BUN CHA – VIETNAMESE MEATBALLS WITH VIETNAMESE NOODLE SALAD

Delicious recipes for grilled Vietnamese meatballs meatballs - Cha served with Vietnamese noodle salad with fresh herbs and orange dipping sauce (nuoc cham). Healthy and delicious dishes, perfect for lunch or dinner.

Vietnamese pork meatballs on a plate with noodles, fresh salads, and chopsticks
BUN CHA
My most recent contribution to Discovery, the in-flight magazine for Cathay Pacific, is currently not available on all Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flights. This month's foodie feature is a classic Vietnamese dish called Bun Cha, consisting of grilled pork meatballs served with lots of fresh herbs on vermicelli noodles.

Vietnamese sauce, called cham nouc, is very important for this dish to decorate noodles and to add salty and sour elements - a combination of flavors that are very important for many Vietnamese dishes.

This is a brave, fresh and flavorful Vietnamese noodle salad.

INGREDIENTS

For the pork meatballs

• 500 g (1 lb) minced pork
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 1 runny honey tablespoon
• 2–3 thin spring onions, finely sliced
• 1-2 sprigs coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

For the Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham)

• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4-6 tablespoons water (to taste)
• 1 garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped (optional)

For the noodle salad

• 300 g (11 oz) dried vermicelli noodles, cooked according to packet instructions and left to cool
• iceberg lettuce or other salad leaves, roughly torn
• 1-2 small carrots, finely shredded
• cucumber, sliced ​​into thin batons
• bean sprouts (optional)
• mint
• coriander (cilantro)
• Thai basil
• perilla leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

For the pork meatballs

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the minced pork, fish sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, honey, spring onions, coriander (cilantro) and garlic.

Set the mixture aside for 30-60 minutes to let the flavors develop and to allow the mixture to firm.
Form the pork mixture into small meat balls about the size of a golf ball, and then flatten them slightly.

Heat a large frying pan with some vegetable oil and cook meat until they are golden and caramelised.
For the Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham)

In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice.

Add the fish sauce, water, garlic and chilli (if using), and mix until well-combined.

Set the sauce aside for about 10-15 minutes before tasting.

You may need to add a bit more lemon juice, fish sauce, or even water, to a good balance of sweet, sour and salty.

To serve

Place some salad and vegetables on the bottom of each bowl or plate.
A good handful of noodles on top of the salad.
Top with however many meatballs you like.
Garnish with some herbs, roughly torn.
Generously drizzle some Vietnamese, dipping sauce over noodles and meatballs, and using chopsticks to mix everything together.
Give each person a bowl of dipping sauce to the noodles and also to dip the meat balls into.

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