Bun Cha Bowls
/GF, LF, FF - see below for notes
A few years ago we had a brilliant holiday in Hanoi, Vietnam. Hot weather and BBQs for dinner has had me craving the delicious Bun Cha Bowls we enjoyed, so I set about recreating my own. Bun Cha bowls feature delicious barbecued pork patties flavoured with fish sauce and spring onions. I think what makes them super delicious is the warm dipping sauce they are served with. I've loaded our bowls with tons of salad and just a few noodles to make them a great light summer dinner option.
INGREDIENTS
- 500g pork mince
- 3tsp fish sauce
- 1 egg
- 1 tab ketchup manis or dark soy
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- cracked black pepper
- 5 spring onions
- big bag Asian salad
- spiralised carrot
- cucumber
- mint and coriander, picked
- 200g rice stick noodles, cooked
DIPPING SAUCE
- 2 tab fish sauce
- 2 tab rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 fresh red chilli, finely choppped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- juice of 1/2 lime
METHOD
- In a mixing bowl, combine the pork mince, egg , ketchup manis, ,spring onions, garlic and pepper. Mix well and leave for 2 hours if you have time.
- In the meantime make the dipping sauce - add fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and water to a saucepan. Mix, then bring to the boil. Transfer to a dipping bowl and add chilli, garlic and lime juice (do this right before cooking the patties so that the sauce is warm)
- Place the noodles, herbs and salad ingredients in different bowls
- Form the pork mixture into small balls, (I got 16 out of the mixture) and press down slightly to make the patties
- BBQ the patties for 4 minutes on each side until just cooked through.
- Each guest can make their own bun cha bowl by filling their bowl with salad, noodles, patties and topping with dipping sauce
- Serves 4
GF - check fish sauce, ketchup manis or use tamari, check label of rice stick noodles
FF (FODMAP friendly) - omit garlic, use only green tops of spring onion, use tamari in place of ketchup manis