morsels45

morsels45 said

Bun cha

Grilled pork patties in a bowl of dipping broth, with cold noodles and a fistful of herbs.

Bun cha
Photo: stuart_spivack, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. A photo of the dish, not of these exact recipes.

That was somebody else’s answer. Yours takes about twenty seconds: a handful of either-ors, then one dish.

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How to make bun cha

2 genuinely different takes — a classic, and a faster or lighter route. The same ones the app hands you once you have decided.

Grilled patties in broth

50 minutes · serves 4 · Medium

What you need

  • 500g pork mince, some fat in it
  • 3 shallots
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 400g rice vermicelli
  • 150ml fish sauce and 150g sugar and 2 limes for the broth
  • 1 carrot and 1 kohlrabi, pickled
  • Lettuce, mint, perilla, coriander

What you do

  1. 1Mix the mince with minced shallot, garlic, fish sauce, sugar and pepper. Rest 30 minutes, then shape into small flat patties.
  2. 2Grill over coals or under a fierce grill until charred at the edges — the char is most of the flavour.
  3. 3Dipping broth: dissolve the sugar in 600ml warm water, add fish sauce and lime until it tastes sweet first, then sour, then salty. It should be drinkable.
  4. 4Drop the hot patties straight into the warm broth with the pickles.
  5. 5Noodles and a mountain of herbs alongside. You dunk the noodles in the bowl, you do not pour the bowl over them.

Pan-grilled, faster

30 minutes · serves 2 · Easy

What you need

  • 300g pork mince
  • Shallot, garlic, fish sauce, sugar
  • Rice noodles
  • Lime, fish sauce, sugar for the broth
  • Herbs

What you do

  1. 1Shape and fry the patties hard in a dry pan until well charred.
  2. 2Make the broth in a bowl, drop the patties in.
  3. 3Noodles and herbs on the side.