Chua Hai Duc

[Lucrecio Poinson]

Lookfor evenly shaped, firm, smooth, unblemished skin. I gravitate towards daikon radish that are no more than 2 inches in diameter because they tend to have a milder bite and wonderful sweetness. Really young daikon that are less than 1-inch thick are rather tasteless, and older fat daikon radish can be bitter hot. Farmers markets and Asian markets are a great place to score super duper fresh daikon.

hi andrea - thanks for sharing this recipe. I just made this this afternoon and finished it in one setting. I can't believe that I can finally 'pickle' something. Thank You. Can I ask you if I can reuse the brine again, otherwise it's such a waste????d

Terrific, Connie. I've never reused the brine again. I suppose you could ... make sure it's not overly funky from the daikon. Maybe pull 1/2 of it (discard it) then replenish with a new 1/2 batch of brine?

What a great cost-saving, recycling question and idea! Thanks.

I would love to make a batch and put it up in small canning jars - does anyone have experience canning do chua, or would the daikon and carrot lose their snap if canned and kept for longer than a month?

Guess what? This is Connie who initially posted the question of reusing the brine. This is a week later and still enjoying the second batch of this Do Chua right now. As an experiment, I did reuse the brine as is (without following Andrea's suggestion above) because I am just 'lazy' in nature in the cooking department in this busy world. They are just as good! Having said that, perhaps I may not know the 'finer' point of Do Chua as I am not Vietnamese. I will reuse the brine once more but no more as an experiment. Will report back to you all later. It's kinda of funny in a way as it's more about the work than the cost for me. i.e. dumping out the old brine, measuring the new ingredients, and mixing again. Oh boy oh boy! She should stay out of the kitchen :-))

Thanks Andrea! I am indeed a happy camper with a pretty jar of Do Chua in the refrig all the time.

I should have elaborated in my earlier comment: When I mentioned putting this up in small batches, I meant using the Western method. Paragraph 3 explains that the Western method isn't typically used, but I'd like to know if that's a viable alternative.

Connie -- Thanks for sharing your discovery of reusing the brine! LOVE IT. Yes, do let us know how many times you can max out the bring.

Wen -- To do a traditional western canning, I'd do it like I would bread and butter pickles. Heat up the brine, put my drained veggies in there, and then as soon as the brine comes to a simmer, turn off the heat and ladle them into the sterilized canning jars. Then seal them accordingly and put them in a water bath, per the manufacturer's instructions. I think that would work and not result in 'cooking' the vegetables.

Would you try this out and report back? Thanks!

Updates from Connie again. This is two weeks later and I am enjoying the Do Chua using the original brine solution thrice without changing the brine. The veggies are still crunchy and taste good. One caveat though, I am not Vietnamese therefore I may not know the subtleties since I have not taste tested the three different batches side by side.

No. I will not reuse the same solution again just because I have my limits too :-))

Bon Appetit!!!

Connie, thanks for the update. You don't have to be Vietnamese to know when the flavor of do chua goes down hill. Your palate will let you know if it's gone flat, turned funky, etc. Greatly appreciate the udpates.

I tried this day before yesterday and it was so easy and delicious. My husband and I ate the whole batch in two days. YUM!

I found the process so simple but so amazing - when I was "kneading" the daikon and carrot after sprinkling with sugar/salt (step 1), I couldn't believe it would drain water like the instructions said, but Lo and Behold! There it was. Amazing process.

Now, I can't wait to try this with other veggies (like purple cabbage....shallots?.....?)

hello andrea,

let me first start by saying that you've taught me so much through this website and book. i can say that you and mr. noodlepie have taught me almost everything i know about vietnamese food.

i will be attempting your bun bo hue recipe tomorrow. my parents are from hue so i will let you know how it turns out.

ive noticed that they have pickled jalapenos at various vietnamese restuarants in the bay area and i was wondering if this recipe would take me there with the peppers?

thanks again for everything. i hope i can cook you up a bowl one day!

If you're from Hue, then you can make a fabulous bowl of Bun Bo Hue. No pickled jalapeno peppers for BBH. The chile garnish is cooked in oil with lemongrass, garlic, etc. That's the classic approach and I like to encourage cooks to try the typical cooking methods before going on to riff on new techniques. Enjoy!

HAD LUNCH WITH A FRIEND TODAY . WE ATE 2 BANH SANDWICHES A PIECE . LOL . WE BOTH HADN'T HAD IT IN A LONG TIME . SO WE HAVE BOTH WENT ON A SEARCH FOR THE INGREDIENTS . THE VEGGIES WERE SO YUMMY !!! I THANK U SO MUCH FOR SHARING . THIS IS THE BEST WEB - SITE OUT OF ALL THE OTHERS I CAME ACROSS. SO NICE TO READ ALL THE COMMENTS . (:

The carrot contains a lot of water (almost 90%) and calories, contributes to the diet only 40% of calories. It is also an effective antioxidant and skin protector. The human body needs about 2 milligrams of vitamin A and the carrot contains between 4 and 10 mg. per 100 grams. This is essential to provide a harmonious development of children's bodies.

