Bun bung Thai Phien

Bun bung is as simple as its name, simple and ordinary, yet undeniable attractive. Being an ordinary dish, bun bung is made from very simple ingredients: pig’s trotters or pork ribs, night-scented lilies, green papayas, tomatoes, dried garcinia cowa, scallions, turmeric and herbs. The stock is made by simmering pork and pig’s trotters or pork ribs, with the yellow color coming from fresh turmeric, crushed and filtered. Tomatoes are cut into wedges and added to the stock, floating inside the sauce pan. Night-scented lilies are washed, peeled, cleaned thoroughly with salt and blanched. Blanching night-scented lilies requires the sophistication of the cook: blanching for too long will leave the vegetable too soft, decolored and tough, consequently lessening the flavor of the dish; sufficiently blanched nightscented lilies will be green, soft a n d crispy. Green papayas are peeled, cut into large pieces and added to the stock to reduce the simmering time of pig’s trotters. A ham hock is fastened using a thread, boiled and cut into thin slices. The pig’s trotters turn yellow from tur Bun bung (Rice vermicelli soup with pork rips and colocasia gigantea) 14 15 HANOI’S CUISINEHANOI’S CUISINE meric, crispy and not too greasy. Rice vermicelli in a bowl is topped with slices of ham hock, pork ribs, pigs’ trotters, and crispy nightscented lilies, a few slices of green papayas, water mint and scallions cut into very short strips. Finally, the sweet stock is added, covering the meat, the rice vermicelli and the herbs, adding some pieces of tomato to add more color to the dish. In the winter when night-scented lilies are rare, parsley is a great alternative.