Vietnamese Meat Ball Salad (Bún chả)

Technically, this dish isnt Bún chả. There are neither noodles (the Bún) nor a single slice of pork belly in sight. It does however, have grilled meatballs, and the dish is a low carb variation of the original, and just as delish. I’ve replaced the noodles with copious amounts of salad and herbs, and drizzled it liberally with Nước chấm, a sweet and tangy dip commonly found in Vietnamese restaurants.
Ingredients
Pork meatballs
- 500g pork mince
- 4 tsp fish sauce
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3 stalks spring onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 3 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp corn flour (for binding the meat)
For frying
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
Salad
- Butter lettuce
- Julienned carrots and cucumber
- handful of Vietnamese mint, peppermint, bean sprouts or spring onion
Dipping sauce (Nuoc cham)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 3-6 tsp caster sugar (to taste – I like my sauce on the sweeter side)
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp chopped chilli (de-seeded if you prefer it mild)
- 2 stalks coriander, finely chopped
- 6 tbsp warm water
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp vinegar
Method
- Place all ingredients for pork meatballs in a bowl and mix well.
- Shape into 6 squash ball sized patties and flatten slightly
- Pre heat non stick pan and add oil
- Place patties in pan (3 at a time if your pan is small to prevent overcrowding) and cook on medium heat for 3 mins on each side
- Leave to rest for 5 mins before slicing into thin strips
- Mix all the ingredients for the dipping sauce and stir till sugar dissolves
- Serve meatballs with salad and nuoc cham
yum!
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