As most of you will know my partner and I spent 5 weeks in Vietnam recently. I was so impressed by the food and fell in love with so many of the dishes.

One of those dishes is Bún Thịt Nướng – Vietnamese grilled pork with vermicelli and spring rolls. This is served with some pickled veggies and is SO good.

This recipe looks daunting and complicated but I promise it’s pretty simple and really delicious.

Serves 4

Ingredients 

Meat

• 500g pork (thinly sliced schnitzel)
• 1 tbsp crushed garlic
• 1/8 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp finely chopped lemongrass
• 1 tbsp kecap manis (a thick soy sauce – you can use soy sauce instead)
• dash of white pepper

Pickled veges

• 1 carrot
• 1/2 cucumber
• 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 4tbsp sugar

Sauce

• 200ml fish sauce
• 200ml water
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp chopped chilli
• 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar

Spring rolls

Recipe for my Vietnamese spring rolls can be found here.

Other ingredients 

• 250g vermicelli
• cos lettuce
• coriander and mint
• crushed peanuts

Method

1. Marinate your meat in all of the ingredients under the meat section for at least an hour or overnight if you have more time.
2. Julienne the carrot and cucumber or cut into thin matchsticks.
3. Mix the rice wine vinegar with the sugar and pour over the veges. Leave to sit for half an hour to pickle.
4. Cook your vermicelli by placing in a bowl with boiling water. Leave to sit for 15 minutes or until cooked.
5. Prepare the spring rolls. If you’re after a super quick meal you could omit the spring rolls but I highly recommend cooking them, they’re delish!
6. Combine all of the sauce ingredients and leave to sit for half an hour.
7. Cook your pork until slightly caramelised.
8. Serve with the vermicelli on the bottom, then the pork and pickled veggies, cos lettuce  and then garnish with the herbs and crushed peanuts.
9. Pour over the sauce and then eat!