I'm sure that this has a very different but wonderful taste. My mother in law is from Vietnam and I try (sometimes) to make her native dishes.. She's an excellent cook but never wants to teach me! It's frustrating!

-Kenzie

Il suffit de dire merci ne sera pas seulement suffisante, pour que la clart exceptionnelle l'intrieur de votre criture. Je pense que j'ai enregistrer votre site pour les mises jour futures. Un grand merci.

Hey there!

Is there a way I can substitute seasoned rice vinegar instead of using the distilled white vinegar? I know that they are different in taste, but I'm not sure if it will ruin the recipe! what should i do?

Elise -- Seasoned rice vinegar is flavored so a better option would be using unseasoned rice vinegar. If you want to use the seasoned vinegar, taste and tweak the brine before adding it to the vegetables.

Hi Just found this blog via Maki's Just Bento blog. Looks great!

To add to the Western canning question: from my understanding, you can't just can anything--it has to have the right acidity level or there is a risk of botulism. And you can't taste botulism! You need special equipment to test acidity levels accurately so I prefer to follow vegetable canning recipes from an approved source rather than make them up. One of the recommendations is to always use vinegar that has at least 5% acidity.

Bernardin's web site does offer a variation of Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon pickles that is safe for home canning.

_page/51.php?pid=450

I've tried it and it is pretty good -- my fellow canners thought it was great on fish tacos. I will definitely try your version and do a taste comparison.

Thanks for the recipe!

(BTW I am not affiliated with Bernardin in any way, I just buy their canning jars.)

Yesterday, I made a quick run to your website, lto grab the brine ingredients I knew would be here - too lazy to pull out your cookbook, in with piles of other CBs. Had a bunch of browser tabs open, hastily scribbled down the ingredients, and pickled my carrot/daikon last night. This morning, couldn't wait to taste it. Didn't taste quite right. Good, but not "right." I shrugged, thinking I needed to reduce the fish sauce a bit.

Had some of pickled veggies with dinner. Just now, came back to site to read the recipe (yeah, what kind of know-it-all doesn't read the recipe *before* trying it?) (um). I wanted to see what kind of tool you used to make skinny strings of carrot and daikon, and whether you sold the tool. Hmm, recipe only says to julienne the veggies. I idly read on, into comments, and someone asked about substituting different vinegar.

Whaaa? What vinegar? My "brine" had lime juice, water, sugar, fish sauce, a little sambal olek (out of chile garlic and it's ingredients) plus a dash of Togarashi pepper. One makes do with what one has in the pantry. The *bite* of my pickle was just right. Puzzled over the vinegar question, I went to top of recipe to look at your ingredient list. ... No lime juice ... no fish sauce.

LOL. Yep. Looks as if I used the nuoc cham ingredients to brine my carrot and daikon. Not that it didn't taste good, but I kept thinking, gee, this doesn't taste quite like what I get at the restaurants.

I am cracking up. What a riot. Now I know how to make nuoc cham -- only my version comes with carrots and daikon in it! That's one mystery solved.

Back to my pending question: really, you julienne the veggies with a knife? I would cut myself to ribbons. I used an Asian *peeling* tool I found, pulling it down the veg, which was not a pretty sight. And it created too-skinny strands. No crispy left, all limp. I see bags of long beautiful carrot strings (how do they do that?) at nearby Viet mom & pop shop, but like you, I'd rather do this myself.

I tell ya, Andrea, making this pickle is not quite the piece of cake it might appear, especially when *someone* doesn't' make sure she has the right recipe, and doesn't think she needs to read directions either. ?

CocoJ: Yep, I julienne my vegetables with a knife so I can get the size I want. I've tried various julienne tools but the clean up is never as easy. Glad you're in the same boat. Do read recipe direction to get the gist of what to do. They you can follow it to a "T" or do it your own way. But was it that bad??

Andrea: Noooo, it wasn't bad -- the recipe was fine. I was making fun of myself for screwing it up by not paying attention. Even tho I grabbed the ingredients list from wrong recipe, if my brain had been in gear for even half a second, I would have realized there was no fish sauce in this marinade, for petes sake! User error.

I think I will try to emulate you and use the knife method next time (pray for my fingers). I was thinking the veggies had be to super thin, but my julienne tool made them too thin, so I can appreciate the need for better control. Also, the tool made a wonky uneven mess of the veggies when getting near center core, making it hard to use all of it.

You are right: reading recipe through is wise (even experienced cooks may learn a new trick). I usually (key word, usually) read recipe and, for the most part, even "try" to make recipe as written on the first making --unless I can't tolerate a given ingredient. Even there, I try to give the unknowns a chance.

Have loved your blog for long time -- thanks for all your sharing!

3a8082e126