Bánh phở is the noodle used in the Vietnamese pho dish. Reader Eric left a request over at the other post “Pronunciation of Pho and Other Vietnamese Words and Phrases” inquiring about what to say when you want to order extra Bánh Phở noodles, or a side order of pho noodles. Eric says:

hi there- i’m wondering how to pronounce the following question about ordering extra rice noodles:
có thể tôi xin có bún thêm cho một đồng đô la phụ? Tôi rất đói.
the direct translation (from google translate) is:
can i please have extra rice noodles for an extra dollar? i’m very hungry.
thanks!

Hmm Google translation helps sometimes, but not in this case.

But first let’s get something straight. In my opinion, the best thing to do is to have bánh phở added to your bowl in the kitchen before they pour in the hot pho broth. Some may prefer a side bowl of just bánh phở at your table, but if you think about it, you’ll want everything in the bowl before the broth is poured in. This is because bánh phở needs to cook with the rest of the other pho ingredients in the bowl. Even if the pho noodles are blanched and then served in a separate side bowl at your table, you’ll have to immediately put it in your bowl. Otherwise if you leave it in the side bowl while enjoying the main portion first, the side noodles will continue to cook on the inside and get all lumped up and mushed together, and will become cold and dry on the outside, all while your broth is cooling in your bowl as well. Anyway if you must then you must, but I recommend extra bánh phở inside the bowl, not outside.

Note that Eric’s message implies that he wants certain quantity (a dollar’s worth) of pho noodles. As far as I know, most pho restaurants either charge one price for sides or none at all. So specifying a dollar amount’s worth of banh pho may not work well in most situations. Also there is absolutely nothing wrong with the “very hungry” part, but I’ll leave that part out of the audio files as well. If someone really must have the “I’m very hungry” then please leave a request in the comment, I’ll do it then.

As requested by Eric, below are 3 variations of ordering extra pho noodles when you’re in a restaurant. The variation between each phrase is very minimal, but the impact can be major. They range from more formal to casual ordering tones.

Pronounce: Ordering extra bánh phở noodles with your phở.

• More formal. Xin cho thêm bánh phở (Please add/give more banh pho noodles.) Southern accent once, then Northern accent twice.
• Neutral. Cho tôi thêm bánh phở (Add/give me more banh pho noodles.) Southern then Northern accent.
• Casual. Cho thêm bánh phở (Add/give more banh pho noodles.) Southern then Northern accent. 

Thanks for the question Eric!

So have you ordered anything extra with your pho? Take the poll below.

How to Order Extra Bánh Phở Noodles With Your Pho is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 12-28-10. Hu tieu (Hủ Tiếu) is a very popular Vietnamese noodle dish. No doubt you have heard of this Southern Viet creation, and there are many others already discovering it. No it’s not pho, and what are we doing talking about hu tieu in a pho blog anyway?

The reason is there are some confusions about what hu tieu is and what it is not, due to the common noodles sometimes used between the two. Plus I’ve always wanted to give my own take on hu tieu so here’s my chance to put hu tieu in its rightful place.

Hủ Tiếu Defined

Hu tieu? Not so simple to explain. There are already excellent sources that you can find on hu tieu, including “Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh Noodle Soup)” by Andrea Nguyen, and hu tieu page on Noodlepie.com, plus a host of others. Both of these are informative and entertaining. Still the uninitiated needs something a little more fundamental, something more complete, something more introductory.

To me, at the most basic level,

1. There are hu tieu the noodles (bánh hủ tiếu,) and then there are hu tieu the dishes,
2. Hu tieu dishes may be cooked in dry (fried) or wet (soup) style.

You go to the supermarket to buy a package of hu tieu noodles and other ingredients to prepare the meal yourself, but in a restaurant you will be served hu tieu as the completely prepared dish. Confusing I know. Vietnamese tend to use the same word for different things and this is one of those instances. As you may notice on a typical menu, you can order fried hu tieu or hu tieu in soup; ‘dry‘ or ‘soup‘ hu tieu, so to speak. So in your conversation about hu tieu, knowing which you’re talking about (the noodle or the dish, and dry or soup) can be helpful. For a Vietnamese, it’s always understood what is what and which is which.

Hu Tieu The Noodles (Bánh Hủ Tiếu)

There is really only one kind of noodle that is called hu tieu noodle. Once cooked, it is the chewy, clear and somewhat sticky kind that is made of tapioca, not rice. On a shelf in a food market, at first glance it may look like banh pho noodle, just not as white in color, or maybe a thicker bún (vermicelli.) But unless it is specifically labeled “Hủ Tiếu,” it isn’t. Like banh pho noodles and bun, bánh hủ tiếu noodles can be purchase dry or fresh.

