Vegetarian Rice Vermicelli Bowl (Cambodian/Vietnamese)

The best thing about Cambodian food is that it is an integration of all South East Asian food.  One of Cambodia's closest neighbor is Vietnam. My mother used to make some variation of a Vietnamese dish when I was growing up and I always thought they were Cambodian cuisines.  Little did I know that she was borrowing tastes and flavors from our neighbor. Since the countries are so close together they share almost identical agriculture and eco-system, thus producing the same types of ingredients.

Fresh Vietnamese herbs are one of my favorite things to eat.  I love the aroma, crispness and freshness of the herbs. There are many variation of fresh herbs, basil and mint being the most well known. The lesser known herbs are Fish Mint, which has a slight fish aroma and taste. This doesn't sound appetizing, but the taste of the Fish Mint mixed with the noodles, fried shallots and other ingredients is tantalizing. Vietnamese Coriander is another fresh mint I like to use. It is more slender and longer than the Fish Mint and has a spicy with a hint of cilantro taste.

Essentially, my inspiration for tonights meal was Fresh Vietnamese herbs.  With the weather getting warmer and the desire to look good in a bikini, I wanted to cook something fresh, light and refreshing which is exactly what this dish offered. The picture below is a vegetarian bowl, but you can add all sort of meats and seafood to the recipe.

*Ingredients & Instructions to come shortly.