A Fresh Asian Salad
This title is not metaphorical or oblique, but the name of a recipe a friend sent; she found it in a magazine from the supermarket check-out lane, but I don't remember which one. I was interested in it for the rather simple approach to the "Vietnamese Dipping Sauce", which I perennially enjoy at our local Noodle House, and have been fascinated by ever since I realized that the central ingredient and flavor must be the mysterious fish sauce. I had looked at dipping sauce recipes before and always found them unnecessarily complicated, but I never had the energy to figure out how they might be simplified. However, she also tells me that her family enjoys the salad quite a bit.
Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
3 lg cloves garlic, minced
1 hot red chile, thinly sliced
1 cup water
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugarStir all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Pork Patties (Bun Cha)
8 or 9 ounces rice vermicelli noodles (thin rice sticks)
Kosher salt
1/2 cup very thin carrot strips (julienne)
1/2 cup very thin daikon radish or jicama strips (julienne)
3 t granulated sugar
1 t red wine vinegar
Vietnamese dipping sauce
1 lb ground pork (coarsely ground pork butt)
4 large scallions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 t fish sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
6 large leaves romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup roughly chopped fresh mint
1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantroSoak the rice vermicelli in a large bowl of warm water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring about 2 quarts water and 1 teaspoon kosher salt to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Drain the noodles and add them to the boiling water, stirring with chopsticks to gently separate the strands. When the water returns to a boil, drain the noodles in a colander. Put the noodles on a platter and fluff them with chopsticks. Set aside until cool, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
Put the carrots and daikon or jicama in a colander. Sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of the sugar, the vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and mix well. Let the colander sit in the sink for 10 minutes, and then gently squeeze the vegetables to get rid of the liquid. Add the vegetables to the bowl of dipping sauce.
Put the meat in a bowl. Add the scallions, the remaining 2 teaspoons sugar, the fish sauce, 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and mix gently with your hands. Shape the meat into small patties about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick; you should have ten patties.
Grill the patties over a medium-hot gas or charcoal grill, until they're well browned outside and cooked through but still moist inside, 8 to 10 minutes on a grill; 15 minutes on a grill pan. Add the cooked patties, still warm, to the bowl of sauce and vegetables and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Serve the noodles on the platter, along with the lettuce, mint, and cilantro. Remove the pork patties from the sauce and put them on a different platter. Give everyone a large bowl and let people serve themselves noodles, lettuce, and herbs, then top that with pork patties and a generous drizzle of the dipping sauce and vegetables in it. Toss gently.