🇻🇳 There’s nothing better on a rainy day than some nice, hot snacks to make you feel all warm on the inside. Here in Hai Phong, there’s a lot of special snacks that even I, despite having lived here for nearly four years, have never heard of! One in particular that caught my attention during my Google research was a dish called “Cháo khoái”.
“Cháo” is Vietnamese rice porridge, which typically is thick, white, and has toppings such as pork, egg, or in some cases fruit for those with a sweeter craving. But this particular porridge is really different. First of all, it’s green, which comes from the fact that it is made from ground up “rau ngót” (Google says it’s called “star gooseberry” in English). Second, it’s an afternoon snack. When I think of porridge, I think of early morning or late evening, but the majority of sellers in Hai Phong start selling this dish around 3pm, and on busy days like today, can be sold out within a matter of 2-3 hours. So if you wanna try it, you need to get here early.
This particular lady, “auntie Yên”, has been selling here for 21 years, and still uses a traditional “gánh” (the stick-like things you see with all her stuff) to sell. She scoops the piping-hot green porridge into a hefty bowl and tops it off with crispy fried shallots and shaved mung bean, which give the smooth porridge dish a nice texture. All this for 15k VND, or roughly $0.64 USD. It’s hard to believe it’s so cheap.
It seems simple but it’s a fairly labor-intensive dish. The lady here said it takes all morning to prepare, as she has to first make a pork-bone broth which she mixes in with the ground-up star gooseberry before combining it with the rice and simmering it. This gives it a really nice leafy and pork flavor.
As I’m writing this I’m already craving another bowl and I’m sure after watching this you will too 🙂 So here’s the shop info if you wanna try it:
Cháo Khoái Cô Yên
213 Đình Đông, Đông Hải, Lê Chân, Hải Phòng, Vietnam
https://goo.gl/maps/9j7s4fAZXsJjAHyS8
3pm until she sells out (2-3 hours)
Enjoy!
Video Chapters:
0:00 Searching for a hot snack
1:00 Arriving at Auntie Yen’s shop
4:08 Trying Chao Khoai for the first time
5:45 Locals join the party
14:55 Locals give me relationship advice
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