pork fills the kitchen, the whole house knows dinner is near.

1. Slice 400 g of pork into thin pieces about 3 mm thick and 4 to 5 cm long.
2. Mix the pork with 1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of pepper and 3 finely chopped dried shallots. Marinate 15 minutes.
3. Put the pork in a heavy pan with no oil over medium-low heat.
4. Stir gently. The fat in the pork slowly runs out and the pork cooks in its own fat. It takes about 20 minutes.
5. When the edges of the pork turn golden and crisp and the pan is dry, turn off the heat. If there is too much fat, pour some off.

Do not add water to the pan. With water the pork turns into boiled meat and the edges cannot crisp. Low heat lets the fat run out slowly so the pork firms up without drying. Fried pork is good hot or cold, so cook a little extra to keep for the next meal.

Fried tofu in tomato sauce

A simple vegetarian dish that many Hanoi families cook, as good with rice as any meat dish. Dipped in sweet and sour tomato sauce, the hot tofu is what everyone reaches for.

1. Cut 5 blocks of tofu into squares and pat them very dry with paper towels.
2. Fry the tofu over medium heat, 4 to 5 minutes per side, until evenly golden. Lift out to drain.
3. Score a cross in 4 tomatoes, blanch in boiling water, peel and cut into wedges.
4. Fry 2 dried shallots until fragrant, add the tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes until soft, add 150 ml of water and season with 1 teaspoon of fish sauce and half a teaspoon of sugar.
5. Add the tofu and simmer over low heat for 3 minutes so it soaks up the sauce. Sprinkle scallions and turn off the heat.

The tofu must be dry before frying, otherwise it spits oil and the skin does not turn golden and crisp. Add the tofu to the sauce and turn off the heat early. I like a piece that keeps a slightly crisp skin outside and a soft inside that has soaked up the sauce, because if cooked too long the tofu turns mushy.

Mustard green soup with minced pork

1. Marinate 120 g of minced pork shoulder with a little fish sauce and pepper for 10 minutes.
2. Fry 1 dried shallot in a little oil, add the pork and stir until it just turns opaque.
3. Pour in 800 ml of water and bring to a boil. Add the stems of the mustard greens first and the leaves after. Cook 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Season with fish sauce to taste and turn off the heat.

Cook mustard green soup with the lid off. With the lid on, the steam turns the greens yellow and dull. Cook the soup last and serve it right away while the greens are still green.

Boiled water spinach and its cooking water

Pick over 500 g of water spinach, remove the tough stems and wash. Bring about 2 liters of water to a boil, add the vegetable and boil 2 to 3 minutes with the lid off so it keeps its color. Lift into a basket to drain. Many families add no salt to the water because the vegetable is eaten with a strong savory dish. Dip it in garlic and chili fish sauce, or in fermented soybean sauce.

Do not pour the cooking water away. Let it cool a little and squeeze in lime, or add sấu fruit in sấu season, and you have a sour, refreshing bowl to drink with rice. Hanoians have been eating boiled vegetables with that bowl for a very long time.

Quick pickles and a dipping bowl

Make the pickles ahead, in the afternoon or the day before. Slice 1 carrot and 1 kohlrabi thin. Mix 200 ml of cooled boiled water with 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 3 tablespoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt, stir until dissolved and pour over the vegetables to cover. After four hours they are ready, and overnight they taste even better. The dipping bowl is fish sauce, sugar, vinegar or lime juice and water in the ratio 1:1:1:5, with garlic and chili.

How the family eats this meal

Hot white rice goes in the middle, with the pork and tofu on either side so everyone can reach. Adults usually pick up a piece of crisp-edged pork with a piece of tofu soaked in sauce, and spoon a little tomato sauce over the rice. The mustard green soup is sipped in between to soften the taste. The water spinach is dipped in garlic and chili fish sauce, and with it the rice feels much lighter. The last chopsticks usually reach for a piece of pickle to clean the mouth. Children love the tofu in tomato sauce and the fried pork, and adults love the bowl of vegetable water with lime. The whole tray empties like that.

Changing the tray to suit the season

The Northern meal changes with the season. Summer often brings crab, jute leaf and loofah soup, eggplant pickled in fermented soybean sauce (cà dầm tương), and boiled water spinach with its cooking water scented with sấu fruit. Cooler days bring braised pork shank with daikon, stir-fried snakehead with celery, mustard green soup with fish, plus a dish of pickles and salted roasted peanuts. Pick the tray you like, and change one or two dishes to suit the season, keeping the frame of two savory dishes, one soup, one vegetable, one side.

Days when there is no time to cook

Some days are too busy to light the stove. For the dishes that need long simmering, like braised grass carp with green banana and Hanoi pork aspic, the restaurant cooks in batches and takes advance orders. All you need at home is hot rice, a plate of boiled vegetable and a dipping bowl for a full meal. Sale dates and prices are on the dish pages.

See the Braised Grass Carp with Green Banana dish page

See the Hanoi Pork Aspic dish page

Cover photo: VnExpress.