Banh mi

The bread in Vietnam is absolutely delicious. French colonialism brought the baguette to the region, and the locals improved upon it to make it their own, adding some rice flour to the wheat, adjusting the recipe to the local climate.

We ate banh mi for breakfast on many of our Saigon mornings, often with op la! (exclamation mark all mine), a name that makes me happy just to hear it. It means fried egg, and is another legacy from the French 'au plat'.

Our amazing host also taught us the secret Vietnamese way to toast banh mi, when it needs a bit of a lift or just when you want it to be extra crisp. Most Viet homes don't have ovens, since grilling and frying are much more pleasant and practical in the heat and humidity. And even if you had a toaster, you can't really fit a baguette into one, especially the fat round Viet variety.

So instead you toast it on the stovetop - in a pot. Sounds crazy, but it made the most delicious crisp crust with a soft, warm inside, as if it had just come out of the oven.

To make it, you put a large pot over medium-high heat, then put the baguette in on a plate, then put on a tight-fitting lid. You're basically steaming it without water. Apparently leaving it there for 10-15 minutes gives the best results, but even 5 minutes made it really tasty. We are anxious to get home and experiment to see what this method does to other kinds of bread!