It is not only used in cooking but takes the place of salt at the table. When this sauce is mixed with lime juice, chilies, sugar, garlic, and vinegar, it becomes Nuoc Cham. This zesty sauce can be used as a dipping sauce for cha gio, Vietnamese spring rolls made of pork, shrimp, and rice paper, to top a dish of warm rice noodles with peanuts and cilantro, as a dressing for a salad of ginger beef, eggplant, and romaine lettuce, or as a flavor lift to a simple soup of spinach and shrimp. But, for the simplest meal possible, it turns a bowl of steamed sweet rice into heaven. Another attribute of Vietnamese cuisine is the way complementary ingredients are combined to form unique and contrasting flavors and textures, all within the same dish.
Many dishes combine cooked foods with fresh greens.
This is the case with a dish called Bun Bo, which unites crunchy roasted peanuts, soft cooked rice noodles, spicy grilled beef, crisp and cool shredded lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, and fresh mint and cilantro. The dishes of Vietnam are prepared with very little fat, even those which are stir-fried. This results in a method of cooking which is very tuned in to contemporary trends in low fat but flavorful healthy food. They mix Xoi, sticky rice, with sugar, shredded coconut, ground peanuts, and cooked beans. Sweetened cooked beans seem to be a common item in desserts and in cooling summer drinks.