Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaves or Bo La Lot is very famous street food in Vietnam. This amazing food is popular in Saigon, it could be found at many street food stalls and restaurants in the city. What is Bo La Lot, how to eat it, why does it win the hearts of most Vietnamese people and foreigners? The soul of Bo La Lot is wild betel leaf which tastes a little hot and adds special flavor to the dish. Wild betel is a popular ingredient to cook many tasty Vietnamese dishes. It’s also used as medicine to reduce pain, fight typhoid fever…
Main ingredients to cook Bo La Lot is beef and wild betel leaves, lean pork and pork fat are optional. The cook should grind the meat (beef, pork, and fat), then use wild betel leaves to wrap ground beef with/without pork, fat into rolls as big as a human finger. Then the cook grill/fry these rolls on charcoal. It has been said that Bo La Lot fried or grilled in electric oven and grill is less delicious than one grilled on charcoal. Fresh wild betel is green and shiny. The cook must grill the roll until wrapper – wild betel leaves turn very dark green, almost black, its smell spreads around, filling is well-done. If he grills the rolls too long, the filling will be not tender but tough.
Vietnamese people can eat Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaves with steamed rice, woven rice noodle sheets, rice noodle… The most favorite way to eat Bo La Lot is wrapping the roll in rice paper with rice noodles, pickles, vegetables, and herbs. The special sauce from “mam nem” fermented fish sauce, pineapple, sugar and chili (optional) is a must. The combination of fresh vegetables and herbs, sweet and sour pickles, tender rice noodles and rich Bo La Lot roll is really perfect.
The best way to cook Bo La Lot rolls is grilling on charcoal
The most popular way to eat Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaves is wrapping it in rice paper
Just put a Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaves roll, some rice noodles, pickles, vegetables, herbs onto rice paper; roll into medium roll; dip into special sauce and tuck in
The brown special sauce to eat with Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaves
Is your mouth watering yet? Let’s join our Saigon Food Tour on a motorbike. It’s a big chance to see the best part of Saigon by night, eat street foods, have fun and enjoy the city like a local.
