Many people assume that I'm a purist about food and I am, only to the extent that the basic foundation of a dish are present in a dish. Take bún salad bowls, a ubiquitous item on Vietnamese restaurant menus. A meal in a bowl, the south Vietnamese favorite noodle bowl is a terrific way to eat healthfully and creatively.
Summer is grilling time, and the other day with lots of herbs growing in the yard, my husband suggested we make bun for lunch. Without time to marinate and grill pork, fish, etc., I looked to the fridge and found leftover grilled lamb and pork patties, summer squash, pan-roasted potatoes. Not bad, so I went about making the framework for the rice noodle bowl.
Dressing and noodles
First, I made the dressing. It's nothing but the basic Vietnamese nuoc cham dipping sauce made of lime, sugar, fish sauce, water, and chiles. For punch, I used garlic too.
Then I cooked the noodles. You have to have small round rice noodles called bún to properly define bún. In Vietnam, the noodles are sold fresh but abroad most people cook them from dried. In dried form, they look like wiry translucent sticks and are sold in 1-pound packages labeled "Rice Sticks" that contain 3 flats of noodles; pagoda brand (Bun Thap Chua) is a standard. Boil them in plenty of water for 3 to 5 minutes, until opaque and chewy-tender. Drain and let the noodles cool completely, during which they'll get slightly tacky, their nature. Here's a handy bun rice noodle primer.
Bun Salad Bowl Fixings
As the noodles cooked, I washed lettuce and readied other veggies. In the bowl, there is usually a salad mixture of lettuce, herbs, and maybe some cucumber. Note the following:
- Herbs - can be as simple as cilantro and mint. If you want to add more flavor, cut up some basil, tia to (red/purple perilla), or kinh gioi (Vietnamese balm). Regardless of herb, use the leaves only.
- Lettuce - use soft leaf lettuce, such a butter (Boston, Bibb), or red or green leaf.
- Cucumber - pickling, Japanese, or English are my favorites. Seed and remove some of the peel if you like. Then cut them into stubby matchsticks or thin rings.
You can cut the herbs and lettuce up to create a salad mixture to divide among individual large bowls. Or if you're short of time, like I was the other day, I piled the raw garnishes on a platter and took it to the table. My husband and I created our own bowls, varying them a little as we went along. It was lots more fun than presenting each person with a pre-assembled bowl with dressing on the side.
Since we were in the self-service mode, the noodles went on a plate and was brought to the table too. Had I made each of us a big bowl like at the restaurants, the noodles would have been divided among the bowls.
Optional goodies for some plush richness include fried shallots and/or unsalted, roasted peanuts. I had some marvelous fried shallots in the fridge and peanuts in the freezer so I set some out in small bowls. Some folks doll up the bowls with some pickled daikon and carrot for extra color and crunch.
Spruce up the main protein feature
What did I do with the leftover meats and vegetables that I was trying to recycle? I thinly sliced the lamb and stirfried it with garlic and shallot, reheated the pork patties in the toaster oven and then threw them directly into the nuoc cham dipping sauce so they'd pick up some Viet flavor. Finally I cut up the squash into bite-size pieces. The potato was small enough to pick up with chopsticks so no further cutting necessary. All of these main elements were presented on a platter for us to select at the table.
At the table, we drank white wine -- a lovely Kermit Lynch proprietary vin de Vaucluse white, chatted, and made up our crazy and colorful bún salad bowls, tossing the elements together and then adding copious amounts of dressing. We traded opinions on what tasted best (my husband was skeptical about the potato but said they were okay) and deemed it a perfect lunch.
Binh says
Exactly what I do with my leftover BBQ. It's simply amazing what a base of bún, fresh herbs and nuoc cham can do. I find the combination of Thai basil, cucumber and bean sprouts work very well together. But of course, it's a tip learnt from the stalls of banh cuon back home.
The potatoes -- that I have to try. Its starchy texture would definitely soak up the nuoc cham very well.
Quyen says
Bun Cha Gio is my absolute favorite. so simple but so wonderful on a summer day.
I love your blog!
Andrea Nguyen says
Binh, don't go running looking for the potato. It was okay -- not as bad as the summer squash.
Marylou says
Whenever I boil Bub it turn out really sticky. How do you get nice fluffy Bun like from the restaurants?
Kym says
My mum often does this for our leftovers. Delicious! 🙂
Michelle Vuong says
For me to avoid sticky bun, first I soak dried bun in tap water until it become somewhat soft, about 5 minutes. Then boil water, put some table salt in, then put the noodle in and cook until it is tender, but still chewing a bit. Remove it out of the boiling water, rise it with cold water to stop it from cooking. NOte: It will cook really fast because bun is already soaked so keep an eye on it while it is boiling.
Andrea Nguyen says
Thanks for sharing the tip, Michelle! Great idea.
Drawing4dollars says
Thank you for your generous sharing of your wealth of knowledge and love of cooking.
Taobao shopping service says
Je suis très populaire dans mon lycée ^~^
new jordans 2010 says
Nous sommes allés à La Zamaan le 19 et ils étaient encore en train de pain livré. Mais le repas a été savoureux et délicieux! Le poulet est cuit à la perfection - en réalité, tout était. Le service n'était pas grande que mentionné dans la revue Nouvelles mais nous n'étions pas pressés pour cela n'avait aucune importance.
Cheap Coach Bags says
You can harmonious development of society on the passion and friendship.
Cheap Chanel Bags says
it was a very cute little Polish/Eastern European takeout counter loaded with treats and situated in a presumably accessible spot just off University and 13th Avenues NE.
treatment of hemorrhoids says
Good post, I like to leave comments because it allows bloggers to become more engaged and for the opportunity to perhaps learn from each other.
Mark says
Thank you Andrea for the post on sate sauce. It has become one of my favorite condiments.
Your article on the garlic noodles made me think of how I use the sate sauce with italian capellini or angel hair. I boil 4 oz. of angel hair from Whole Foods, their brand made with bronze dies. I save 1/2 cup of the pasta water to use when making the sauce. The sauce consists of 1 or 2 Tblsp of good butter and 1 Tblsp of your sate sauce tossed with the drained noodles and then enough pasta water as necessa
mbt online says
That was my thought,too.
mbt shoes online says
Thanks very much, I have learned a lot from your post. Well done, really! also have a good train at http://www.honest123.com/
mbt shoes online says
Thanks very much, I have learned a lot from your post. Well done, really! also have a good train at http://www.honest123.com/
buy meizitang says
The herb is grown widely in the Mediterranean region, but is a native plant of northern Europe.
Red Bottom shoes says
Large families were once seen as a blessing . Today , however , things are changing and an increasing number of Chinese parents realize that fewer is better .
marlon says
Thank you for the post on sate sauce. It has become one of my favorite condiments.
Pasta Pots says
Bun Rice Noodle Salad Bowl is my all time favorite dish when dining in a Vietnamese restaurant. And to top it off, I take pleasure in shopping the Asian markets that are usually located next door. Seems simple enough to make, as I usually do have leftover meats stored in the refrigerator and quite frequently have cilantro, mint, Thai basil and chiles on hand. I'm glad to know the ingredients for the nuoc cham dipping sauce...and peanuts are a must!
Teresa says
Andrea,
The link to the nuoc cham recipe is broken. I love your nuoc cham recipe. I really missed noodle salad from my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Your recipe has really helped broaden ur meal rotation in this pandemic summer. Thank you for your books and this terrific blog.