A hill station with the atmosphere of a post-Armageddon Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Tam Dao is one big vegetable garden. Hanoians come here to escape the breathless heat of mid-summer, sample the local cuisine of exotic and endangered forest animals and get their fill of a leafy vine that, if they stood still for long enough, would slowly entwine and strangle them.
All townsfolk appear to derive some income from this green creeper with even the kids picking at its leaves and stripping it of its tough tendrils. Sold by the kilo in bunches, it is either steamed or stir-fried with garlic and soy sauce. In Vietnamese, it is known as su su.
Does anyone have any idea what it might be called in English?
Is that water spinach? Used to make Rau Muong? If it is it is soooo good with loads of garlic!
Posted by: drifter | 28 July 2006 at 07:51 PM
Oddly enough, I also blogged on this same veggie today at RealThai: http://realthai.blogspot.com/2006/07/kan-eng.html. You can find the answer to you question there!
Posted by: Austin | 28 July 2006 at 09:15 PM
It's the tips and leaves of snow pea plants. Delicious, sautéd with garlic.
Posted by: Buddhist with an attitude | 29 July 2006 at 02:38 AM
That seems like an interesting vegetable, and even though I don't know what it is it still sounds tasty when sauteed with enough garlic and soy sauce! Thanks for the pictures!
Posted by: risingsunofnihon | 29 July 2006 at 11:41 PM
Su su is chayote in English, it's a kind of squash. I love it. You find the flesh of it sliced up in with the fish sauce in bun cha. The vines as you know are sautteed very simply and are fabulous. This is a real northern thing. Tam dao is also big on pickled lotus roots and chillies (from memory) and a shot of ruou mat ong is certain to add a bit of kick to the ride back down the hill :)
Posted by: Graham | 31 July 2006 at 06:00 PM
I believe that dish of greens is pumpkin stems. I lived in Hanoi for several years and watched the women in my neighbourhood spend hours peeling the stocks of the strings. It is one of my favourite dishes, well worth the time!
Posted by: Annie Graham | 01 August 2006 at 12:57 AM
I believe that dish of greens is pumpkin stems. I lived in Hanoi for several years and watched the women in my neighbourhood spend hours peeling the strings from the stocks. It is one of my favourite dishes, well worth the time!
Posted by: Annie Graham | 01 August 2006 at 12:59 AM
Good work folks. Like pumpkin stems but not, and quite different to water spinach. Having said that, pumpkins were rampant up there too, and the flowers were on the menus, just picked fresh from the vines.
Graham, the squash part of the susu was being served up steamed with a dukkah-ish mix of sesame, peanuts and salt (which sometimes accompanies sticky rice in Hanoi) - bloody great stuff.
Apologies for lack of posts - if only one didn't have to work for a living!
Posted by: Sticky | 01 August 2006 at 10:52 PM
Hi there, if i'm not wrong, that's the sweet potato plant :) coming from asia myself (singapore) I have some growing in my backyard.
hope this helped.
Posted by: Christina | 05 September 2006 at 03:26 PM
That is merliton or chayote squash vine. I've been to Sapa and tried the dish (on the picture) and ended up eating it every day I was there.
Posted by: Nga | 02 July 2007 at 11:53 PM
Popular (seasonally) in Malaysia and N Thailand and Sichuan as well. A fave!
Posted by: Robyn | 23 June 2010 at 02:22 PM