Hủ tiếu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Hủ tiếu

Course	Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Place of origin	South Vietnam
Region or state	Southeast Asia
Associated national cuisine	Vietnamese and Thai
Created by	Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian cuisine
Main ingredients	Rice hủ tiếu, cattle meat, poultry, seafood, broth
Food energy (per serving)	400 kcal (1675 kJ)
Similar dishes	Kuyteav, Kyay oh, Shahe fen

Hủ tiếu or Hủ tíu is a dish eaten in Vietnam as breakfast. It may be served either as a soup (hủ tiếu nước) or dry with no broth (hủ tiếu khô).

Hủ tiếu became popular in the 1960s in Southern Vietnam, especially in Saigon. The primary ingredients of this dish are pork bones, mixed with diverse kinds of noodles, herbs and other kind of meats.

In southern Vietnamese cuisine, phở is usually served with hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho–like noodles called bánh phở tươi instead of the wider bánh phở khô or bánh phở tươi popular in northern cuisine.

Hủ tiếu was featured in Master Chef US 2013, where Gordon Ramsay mentioned it being on the top of his list and tasked the contestants to prepare a bowl of hu tieu. The noodle dish also appeared on the TV show "Gordon's Great Escape" in 2010-2011, where Ramsay tried the noodle dish in Cai Rang floating market, Can Tho.

Origin

Hủ tiếu originated from the Teochew people who migrated to Vietnam from northeastern of Guangdong province, China. For the first version of Hủ tiếu, kuay teow, the rice noodles had a softer texture and flat appearance like Phở. Southern Vietnamese then recreated the noodles and produced a chewy texture for the rice noodle, the commonly seen texture for Hủ tiếu noodles nowadays.

The word hủ tiếu came from the Teochew dialect ("粿條" guê²diou⁵).

Ingredients

Hủ tiếu mainly consists of pork bone broth, noodles, and various types of toppings, including meat and other garnishes.

Hu Tieu The Noodles

There are different types of noodles for Hu Tieu, such as soft rice noodles, egg noodles, or chewy tapioca noodles. The tapioca noodles are chewier and more translucent and are used in Hu Tieu My Tho, and they're called Hủ tiếu dai (chewy Hu Tieu).

Broth

The broth is often made of pork bones, dried squid and dried shrimp. For Hu tieu made in Southern Vietnam, the broth is made to be a little sweet to match with Southern Vietnamese's taste. Hu Tieu can be eaten dry (no broth), or wet (with broth), or the noodle dish can be served dry with a bowl of hot broth on the side.

Toppings

There are various types of toppings, such as sautéed ground pork, sliced pork liver, pork intestines, poached shrimps, Chinese celery and chives, sautéed garlic and shallots. Not all of these ingredients need to be present and one can switch or add toppings depending on their taste, making different Hu Tieu dishes such as Hu Tieu My Tho which includes seafood.

Variations

Popular varieties of hủ tiếu include:

• Hủ tiếu Nam Vang ("Hu tieu Phnom Penh") – comes from Cambodian kuyteav
• Hủ tiếu sa tế ("Shacha hu tieu") – based on a Teochew dish
• Hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho  – served on prawns, octopus, cuttlefish, and snails on thin, white rice noodles
• Hủ tiếu Sa Đéc  – served on white rice noodles

Hủ tiếu gõ (gõ means knocking) is a street food version of hủ tiếu. It has this name because the vendors often travel around local areas on pushcart vehicles (xe đẩy) and announce themselves by knocking two metal bars together.

• 

  Hủ tiếu Nam Vang

• 

  Hủ tiếu khô Nam Vang

• 

  Hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho