Mai Pham: Lean Cuisine—Vietnam's Lively, Low-Fat Salads
For an example of how to eat healthfully, simply, and well every day, look to Vietnam. This scenic Southeast Asian country has one of the leanest and freshest cuisines imaginable, based largely on fresh leafy salad greens, fresh herbs, rice or rice noodles, and lean grilled or simmered protein.
Mai Pham, chef-owner of Sacramento's Lemon Grass restaurant and author of Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table (HarperCollins, 2001), says that many Vietnamese dishes revolve around the same template. Here are its elements:
- Table salad: a plate or platter presentation of leaf lettuce, whole sprigs of fresh herbs (Asian basil, mint, rau ram, red or green perilla), bean sprouts, and sliced cucumber
- Steamed rice or rice noodles
- Grilled pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, or fish, probably marinated first
- Chopped peanuts
- A sweet-tart dipping sauce (nuoc cham)
In Mai's restaurant, she layers noodles, herbs, and lettuce in a bowl, then tops it with the sizzling grilled shrimp or sliced pork and chopped peanuts, and drizzles the sauce on top.
In Vietnam, the same ingredients might come to your table in separate mounds. The diner would tuck noodles, herbs, peanuts, and grilled meat into a lettuce-leaf wrap, then dip the savory package into nuoc cham, Vietnam's irresistible dipping sauce. Cool and hot, crisp and soft, tart and sweet—all come together in these beguiling Vietnamese wraps. There is no oil in nuoc cham and only a light gloss of oil on the meat or fish, so this way of eating could hardly be leaner.
At its most basic, nuoc cham—literally "dipping water"—consists of water, fish sauce, sugar, lime, chiles, and garlic. It is a clear, tongue-tingling liquid that hits all four flavor notes: sweet, salty, sour, and hot. Some cooks float shredded carrots or paper-thin slices of daikon, kohlrabi, or cucumber in it. These vegetables flavor the sauce and become lightly pickled themselves. At Lemon Grass, Mai makes a concentrated version of nuoc cham with less water, to drizzle on grilled or pan-seared salmon.
Could nuoc cham work in your operation as a low-fat salad dressing, dip, pork chop condiment, or seafood sauce?