Fresh vermicelli salad in a sweet and sour dressing
You will find this salad all around Paris. A French take on the Vietnamese Bun Bo, crunchy vegetables, salty peanuts, caramelised meats and fresh herbs add a ton of textures and flavours to chewy rice vermicelli. A sweet and sour nuoc cham dressing brings add a deep umami flavour to this dish, addictive.
Recipe
Serves: 2 | Time: 30 min
Ingredients
Caramelised pork (10-15 min)
- 100g pork mince (~1/4lb | 3.5oz)
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 lemongrass stalk (optional, you can also use ginger, garlic and/or chili for extra flavour)
Other toppings and salad (15 min)
- 2 nems / Vietnamese spring roll (optional)
- 100g rice vermicelli (~3.5oz)
- 1/2 head butter lettuce
- 1/4 English cucumber, sliced
- 1 carrot, julienned
- Bean sprouts (a handful)
- Fresh mint (a few sprigs, adjust to taste, 10+ leaves per dish to taste)
- Toasted peanuts (a handful)
- Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese fish sauce dip – you can make your own or buy it in store)
Method
Nems (if using)
- Cook nems to packet instructions or make your own (recipe here, account for extra time if making from scratch).
Caramelise the pork
- Brown the pork in a hot pan, breaking down the mince with a spatula. Set aside for later.
- Lower the heat, add water, fish sauce, sugar and lemongrass (smashed with the back of a knife). Simmer to thicken until you obtain a light caramel (about 5min).
- Add mince back to the pan and coat with the caramel. Cook until the juices cook out and the mince starts to caramelise. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Remove from heat and discard lemongrass stalk.
Prepare the rest of the ingredients
- Pour boiling water over vermicelli to rehydrate (about 3 min or until soft). Drain well to remove as much water as possible.
- Julienne carrots, slice cucumbers, chop peanuts, cut nems in 4.
- Wash lettuce leaves.
- If applicable make the nuoc cham.
Assemble*
(*) You can also prep the ingredients and get everyone at the table to assemble their own bowl.
- For one 1 pers. (using half of each ingredient): place lettuce leaves in a bowl, top with vermicelli, caramelised mince, nems, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, mint, peanuts.
- Dress with nuoc cham.
- Enjoy!
Substitutions
I highlight here the core that makes the soul of the dish and suggest possible substitutions to adapt the Bo Bun to your preferences, diet and ingredients available to you.
Core: Vermicelli, Nuoc Cham, Herbs, Veggies – delicious as is and ever so easy to make.
Substitutions: Toppings can be removed or added to taste. Some suggestions below. For an extra simple recipe you can even skip the meat caramelisation.
| Recipe components | Possible substitutions* |
| Caramelised mince | Caramelised or not: • Pork / Chicken / Beef mince • Prawns • Thinly sliced pork or beef • Diced pork belly • Firm tofu • Roasted aubergines (eggplants) |
| Rice vermicelli | • Mung bean vermicelli |
| Fresh mint | • Fresh coriander |
| Fish sauce | • Soy sauce |
Vietnam
The Global Homecook 