In Vietnamese dishes, herbs are usually not simmered or cooked with other aromatics as they are in Western and even other Asian cuisines. Instead, dishes are cooked then topped off with fresh cilantro leaves, mint leaves or minced lemongrass.
Vegetables play a crucial role. No meal is complete without a platter of cucumbers, peppers, bean sprouts, bok choy and other greens. In general, Vietnamese cuisine is vegetable-heavy, which is why it's a great choice for healthy lifestyles. In 90 percent of Western dishes, the aromatic base is a chopped onion and maybe some minced garlic. In Vietnamese dishes, the base is most often a combination of lime juice, garlic, banging-hot chiles and grated palm sugar, a coarse sugar that's like our brown sugar. Vietnamese food is thus a combo of sweet and spicy. Fresh herbs, lots of vegetables and seafood, and cooking techniques of using water or broth instead of oils, these create some standout qualities of Vietnamese food.
One of the healthiest and most delicious Vietnamese dishes is Pho (pronounced "fuh"), an aromatic & broth-based noodle soup full of antioxidant-packed spices. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meats. It is one of the popular street food in Vietnam and the specialty of many restaurants around the world. Pho is served in a bowl with a specific cut of white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with slim cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket...).