Vietnamese Bun w/ Caramel Glazed Kurobuta Pork
Makes 8 Servings
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DRINKPAIRING | |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Riesling, Gewürztraminer or Vietnamese Beer | ||
This Vietnamese noodle salad offers big flavors and a variety of textures. On the plate you’ll find cool noodles, fresh cilantro and Thai basil, crisp vegetables, crunchy peanuts and rich, sweet caramel pork with just enough heat and brightness from the nuoc mam sauce. It’s a light, refreshing, low fat & low meat meal, perfect for spring or summer.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Kurobuta Pork Loin Chops thinly sliced (with fat)
- 2 large Shallots, peeled & sliced paper thin
- 1 tbsp Rice or All Purpose Flour
- 8oz Thin Rice Stick Noodles or Rice Vermicelli
- 2 Carrots, Julienned
- ¼ Red Cabbage, Julienned
- 1 small bunch Fresh Thai Basil, stems mostly removed
- ½ small bunch Cilantro, stems mostly removed
- ½ cup Shelled Peanuts
- 1 bunch Red Leaf Lettuce, Green Leaf Lettuce, Romaine or one Romaine Heart (as leaves or cut as you would for salad)
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp High Heat Oil (canola, grape seed or peanut)
- Pork Marinade:
- 2 tbsp Red Boat Fish Sauce
- 1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Water
- Plus:
- Plus: Nuoc Mam Sauce Recipe
DIRECTIONS
1
Soak the rice noodles in cool water for a half hour to soften them.
2
Melt and caramelize the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. For this dish you want the caramel to be extremely dark, almost scorched. It’s ready when it’s amber to very dark brown and starting to smoke.
3
Take the pot off the heat. Add the fish sauce and rice wine vinegar, then return it to the heat and stir to dissolve any clumps. Once the clumps have dissolved, remove it from the heat again and add the teaspoon of water.
4
In a small bowl, pour the caramel over the sliced pork and stir to combine. Let the pork marinate for at least 15 minutes.
5
In a small (but deep) saucepan, heat the cup of oil to 350 degrees.
(If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test this by throwing one of the prepped shallot rings in. If it falls to the bottom, then floats up and starts bubbling, the oil is hot enough).
6
Separate the rings of the sliced shallots, so they’re in little ringlets.
7
Line a baking sheet with paper towels so you have a place to drain the shallots.
8
Toss the shallots with the rice or wheat flour. Fry them in the hot oil until golden brown, then fish them out and move them to the paper towels to drain.
While the shallot rings are cooling, sprinkle sea salt over them to taste.
9
Optional: Lightly toast the peanuts in a little oil in a frying pan until they start to smell nutty.
10
Prepare a bowl of ice water (ideally big enough to partially submerge your pasta colander in) – to rapidly chill the noodles.
11
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook the rice noodles.
When the noodles are tender, pour them into a colander to drain off the hot water, than submerge them (ideally still in the colander) in the ice water bath.
12
Put 1 tbsp of oil hot in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Pull the pork out of the marinade and add it to the pan. Save the marinade.
Saute the pork, stirring often, until cooked through & caramelized (about 3 minutes).
13
Remove the cooked pork from the pan to a shallow bowl. Pour the leftover marinade into the hot pan and let it simmer for about a minute. Pour the marinade back over the pork.
14
Place a large leaf of lettuce in each bowl. Top with some of the cold rice noodles. Top the rice noodles with carrots, cilantro, Thai basil, cabbage, fried shallots, pork and peanuts. Serve with nuok mam sauce on the side so people can dress their own salads to taste.