Vietnamese at The Frog


Sunday seems to be the day that I get to play in the kitchen! Last weekend it was Sushi Stacks and this weekend we took a culinary trip to Vietnam with Bun Cha (Vietnamese Pork Meatballs) and Lemongrass Beef Summer Rolls with a Hoisin Peanut Sauce. The Bun Cha are small pork meatballs that remind me of Bahn Mi.

Bun Cha (inspired by eatlittlebird.com )

Ingredients

For the Bun Cha -

1 lb ground pork
1 T raw sugar
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t fish sauce
1/2 t ground black pepper
2 - 3 spring onions (green parts - save the whites for the beef), finely chopped
1 - 2 springs cilantro, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced

For the dipping sauce (Nuoc Cham)

2 T raw sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 t fish sauce
4 to 6 tablespoons water (to taste)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t chili garlic sauce

For the noodles and salad (these ingredients will also be used in the summer rolls)

11 oz dried vermicelli noodles, cooked according to packet instructions and left to cool
leaf lettuce, mixed greens or arugula (rocket)
1 - 2 large carrots, spiralized
2 cucumbers, spiralized
8 radishes, spiralized
2 to 3 green onions, cut on the bias
mint
cilantro
thai basil

Instructions

- to make the meatballs, mix together the ground pork, sugar, salt, fish sauce, black pepper, green onions, cilantro and garlic. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes to allow the flavours to develop and the mixture to firm up.
- make the dipping sauce by dissolving the sugar in the lemon juice then adding the fish sauce, garlic and chili garlic sauce. Slowly add the water until you get a good balance of sweet, sour and salty.
- form the meatball mixture into small meatballs (a little smaller than a golf ball).
- heat a large frying pan over medium high heat with some coconut oil and cook the meatballs till they are golden and caramelized.

Lemongrass Beef Summer Rolls

Ingredients

For the Beef

1/2 lb beef steak (I used bottom round), sliced thinly across the grain and then cut into long strips
2 cloves garlic
1 lemongrass stalk (just the white inner part)
4 green onions (the white parts from earlier)
1/2 t fish sauce
1 t sesame oil
1 T soy
1 T raw sugar
1 t ginger
s&p

For the Hoisin Peanut Sauce

1 c peanut butter
1/2 c hoisin
1 1/2 T rice vinegar
2 t garlic chili sauce
1/2 cup milk

For the Summer Rolls

All the ingredients from the noodles and salad above, except the lettuce part
1 package of rice paper wrappers

Instructions

- to make the beef, place all the ingredients, except the beef into a blender or small food processor. Blend with just enough water to get the ingredients blended together.
- add the marinade to the beef and toss to coat all of the beef. Let rest for 30 to 60 minutes in the fridge to allow the flavours to penetrate the beef.
- heat a large frying pan over medium high heat with some coconut oil and sautee the beef.
- remove from heat and place the beef back in the fridge to cool.

- to make the peanut sauce, whisk together the peanut butter, hoisin, rice vinegar and garlic chili sauce.
- slowly incorporate the milk a few tablespoons at a time, until it resembles a thick sauce instead of a butter.

- to make the summer rolls, place a damp kitchen towel on a jelly roll pan. Place a rice paper wrapper on one half of the towel and fold the other half of the towel over it. Sprinkle the towel with warm water and let the wrapper soften for 1 minute. The wrapper will be transparent when it is ready to wrap. Move the wrapper to a parchment paper covered board and place a new wrapper in the towel.
- about 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the wrapper, place a few pieces of beef, then some carrots, radish, cucumber, green onions, herbs. Top with some rice noodles. Take the bottom 1/3 of the wrapper and wrap it over the noodle stack, fold over the two sides and then roll it to the top.
- place the rolls on parchment and cover with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Be careful to not let them touch or they will stick together.

Serving

- place a nest of rice noodles and some salad ingredients on the plate. Top the rice noodles with warm meatballs. Drizzle the salad, meatballs and noodles with Nuoc Cham dipping sauce. Add a summer roll to the plate and serve with the hoisin peanut sauce.


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