Bun cha

It's no secret around these parts, but I'm a huge fan of regional Asian cuisine. Thai may be my favorite, but Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese all have their unique flavor profiles that I absolutely adore.

We have access to insanely delicious and affordable Vietnamese food just steps away from our front door, so in all honesty, I don't have much of a desire to attempt certain labor-intensive dishes, like pho. But simpler, flavor-packed recipes are right up my alley. Like this incredible lemongrass-marinated pork bahn mi I made a while back.

Another dish that is completely approachable at home is bún chả. It's a relatively simple dish of noodles, lots of fresh veggies and herbs, a fish-sauce based nước chấm, and some kind of meat, often grilled pork.

This recipe uses ground pork shaped into small patties, which you grill up and then dip in the nuoc cham for an extra layer of flavor. Then everyone assembles their bowl and adds as much or as little of the nuoc cham sauce as they want.

For today's meal I used cucumbers, carrot, zoodles (zucchini noodles), lettuce (not pictured), cilantro, and mint.

It's a perfect mix-and-match meal for a crowd! 

Buen Provecho,

Jacqueline

Bun cha, adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients

To serve (noodles and salad)
8 oz rice vermicelli
Lettuce (eg, romaine, Boston, bibb)
Herbs (eg, mint, cilantro, Thai basil)
Veggies (eg, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini)
Hot sauce, optional (eg, sambal oelek, Sriracha)

Sauce (nuoc cham)

1 small Thai chile, stemmed and minced

2 to 3 TBSP sugar, divided

1 garlic clove, minced

½ cup hot water

5 TBSP fish sauce

¼ cup lime juice (~2 limes)

Pork patties
1 large shallot, minced fine

1 TBSP fish sauce (can add 1-2 more TBSP if desired)

1 ½ tsp sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp pepper

1 pound ground pork

Directions

1. For the noodles: Prepare according to package directions. Once cooked, drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain well, spread on a large platter, and let sit at room temperature to dry.


2. For the salad: Arrange all ingredients on a large platter. Refrigerate until needed.


3. For the sauce: Mash the Thai chili, 1 TBSP sugar, and garlic to a fine paste. (You can either use your chef's knife or a mortar and pestle to mash these together.) Transfer the paste to a medium bowl and whisk in the hot water and remaining sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add fish sauce and lime juice. Set aside... we'll dunk the pork in this mixture later. :)


4. For the pork: In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients. Add pork and mix until well combined. (You can refrigerate the mix for 1 to 2 hours, or use straight away.) Shape pork into 12 patties, each about 2 ½ inches wide and ½ inch thick.


5. Grill the pork: Preheat your grill until hot (~15 minutes for a gas grill). Cook patties until well charred, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. (If using a charcoal grill, cook directly over the coals. If using a gas grill, cook over direct heat and close the lid while cooking.)


6. Transfer the grilled patties to the bowl with the sauce, toss gently to coat, and allow them to sit in the sauce for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate.


7. Prepare your bowls: Bring out the platters of noodles, veggies/herbs, and pork patties along with the bowl of sauce and allow guests to serve themselves. I like to put lettuce on the bottom, top with noodles, then place veggies and herbs along the side of the bowl. I top it with 3 pork patties and pour a healthy amount of sauce to the noodles. Make sure to mix it all up so the noodles can absorb the extra sauce, otherwise the noodles can be a bit bland on their own.