A tasty recipe for Bun Cha – grilled Vietnamese meatballs served with a vietnamese attic salad with fresh herbs and citrus dim sauce ( nuoc cham ). A healthy and delightful serve, perfect for lunch or dinner .
Bun Cha
My latest contribution to Discovery, the in-flight magazine for Cathay Pacific, is presently out now on all Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flights. This calendar month ’ south epicure feature is the classic vietnamese dish called Bun Cha, consisting of grill pork barrel meatballs served with an abundance of fresh herbs on a bed of vermicelli noodles .
A vietnamese dip sauce, called nouc cham, is essential to this dish to dress the noodles and to add a salty and sour component – a relish combination which is necessity to many vietnamese dishes .
It is a vietnamese noodle salad which is bluff, fresh and entire of season .
Bun Cha Recipe
Bun cha is a popular street food smasher in Vietnam and it is easy to recognise the stands selling this dish by the mouthwatering smack of flame-grilled kernel .
Street food vendors and restaurants will typically serve Bun Cha with a few fried spring rolls ( egg rolls ) for some extra texture ( a version of Bun Cha Gio ) .
This Bun Cha recipe is something which I love to make during the warmly summer months when the weather is more suit to a light and refresh salad. however, I much find myself making this even during the bleakest of winter when the bold discolor and spirit of this dish are enough to warm the soul .
It besides happens to be a cup of tea which both my husband and son love to eat. In fact, my son happily eats these vietnamese pork barrel meatballs with homely steamed rice and fresh carrot sticks .
Vietnamese Noodle Salad
I besides have affectionate memories eating Bun Cha smasher as a child, something which my mother much made on the weekends and whenever we had friends over for a meal. Sometimes she would use pork barrel, at other times she would use beef .
Although she never added fresh herb to her vietnamese pork meatballs, they were constantly fragrant with sesame oil and lemongrass. But as is the case for many traditional recipes, thus many variations exist .
Vietnamese Noodles
I love this Bun Cha recipe, and making vietnamese noodles in general, because it uses ingredients which I always have in the electric refrigerator and pantry, although a particular trip to the asian grocer is sometimes necessary for herbs such as perilla, coriander ( coriander ) and mint.
In summer, though, I plant these herbs on our balcony so that I can make vietnamese noodle salads like this one without besides much campaign .
But I always have a commodity provision of dry vermicelli noodles on hand so that I can always make vietnamese noodles or a vietnamese noodle salad at short notice .
{From left to right: Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, coriander (cilantro) and perilla (shiso)}
How to Eat Bun Cha
Like many vietnamese dishes, Bun Cha is one of those dishes where each person can customise the flavours to their like .
At home, I set out everything individually on the dining table as follows :
* The salad and herb should be washed and spin dry, and placed in a colander or big salad bowl .
* I cook the vermicelli noodles ahead of time ( about 1 hour ) so that it has had time to dry before eating. It will start to stick after some time, but you can separate them again with some tongs or chopsticks. Avoid placing the noodles in the electric refrigerator as this will harden the noodles .
* The Vietnamese meatballs should be grilled at the last minute so that they can be served hot. I place all of the cook meatballs onto a large phonograph record for people to help themselves .
* I place a big bowling ball of the Vietnamese dipping sauce ( nuoc cham ) on the mesa with a small ladle so that people can help themselves when pouring some sauce over their noodles .
* I besides place little bowl for the vietnamese dip sauce as some people ( including myself ) like to dip the meatballs into the sauce for supernumerary relish .
* I besides serve finely chop chillies or some pickled Chillies for those who want their food blue. This can be added directly to the noodles and/or the dip sauce .
* To assemble, place some salad leaves on the bed of the plate, top with a handful of noodles, add some vietnamese meatballs, trim with herb, and drizzle over some vietnamese dip sauce ( nuoc cham ). Use your chopsticks to bring everything together .
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Bun Cha – Vietnamese Meatballs with Vietnamese Noodle Salad
★★★★★
4.8 from 6 reviews
Gluten Free Dairy Free
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 4
- Category: dinner
- Method: grill
- Cuisine: vietnamese
A tasty recipe for Bun Cha – grilled Vietnamese meatballs served with a vietnamese attic salad with fresh herbs and citrus dip sauce ( nuoc cham ). A healthy and delectable dish, perfective for lunch or dinner .
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Ingredients
For the pork meatballs
- 500 g ( 1
Read more: Nom Wah Philadelphia
lb) minced pork
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1 tablespoon runny honey
- 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 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 gravitational constant ( 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 in the fridge to let the flavours develop and to allow the mixture to firm.
- Form the pork mixture into small meatballs about the size of a golf ball, and then flatten them slightly.
- Heat a large frying pan with some vegetable oil and cook the meatballs 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 get a good balance of sweet, sour and salty.
To serve
- Place some salad and vegetables on the bottom of each bowl or plate.
- Place 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 the noodles and meatballs, and use chopsticks to mix everything together.
- Provide each person with a bowl of dipping sauce to drizzle over the noodles and also to dip the meatballs into.
Kitchen Notes
COOKING FOR CHILDREN
If you are feeding young children, I tend to omit the chillies from the sauce and either serve chopped chillies or If you are feeding youthful children, I tend to omit the chillies from the sauce and either serve chopped chillies or pickled chillies on the side. 
STORAGE TIPS
The Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham) keeps well in the fridge in a sealed jar for several weeks. I often double or triple the recipe so that I always have a bottle handy in the fridge.
The vietnamese dim sauce ( nuoc cham ) keeps well in the electric refrigerator in a varnish jar for several weeks. I often double or triple the recipe so that I always have a bottle handy in the electric refrigerator. 
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 486
- Sugar: 4.8g
- Sodium: 816.7mg
- Fat: 9.2g
- Carbohydrates: 52.3g
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 48.5g
Read more: Chicken and Dumplings Soup
- Cholesterol: 133.3mg
#eatlittlebird
Update
{ From left to right : vietnamese mint, Thai basil, coriander ( coriander ) and perilla ( shiso ) } This recipe was first published on 9 April 2016. It has been updated with new photos and more comprehensive examination recipe notes .
