Africans try 'mouth-watering' Vietnamese food for the first time, say just one word

As a member of the African group that has been with Quang Linh Vlogs for many years in Angola, Dong Paulo (38 years old, from Hung Ha, Thai Binh) and his colleague Pham Bao are loved by many people for their genuine, simple personality and always caring for everyone.

Currently, in addition to farming and supporting people in remote villages in Angola with agricultural cultivation, Dong Paulo and Pham Bao also regularly post videos instructing how to cook typical Vietnamese dishes such as: lemongrass stir-fried chicken, turmeric braised chicken, black bean sweet soup, cassava sticky rice, braised pork, etc.

They hope that simple meals will both help local people have more energy to work and spread the unique culinary culture of their homeland.

In the most recent video posted on Dong Paulo's YouTube channel with more than 880.000 followers, Pham Bao showed off his talent in preparing a dish that is familiar to Vietnamese people but still very strange to Angolans. That is the sweet potato cocoon dish.

“Today I brought some ingredients here to make sweet potato cocoons for everyone. Since there are a lot of sweet potatoes at the farm, I took advantage of the available ingredients, as well as to promote delicious Vietnamese dishes to everyone,” Bao said.

This man said that on the farm there are two types of sweet potatoes: red and white. Both types are soft, fragrant and especially sweet. Therefore, when preparing the dish, he does not need to add sugar.

“I bought sugar but definitely won’t add more because these potatoes are very sweet. This time when I fry them, I will put sugar on the plate, and those who like it sweeter can dip it in the dish,” he added.

Because there are quite a lot of people working on the farm, Bao uses a few kilos of potatoes. He meticulously washes the potatoes to remove all the dirt, peels them, and soaks them in water to keep them from turning brown and losing their sap.

After being cleaned, the potatoes are steamed in a large pot. This method helps the potatoes retain their natural sweetness and deliciousness instead of boiling them the traditional way.

When the potatoes are cooked, Bao uses a spoon to mash them until smooth, then adds flour and kneads them well. Then, he shapes them into long, slender balls, about the size of a thumb. While working quickly, he meticulously guides and introduces people to how to prepare the sweet potato dish.

“Everyone pay attention and watch me do it. In the future, if anyone wants to eat it, they can follow suit. This dish is simple and easy to make. The sweet potatoes are already sweet, so you don’t need to add sugar,” Bao shared.

The Vietnamese guy emphasized that sweet potatoes are also a familiar ingredient for many Angolan families where he lives. Therefore, introducing and instructing people to make Vietnamese-style sweet potato cocoons will help them learn a new way of cooking, improving their daily meals.

After the potatoes are shaped into cocoons, they will be fried in a pan of oil. The oil must be boiling before the potatoes are added to avoid breaking.

Africans who first learned about Vietnamese sweet potato cocoons were all excited, standing around and watching the process. Everyone gasped as the aroma wafted out.

"This dish must be eaten hot to be delicious, fried and eaten as it is," Bao said while inviting everyone to enjoy the sweet potato cocoons.

Because the dish had just been fried and was still so hot that it “burned their mouths”, the Angolan members could not hide their humorous expressions, constantly waving their hands and opening their mouths. However, everyone expressed their delight at enjoying this strange and delicious dish of the Vietnamese people.

When Bao asked them about the sweet potato dish, everyone nodded in satisfaction and said just one word: “Chapepa” (Great – in Portuguese). This made the Vietnamese guy happy because he had introduced another Vietnamese dish to the African people.

“Every single one is sold out. We can’t keep up,” Bao humorously expressed.

Photo: Dong Paulo Vlogs – Life in Africa

The cassava sticky rice shop only sells for a few months a year, and only lucky customers can buy it. Hai PhongOpen at 9am and only open from July to the end of February of the lunar calendar, Ms. Thuy’s cassava sticky rice shop is jokingly called “the must-have” in Hai Phong by customers. Every day, she sells out in a few hours, using about 7kg of ingredients (including cassava and sticky rice).