The Many Faces of Hu Tieu

Hu tieu the dish is really not a single dish at all. As demonstrated in the sources mentioned above, there are many varieties. The three most recognized types are Hu Tieu Nam Vang (hu tieu Phnom Penh style,) Hu Tieu My Tho (after the capital city of Tiền Giang Province, located in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam,) and Hu Tieu Chinese style. [Update] The Chinese had a lot to do with hu tieu being in Vietnam in the first place, and as pointed out by Andrea Nguyen and Sue in the comment #1 below, Chinese-Cambodian brought the dish from Cambodia (hence the Phnom Penh style,) and Vietnamese borrowed it and made their own Viet versions.

In between the three there are countless other versions of hu tieu that are created in many areas of southern Vietnam, each making use of the available local ingredients. Hence you have pork hu tieu, seafood hu tieu, shrimp hu tieu, or anything else the cooks desire to create. The amazing thing is with such diversity and creativity, diners from outside the area would recognize a bowl of hu tieu as a legitimate bowl of hu tieu when encountered!

The common thread that seems to connect these hu tieu variations are the key elements, such as pork-based soup broth, ground pork (the finer the better,) Chinese celery, sauteed garlic and shallots and a few others, to maintain hu tieu’s distinctive bite and taste. Hu tieu is one of those rare yet beautiful noodle dishes that change from place to place, utilize a variety of different ingredients depending on the preparer, and are accepted with the same naming convention no matter where they end up. Interestingly, hu tieu versions that are based on chicken or beef ingredients are rarely found. Beef is already the king in pho, and chicken can be found in pho and many bun dishes, so I think everything works out just fine and everyone is happy.

Hu Tieu The Dishes – Dry or Soup?

As if that weren’t enough variations, you can also have ‘dry’ and ‘soup’ hu tieu. I won’t go much more into the dry hu tieu dishes (just as I won’t go much into the ‘dry pho’ dishes on this site – ha, bet you didn’t know such things exist!), except to say that these delicious dishes come mainly as either pan-fried or regular fried hu tieu (hủ tiếu áp chảo or hủ tiếu xào, respectively.) Meat ingredients run the gamut from beef, chicken, pork, and their innards, to shrimp, scallop, squid, and crab.

So there you have the ultimate challenger to my beloved bowl of pho. They come from everywhere, they take on many shapes and forms, and they all taste yummy. To put hu tieu (the soup kind) in perspective, here are some hu tieu 101s for you:

• Hu tieu dishes can use different noodles. You can have banh hu tieu noodles, banh pho noodles, or thin Chinese egg noodles (called mì in Vietnamese,) and the dish you order is still called hu tieu.
• When you order hu tieu, it’s acceptable to mix banh pho noodles and thin egg noodles in the same hu tieu bowl. In this case it is called hủ tiếu mì and many restaurants actually have this on their menus.
• Probably from the Chinese influence, hu tieu can also have Vietnamese wonton (hoành thánh, which is better than Chinese wonton in my opinion) right in the bowl with the noodles. Hoành thánh is very universal; as long as you have a pork-based soup noodle dish like hu tieu, it will go with hoành thánh.
• Good hu tieu restaurants will serve you the option of hu tieu with the hot soup on the side in another bowl. Some people will eat the two separately, though most will just put the hot soup in over the noodles just before digging in. This gives the best (or chewiest, or least cooked) noodle experience. This is rarely done with the Chinese egg noodles as they need to be thoroughly cooked.

I’m sure there are still lingering questions about Vietnamese hu tieu, but I think this will help begin to clear up some confusions about what hu tieu is and how it may be enjoyed, but more importantly, how it differs from pho. For a Vietnamese it’s pretty much common knowledge. But for others it’s probably been one contradiction after another where seemingly different dishes are all called Hủ Tiếu! Hopefully you can now order your hu tieu with confidence and then enjoy it with peace of mind. Please drop me a comment below. And take this poll below. Thanks.

Hu Tieu or Hủ Tiếu – Paying Respect to Pho’s Cousin is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

There are three main elements to every bowl of Vietnamese pho: the steamy, flavorful and aromatic broth; the meat, whether it is tenderly cooked chicken or beef that is rare or well-done; and the banh pho noodle. It’s the banh pho that makes pho a noodle dish. Without banh pho noodle, it’s just another soup.

Many Vietnamese culinary experts will tell you that the life of pho is in the broth because that is where most of the flavors that characterize this dish are in. But one can argue that the body of pho is in the banh pho noodle itself. Everything else – the fresh herbs, the bean sprouts, the sliced Serrano chili, the lime wedges and all the other fixings in the bowl – is just optional, nice to have stuff.

What is Banh Pho Noodle?

