Que Son cassava pho in the Western quarter of Ho Chi Minh City

Quang Nam specialty cassava noodle soup, a dish gradually forgotten at its origin, has been preserved and adapted by a chef in Saigon's Western Quarter.

There are countless pho restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. From the main streets to the small alleys, you can find restaurants serving all kinds of beef pho, even Northern-style chicken pho. However, it is very difficult to find a restaurant serving tapioca pho. For many people, this dish is unfamiliar even from its name. The shape of this type of pho is also completely different from the usual pho noodles.

Cassava noodle soup is a traditional dish of the people of Quang Nam. Thuan An village, Dong Phu town, Que Son district, Quang Nam, still maintains the long-standing profession of making cassava noodle soup. However, there are not many households that still maintain the traditional profession.

In the Tay Thao Dien neighborhood, Thu Duc City, there is a rare restaurant serving cassava pho. Mr. Nhu Cuong, head chef and owner of Madame Lam restaurant, shared that currently very few places in Ho Chi Minh City, even in Quang Nam or neighboring provinces, have dishes made from cassava pho. The reason is that the traditional craft of making pho noodles is gradually fading away.

Chef Cuong decided to add tapioca noodles to his restaurant menu after attending a Quang Nam culinary festival. At that time, there was a booth displaying traditional craft village products such as tapioca flour and Dong Phu tapioca noodles, but "not many people were interested". Meanwhile, he realized that this type of noodles made from tapioca flour has high nutritional value, does not contain gluten like rice flour, and is also eye-catching.

Unprocessed Que Son specialty cassava noodles have a net-like shape.

The belief that "cuisine must be linked to cultural roots" has urged Mr. Cuong to "join hands" with a young couple in Dong Phu who are trying to maintain traditional craft products "to preserve and develop the cassava pho dish that is gradually disappearing".

Right at the entrance of the restaurant, in the center, is a wooden table with a basket of dried cassava noodles and cassava roots - as the Southerners call them - as a way to introduce diners to the ingredients that make up the traditional Quang dish. Many foreign guests, upon entering the restaurant, curiously approach the cassava noodle display table and ask questions like "why is the noodle a square or large rectangular plate with many meshes", "what is cassava root" or "why is cassava noodle so colorful?"

Traditional tapioca noodles are shaped like a net, pressed into large, thin, square or rectangular pieces like rice paper. When not processed, the noodles are dry and crispy, unlike the soft, flat noodles often used for chicken or beef pho. The original tapioca noodles are ivory white. Purple noodles are dyed from butterfly pea flowers combined with lemon, and dark yellow noodles are colored from carrots.

To have batches of quality cassava noodles depends a lot on the weather, choosing a sunny day to dry for 3 days and 3 nights. The people who make cassava noodles in Dong Phu are mainly elderly people. "Que Son specialty is gradually dying out as the local youth leave the craft village, some people would rather become tailors or workers than stay and maintain the hard work of making pho," said Mr. Cuong.

Handmade cassava noodles are not available in large quantities, so dishes made from this ingredient are placed on a seasonal menu and are not served regularly. Chef Cuong serves four dishes from Que Son specialties, including two types of pho prepared in the traditional style, a pho salad, and finally a central-style banh xeo made from cassava flour.

The traditional version of cassava pho has a combination of ingredients similar to Quang noodles. The pho noodles are boiled until soft, served with shrimp, pork belly, spare ribs, and baby mustard greens. The broth is made from bone broth, poured over the pho noodles. The broth is yellow due to the use of turmeric starch to create an eye-catching color and a distinctive smell. When eating, add chili sauce to enhance the flavor. "The traditional version uses a lot of turmeric, I have reduced it because many foreign diners are not used to eating turmeric," Mr. Cuong shared.

The male chef uses tapioca noodles to make a salad with banana flowers, carrots, cucumbers, herbs and sauteed shrimp. The flour used to make tapioca noodles was created by Mr. Cuong by mixing it with rice flour, making a pancake inspired by the Central region's pancakes. The pancake has a crispy golden crust and a rich, fragrant taste. The filling includes jicama, shredded mango, and various herbs. The accompanying vegetables are sandwiched inside the pancake instead of being used to roll the pancake like the traditional way of eating.

A diner from Hanoi, currently living in Ho Chi Minh City, said she had never heard of cassava pho and did not know that there were restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City serving this noodle dish. After enjoying cassava pho for the first time at a restaurant in Thao Dien, she commented that this type of pho was not greasy, the noodles had a firm and chewy texture, and when eaten, did not have the sweet starchy taste like regular pho noodles.

"A meal at the restaurant for two people costs about 159,000-179,000 VND, 3-4 times more expensive than popular noodle dishes. However, the ingredients are meticulously prepared, the green mustard greens are still fresh and neatly trimmed. The shrimp are fresh, the pork ribs are stewed well, and the pork belly has a crispy skin. The dish is also neatly presented," said the female diner.

Chef Cuong said that dishes made from cassava noodles are prepared in a contemporary culinary style. The prerequisite must be a pure Vietnamese dish, combined with cultural adaptation. Then, local dishes will have meticulousness from every detail of ingredients to shaping. The adaptation is also shown in cooking techniques. The old way of cooking often abused spices and seasoned arbitrarily. Meanwhile, contemporary dishes are cooked according to quantity, paying more attention to nutritional value when combining ingredients and using clean ingredients to ensure health.

With his passion for exploring regional culinary culture, Chef Cuong hopes that his small efforts will somehow preserve the traditional craft of making cassava pho and spread the dish made from special pho noodles to diners at home and abroad.

Bich Phuong

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