We cook a recipe from our book. One of our favourite recipes from the streets of Vietnam. Bun Cha is a pork dish found on the streets of Hanoi.
To find it, you follow your nose.
Meat is prepared on micro BBQ grills. It is a pork dish like no other. On our travels to this beautiful country we discovered many exciting and new flavours, and realised that Vietnam has one of the best food cultures in the world. This recipe is posted on our blog and the full recipe is in our book with many other delicious recipes from 11 different food destinations, across the globe.
Bun Cha
This is the shortened version of the full Bun Cha recipe in our book, this is my lazy go to version for a weeknight meal, but the full recipe is definitely worth a bash. If this recipe was a person, hell they would be my best friend, the flavours are big and punchy, clean, fresh and the herbs aromatic. The Vietnamese seem to understand exactly what is needed to titillate your taste buds with salty, sweet and sour notes. If you are going to make one recipe, make this!
Recipe Serves four Food Lovers
Ingredients
Marinade:
1 Tbsp fish sauce
bunch of spring onions, rinsed and coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp caster sugar
Grilled Pork:
300g deboned pork belly, scored ( I prefer the less fatty cut, speak to your butcher)
maldon salt and freshly ground pepper to season generously
Dipping Sauce:
this is a guide and you can gladly omit the black radish and replace it with regular radish.
200g caster sugar
100ml fish sauce
100ml rice vinegar
100ml freshly squeezed, lime juice
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium size carrot, peeled and julienned ( I cheat, I have a julienne peeler, love it!)
1 small turnip, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandoline
1 small daikon, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandoline
1 small black radish, thinly sliced with a mandoline
To serve:
small head of rinsed butter lettuce leaves
1 small punnet rinsed mint leaves
1 small punnet rinsed basil leaves
1 small punnet rinsed coriander leaves
1 small punnet bean sprouts
a few limes to squeeze over
fresh julienned ginger, lightly fried in vegetable oil, till golden to toss over the dish at the end (this is optional)
1 packet rice noodles, prepared as per packaging, cover and set aside
1 tsp black sesame seeds
Method
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees celsius on grill.
Marinade: Combine the fish sauce, spring onions, garlic and caster sugar and arrange at the bottom of an oven-proof dish.
Grilled Pork: for the best crunchiest, crispiest crackling, I place the scored pork belly uncovered in the fridge overnight. Rub the maldon salt generously over the skin and work between the scored lines, season with pepper. Place the belly that it covers the marinade.
Pop the pork in the oven and roast for 30-45 minutes or until the skin is crispy, puffed up and golden.
Lower the oven down to 100 degrees celsius, add a little water to cover the bottom of the roasting dish, taking care not to wet the crackling, and allow to roast for another 1.5 hours.
In the meantime prepare the dipping sauce.
Dipping sauce: Combine the sugar, fish sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice together and heat just enough so that the sugar can dissolve, taking care not to boil. Pour the dipping sauce into a bowl, add the chilli, garlic, carrot, turnip, daikon and black radish, mix well and set aside in the fridge.
Once the pork is done, I usually place the griller on max, for another 5 minutes with the pork under it, to add a bit more crispiness to the crackling.
Slice the pork into thickish slices and begin plating.
Start with the drained noodles, portion a generous amount into a bowl, top with a couple of lettuce leaves, mint, basil, coriander leaves and bean sprouts.
Add a few chunks of the roasted pork, sprinkle over, the crispy ginger, some sesame seeds a generous squeeze of fresh limes and spoon over lashings of the dipping sauce.
Sit down and be prepare yourself for a taste sensation.
Enjoy!
