Meet Shu Han, food blogger extraordinaire (so extraordinaire she has been named one of Britain’s best by The Sunday Times). She says greed and hunger can drive people to do crazy things, like recipe test something 8 times until getting it right. We are so glad there are crazies like this around to bring us fresh and workable culinary ideas that sustain and surprise.
From today, Shu Han will share a recipe a week with The Honeycombers readers. Go forth and savour!
Sniffing herbs and nibbling on microgreens at NONG’s little garden space, I couldn’t help but think back to my whirlwind trip to Hanoi a couple of weeks ago. It is hard to find a country as much into their fresh herbs as Vietnam. Many times during the day, I found myself sitting down on a stumpy stool, slurping steaming hot pho from a bowl and helping myself to giant communal baskets of Vietnamese mint, basil and sawtooth coriander. Or digging into bun cha– freshly grilled pork patties, green papaya and thin round rice noodles, served with a sweet salty dipping sauce and all-you-can-eat herbs.
Now convinced I had to do a bun cha of sorts for my first column here, I set out to do a simple, fuss-free version, tossing the ingredients together with the addictive sauce to make a noodle salad. I had some leftover roast pork so that went in; the slices of fatty pork give a naughty crispy juicy contrast to the otherwise annoyingly virtuous salad. Mizuna, fresh from the garden, added a light peppery twist to the dish, while the cooling mint took the bird’s eye chillies I (much too gleefully) added down a notch. This is not at all a strict, authentic recipe so feel free to change this up with whatever fresh crunchy vegetables or herbs take your fancy.
Shu’s Slightly Naughty Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
100g dried rice vermicelli (the Vietnamese version is slightly thicker than beehoon but thinner than laksa noodles)
50g roast pork belly*
½ medium cucumber
½ small carrot
1 small handful of mizuna
1 small handful of fresh mint
Dressing
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp water
2-3 red Thai bird’s eye chillies (chilli padi), chopped
*If you want to be completely virtuous, or can’t eat pork, you can easily replace this with a few king prawns, grilled till just cooked and lightly charred.
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, and add the rice vermicelli. Cook according to the packet directions, but do also nibble on a strand to make sure it’s cooked just right. Once cooked, drain well, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process., and let sit in cold water until ready to use.
- Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the dressing, stirring vigorously till the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
- Slice the cucumber and carrots into thin batons, and the roast pork belly into bite-sized chunks.
- Drain the noodles, and toss well with the vegetables, roast pork, and dressing. Finish by scattering the fresh mizuna and mint over, do one final toss to combine, and serve.
Til next week,
XX Shu Han
Join Shu Han Lee for her fermentation workshop at NONG this weekend, or catch her cooking up a storm at www.mummyicancook.com
(Oh and thanks to naiise for the gorgeous plate!)