RECIPES | This Vietnamese Bún chả recipe is based on a dish we tried while travelling a few years ago. It has a beautiful balance of fresh herbs, lots of noodles and smoky pork. Traditionally this is served without the lettuce however I like the extra freshness and crunch it provides the dish .
Preparation Time: 40 minutes / Cooking Time: 5-6 minutes/ Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1kg pork mince
- 70ml fish sauce
- 20ml dark soy
- 2 garlic, diced
- 1 head of lettuce
- 3 spring onion stalks, finely sliced
- 20g perilla, remoed from the stalks
- 50 bean sprouts
- 10g coriander leaves
- 10g mint leaves
- 200g rice vermicelli noodles, cooked
Dressing
- 30ml fish sauce
- 30ml plum vinegar
- 15g brown sugar
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finelly diced
- 15ml lime juice
Method
- In a bowl add the pork mince, fish sauce, garlic, half of the spring onions and dark soy. Mix well.
- Once all the ingredients are evenly incorporated, cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- While the mince are in the fridge, heat your charcoal.
- Remove the mince from the fridge and divide into 16-18 even patties.
- Grill the patties over the charcoal for 3-4 minutes on each side.
- In a bowl mix together the dressing ingredients; fish sauce, plum vinegar, brown sugar, red chili, garlic clove and lime juice.
- To put everything together; place a lettuce leaf on a plate, top with a small amount of vermicelli, a pork pattie, bean sprouts, perilla, mint, spring onion, coriander and a teaspoon of dressing. Repeat until all the patties are used.
Notes
This dish tastes even better the day after and the dressing has more time to soak into the noodles and meat