Bún chả (Grilled pork & noodles) is a special dish which is popular in Hanoi. The grilled pork is dipped in a light fish sauce with pickled vegetables and served with plenty of fresh vegetables & noodles
In the last post we I made a delicious berry Pavlova. Emanuele took some credit by writing the post and the recipe. I had a crazy working week and I had to reach out for some support.
We wanted to post on Monday but our guests stayed a bit longer. It’s almost the weekend but for us the last one is just over now. We had a great time!! The festival was a lot of fun and our friends from London enjoyed their time here. The theme of the festival was basically LOVE. At the entrance there was a message reading: ‘Boys who love girls who love girls who love boys who love boys’. That summarized it. There were about 8 to 10 different stages, all of them very colourful as well as most of the people there. The outfits were incredible. We did not expect people to make such an effort, so we committed to do the same next year.
As mentioned in a few posts ago when cooking the pancakes, each time we have guests the request is always the same: ‘Hoang, can you cook us some Vietnamese food?’ I start doubting whether they just want to get rid of me, considering I’d be spending most of the time in the kitchen 
Emanuele did what he is best at, entertain the guests by pouring Italian wine in everyone’s glass 
So I fulfilled the guests requests, but this time I made a fresh Bún chả. It goes well during the summer days. It has a few ingredients and the fish sauce is lighter than the one we used in previous dishes
Also, we updated our picture on the ABOUT US section. Hope you all like it.
A big thanks to the greatest photographer of all, our dear friend Diego Fioravanti @ ORBY Photography
Ingredients
- For the grilled pork: Pork shoulder: 800 g (1.8 pound)
- Fish sauce: 2 tsp
- Black sweet soya sauce or caramelised thick sauce: 2 tsp
- Garlic: 6 cloves, minced
- Shallot: 6 small, minced
- Ground pepper: 2 tsp
- Honey: 2 tsp
- Seasoning powder: 2 tsp
- Lemongrass: 10 g (0.35 oz), minced
- For the noodles and vegetables: Dried rice noodles: 150 g (5.29 oz)
- Turnip cabbage (Kohlrabi) or Green papaya or Cucumber: 100 g (3.5 oz)
- Carrot: 100 g (3.5 oz)
- Rice vinegar or lime juice: 100 ml (2/5 cup)
- Sugar: 100 g (3.5 oz)
- Water: 200 ml (4/5 cup)
- (Red) Curly lettuce leaves: 50 g (1.8 oz)
- Bean sprout (optional): 50 g (1.8 oz)
- Peanut: 4 tbsp, grilled
- For the sauce: Fish sauce: 8 tbsp
- Lime juice: 6 tbsp
- Sugar: 8 tbsp
- Hot water: 500 ml (2 cups)
- Fresh chilli (optional): a few, adjust to taste, chopped
Method
- For the grilled pork:: Slice half portion of the pork shoulder (400 g (0.88 pound)) into 4x2x1cm (1.5x0.8x0.4 inch) pieces, marinate with half portion of the prepared ingredients (except lemongrass) and set aside for at least 2 hours in room temperature or overnight in the fridge
- Ground the other half portion with the rest of the ingredients, shape into thin patties and set aside for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge
- For the noodles and vegetables: Cook the dried rice noodles in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, rinse them under cold water and set aside to dry in a sieve
- Chop the carrot and turnip cabbage (or green papaya, or cucumber) in 1 ml slices. Then mix them in a bowl with the sugar, water and lime juice and set aside for at least 2 hours
- For the sauce: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside
- Finishing the dish: BBQ the marinated pork or broil it in a grill pan. Add 1/4 portion of the sauce in a bowl with a bit of carrot and turnip cabbage (or green papaya, or cucumber) slices into the bowl, the add 1/4 portion of the grilled pork into and top with 1/4 portion of grilled peanuts. Repeat the same steps for the rest of the portions. Serve with the preprared noodles and vegetables
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