Let’s start with a quick definition. Banh pho is the noodle used in pho dish. What differentiates banh pho from other noodle varieties is banh pho has square or rectangular cross-sections (depending on width size), as opposed to mostly round cross-sections most other noodles come in. For the purpose of this discussion, I’ll use banh pho and banh pho noodle interchangeably.

Banh pho are noodles made from rice flour. In countries other than Vietnam, they are called chantaboon or rice sticks.  Modern conveniences have seen banh pho sold as dry packaged varieties in supermarkets and grocery stores, but the ideal banh pho are those made fresh. These Vietnamese noodles are flat and white, with widths varying from a millimeter to a centimeter, or even wider (or 1/16″ to wider widths of 1/8″, 1/4″ or sometimes even 3/8″.) When banh pho is cooked, its texture becomes soft and chewy, and its appearance translucent.

Banh Pho: An Essential Pho Ingredient

Why is banh pho so important in a bowl of pho? One can say that pho is not pho without the correct banh pho rice noodles in it. You can eliminate the garnishing, but you cannot take banh pho noodles out of a proper bowl of pho. And you can’t have just few strands of banh pho floating in the broth, you have to have a whole lot of them. In fact in a restaurant, it’s totally an acceptable option to order more banh pho in your bowl than normally served (see the article on “Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way.”)

Here’s another way of looking at it. In Vietnam and Southeast Asia in general, a meal is always composed of a main dish that is starchy and made of carbohydrates. These come in the form of either steamed rice or noodles. The other dishes made from meat, seafood or vegetables eaten at the table during the meal are just side dishes that complement the rice or the noodles served. There may be a soup side dish served along side the other side dishes. This is called “canh” in Vietnamese, and is often consumed in small bowl sized portion over rice or by itself during the course of the meal.

Banh Pho: The Foundation of a Pho Meal

A meal in Southeast Asia is never complete without the rice or the noodles, and when pho, hu tieu or any other noodle dish is the meal, the noodles are the foundation of such meal.

Vietnamese pho is a complete meal in a bowl. The broth serves as the soup, the rice noodles the starchy element, the meat as the protein, and the herb garnishing and the bean sprouts as the salad part. All these elements form a unified whole and the meal would not be filling (nor fulfilling) without the rice noodles.

However, it is not enough that the rice noodles just exist in the bowl. In an Asian meal, the rice dish is so important that its quality dictates the tone of the entire meal. If one has to force down rice that was not properly cooked, it spoils the meal even if the side dishes were made for the kings and emperors.

The same thing applies to banh pho noodle. Bad noodles make bad pho. Banh pho should be fresh, with a slippery texture that is smooth enough for a good and easy slurp. If they are of the dried, supermarket variety, they should be prepared carefully. They should not sit in sticky clumps in the bottom of the bowl, and they should not be tough to chew on. Neither should they be so overcooked that they break apart when you pick them up with your chopsticks.

A Sample Package of Fresh Banh Pho Noodle

Fresh Banh Pho Noodle Nutrition Facts: Serving Size 2 oz (56g), calories 150, sodium 240mg, total carbohydrate 35g, protein 3g

How Banh Pho Is Made

As mentioned above, banh pho noodles are made from rice flour.  Although the dried version is now available in supermarkets and grocery stores, these noodles are best when they are freshly made. In Vietnam, it would not be surprising to find a family that makes its own banh pho.

TravelPod.com has a simple yet interesting post detailing how Vermicelli noodle is made. I imagine banh pho is made similarly – I’ll have to do more research on this.

Preparing Banh Pho for Pho

Properly preparing banh pho noodles for serving in pho depends on whether you use the dry or fresh banh pho. If the banh pho is the dry type, then they should be soaked in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes, and drained afterwards. The resulting noodles should be soft and translucent.

Three Sizes of Dry Banh Pho Noodles

Variety of Dry Banh Pho at Local Asian Market

But if the banh pho is fresh, it should be rinsed under cold running water and then blanched in boiling water for no more than a few seconds, until the desired softness and translucence is achieved.

The noodles are then placed in individual bowls, occupying about a third of the available space. Obviously those who like more noodles in their pho can add more banh pho as desired. Just remember to scale down on the other ingredients as the noodle will expand in the hot broth. The meat is placed over banh pho, and then the piping hot broth is ladled into the bowl.

The Bottom Line: Pho Is not Pho Without Banh Pho

Substituting a different noodle may be acceptable at home but what you have then is “broken” pho. No self-respecting pho restaurant will serve pho without properly prepared banh pho, because it’s just “wrong.” If you run across someone serving pho with round noodles, demand your money back because it may be something else but certainly not pho they’re selling.

Banh Pho (Bánh Phở) – It’s All About the Square Noodles is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles