Vietnamese Meatball Wet Noodles (Bún Chả)

This energising street dish from Vietnam combines grilled meatballs with a light and sprightly sweet and sour broth.

This wonderful street dish is a very easy find in Vietnam’s bustling urban centres. ‘Bún’ refers to rice noodles, often the thin rice vermicelli kind, and the ‘chả‘ refers to some version of grilled meat. Often this manifests in the form of minced pork patties or thinly sliced pork belly, both of which are grilled over charcoal, and you will often see both forms served together in this dish. This recipe makes it all possible at home without theatre of a flame grill and using a simple minced pork mixture, though feel free to substitute the pork with minced chicken or turkey. Recipes for bún chả vary a lot between the north and south of Vietnam, but either way you often get a selection of additions at the table to add to your broth: fresh mint and/or coriander, lettuce, sriracha sauce and a few lime wedges for extra zing. This is a fabulous weeknight dish as it’s remarkably quick to make. If you play your cards right you could be eating this in under twenty minutes! Let’s go!

INGREDIENTS (serves 4x)

MEATBALLS

• 500g minced pork or chicken

• 1 shallot, diced

• 2x cloves garlic, grated

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (Thai fish sauce can suffice)

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

SWEET AND SOUR BROTH

• 5 tablespoons sugar

• 1 litre water

• 2x cloves garlic, sliced

• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes

• 3-4 tablespoons fish sauce (Thai fish sauce can suffice) - or to taste

• 3 tablespoons white vinegar (or rice vinegar)

• 1 tablespoon lime juice

To serve: 100g rice noodles, butterhead lettuce, lime wedges, sriracha sauce, fresh mint/coriander.

WALKTHROUGH

1. First, prepare your rice noodles. Place your 100g rice noodles (sticks or vermicelli) into a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Coax the noodles under the hot water and leave there until softened, usually a few minutes. Drain the noodles and rinse them well. Keep them submerged in cold water under serving.

2. Now let’s make the meatball mixture. Into a mixing bowl, combine the 500g minced pork/chicken, diced shallot, 2 sliced cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar (yes that is correct!), 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Mix the ingredients well to form a sticky meatball mixture. Set this aside.

   

3. Let’s cook the meat patties. Place a frying pan onto medium-high heat. Allow it to heat for 2-3 minutes until evenly heated. Taking handfuls of the meat mixture, press them in your hands to form small burger patties and add them to the pan. Allow them to fry for 2 minutes per side until well browned, then set them aside.

   

   

4. Now let’s make the sweet and sour broth. Place a heavy-based pot onto medium heat and add 6 tablespoons of sugar. Allow the sugar to slowly melt and caramelise until you begin to see a few wisps of smoke. Let it smoke for 30 seconds then add the 1 litre of water. Careful, it will splutter and seize. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow any seized-up caramel solids to dissolve.

   

   

5. To the broth, add the 2 sliced cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp chill flakes, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Simmer the mixture for 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning - it should taste quite strong, but you can adjust with fish sauce, sugar or lime juice.

   

6. Add the grilled meatballs to the pan of broth and let them sit in there for a few minutes while you prepare your serving plates. Place some fresh mint/coriander, lettuce, sriracha and drained, cooked noodles to your serving bowl.

   

   

7. Add the meatballs to the serving dish and flood the dish with the hot broth. Relish it with a spoon and chopsticks - enjoy!

   

   

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