Ms Vy's Market Restaurant Cooking School

Sunday 12th April

Red Snapper, Ruth had one of these for tea last night

(If you are not interested in food, don't bother with this post, unless you wan't to see some of the weird stuff we just ate.)

Bucket of baby Crabs, how cute

So, the sea is going to be too rough for snorkelling, it's going to rain and we've done just about everything Hoi An has to offer........ Except a cooking class, Hoi An is noted for its cooking and there are many establishments running cooking classes, Ms Vy has been running cooking schools for eighteen years and was the first to open in Hoi An, we ate in one of her restaurants last night and the food was good so we decided to go back to school for half a day.

The daily grind, coconuts.

We met at the Market Restaurant at eight thirty after a wet cycle ride into town. We were given a green tea to drink and divided into small groups for a tour of the market so they could show us how to buy fish, what vegetables and herbs they used, and what fruit was available.

Apparently this is an Apple

The market was a short boat ride away, even though we had just cycled past it! At the market we learnt that the mystery fruit we saw last time (see earlier post) is called a Plum, well you could have fooled me! It tasted like an Apple/Pear cross.

A neatly tied Crab, this one is female apparently.

One thing about a tour of the market with a guide is that you don't feel like you are just in the way and so you do get a better look around and we saw every thing from fresh turmeric root to a bucket of frogs.

Bucket of Frogs

Once back at The Market Restaurant we were given a quick drink (I had Lime and Kumquat (they are green here) juice which was very nice and Ruth went for her standard Green Tea and Lemon) before a tour of the restaurant which is set out in various sections so you can look at areas like ration food, dumplings, weird and wonderful, rice noodles and puddings. Some parts of this tour were hands on, we got to try making rice noodles (looks so simple but they just end up as a sticky mess) and also to look at and try some of the foods on offer (but not all).

Back to school, I think this used to be called Home Economics

Of particular interest to me was the weird and wonderful section, I got to try Silk worm salad.

Jelly Fish Salad.

Baby Clam Salad.

Sadly I didn't get to eat the Spicy Lemongrass Frog.

I think it was probably too expensive.

Looks a bit like a small human

Duck Embryos and Pigs Brain.

No picture of the embryos or brains, but you can see they sell it

After the restaurant tour we went upstairs to the classroom to cook our lunch. The tutor first went through the ingredients, before demonstrating how to cook the dishes, after each dish was cooked we ate it before moving on to the next dish. First up was Cabbage Leaf Parcels with Shrimp Mousse in Broth.

Because Ruth had opted to cook vegetarian she made Cabbage Leaf Parcels with Tofu Stuffing and Mushrooms in Broth. Both were really nice although we both agreed that the shrimp version was better.

Next up was Banh Xeo, which are crispy pancakes which you serve with Rice Paper, mixed Herbs, Green Banana slices, Green Mango and Bean Sprouts. Mine was with Pork. Ruth had Tofu and Mushrooms.

Banh Xeo, the other one was not such a looker!

The final two dishes were (for me) BBQ Chicken and Lime Leaves served with a Mango and Prawn Salad.

While Ruth made Grilled Tofu with Mango Salad.

We finished our meal with Lemongrass Ice Cream, although we did not make this ourselves. At the end of the session we were given recipe sheets for the dishes we had cooked and a Mango slicer, rather like a giant potato peeler. All in all, an interesting morning and given the amount you got to eat, good value for money (it cost 800,000 VND).
The weather forecast was correct, it rained all day.

The latest thing in lightweight waterproofs