Here we go again 🍴
Recipe: Vietnamese Bun Cha with Hoisin Beef or Tofu
Hiya! So, as today is the first day of Autumn (yes, I googled it) and because those of us in the UK have just received some news about increased restrictions as a result of COVID making a comeback, there’s definitely a palpable bit of gloom in the air.
Food for me has always been a source of comfort, and a way to show love, warmth and kindness to myself and to people I love and care for. And I think what we all could do with right now, is a bit more comfort in our lives.
Enter: Bun Cha – a Vietnamese dish that slid into my life's metaphorical DMs a few months ago, and absolutely took over my life. If you google Bun Cha, you'll see that there are a gazillion recipes for it. Some are a bit more complicated than others, but at its core, it's a Vietnamese noodle salad made with either beef or pork (or tofu if you're veggie / vegan).
Now, if you know me at all, you'll know I'm not a salad person. The word 'salad' makes me think of aeroplane meals: the sad cling film-wrapped pot with three miserable leaves of iceberg lettuce, two sad slices of cucumber, and one lonely cherry tomato. It's often wilted and worst of all, served at room temperature – no thank you sir, I will NOT have some more.
But Bun Cha? I could eat it for days. Not just because of the beautifully bright and crisp veggies, savoury dressing and delicate rice noodles, but also because it makes for a really refreshing and light – yet filling – meal. Plus, with all the chopping involved in this recipe, I often ended up singing the entire soundtrack of Frozen 2 in my kitchen on repeat, which actually made it a rather therapeutic dish to prepare.
My version of the recipe below has thin slices of beef stir-fried in sesame oil and hoisin which you can definitely make again to have with rice as well. But genuinely (and I don't say this lightly) the star of the show is the salad and the noodles - the meat is honestly just a nice-to-have.
I hope you try out this recipe which is perfect for omnivores and herbivores alike. More importantly, I hope this recipe brings you a bit of me-time and some much-needed comfort that only comes from eating a lovingly homecooked meal. ♥️
SO, while this recipe by Jamie Oliver is definitely not the most authentic recipe for Bun Cha out there, I've found that it’s certainly the Miss Congeniality of Bun Cha recipes with a few alterations that I've laid out below for you.
Most of the preparation time in this recipe is honestly in the chopping of the vegetables – I wasn't joking when I mentioned singing in my kitchen earlier. Put on some music and just have a chill time slicing away. The only thing I will say about the salad is that chopping the veggies up into long, thin matchsticks – trying as much as possible to make the carrots, cucumbers and lettuce all resemble each other in size – is the most pleasant way of eating the salad as it becomes as forkable as the noodles. And yes, 'forkable' is a VERY technical term.
Now, the dressing. As beautiful as it is, I honestly think it could be the tiniest bit sweeter to counter the zing of two whole limes. So I'd suggest adding one tablespoon of honey to the dressing and whipping it for a good minute so that the dressing gets slightly emulsified. And before drizzling the dressing over the salad to serve, don't forget to give it one final whisk so that it clings to the salad a bit better.
The recipe also calls for tofu, but I was asked for a version with beef so I replaced the tofu with the same weight in frying steak from good ol’ Asda. Save that ribeye for another day and get yourself cheaper cuts – skirt or flank is perfectly fine – and slice them into thin half-inch strips. And don't forget to cut against the grain of the meat so you're not left chewing the beef for days.
Get a non-stick pan on the hob and once your sesame oil is hot, stir-fry the beef for 10 to 12 minutes. It should feel like you're sizzling it for a bit too long, but trust me on this and keep frying it because you need that time to cook out all of the moisture in the pan coming from the beef, and for it to then get some nice caramelisation. Once you see bits of your beef browning, chuck in your hoisin sauce with a touch more sesame oil and take it out of the pan as soon as it starts looking glossy and sticky. Most of the sauce should be clinging onto the beef and not on gliding around the pan.
Plate up as per the recipe, as it makes total sense for the noodles to be at the bottom to soak up the dressing. If you're feeling fancy and have some crispy fried onions on hand, go ahead and sprinkle some over the top once you're done for an added dimension of crunch. That – in addition to the crunch of veggies, peanuts, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds, is FOUR dimensions of crunch. Talk about a Crunchersaurus Rex!
Get the full recipe here – I hope you enjoy this bowl of summer and sunshine as the days get darker quicker and the nights start getting longer, whenever you need a little pep in your step. 😊
See you for another issue of Forks & Chopstix in a couple of weeks!
x Mark
P.S. If you make this recipe, please don't forget to tag me in your stories or posts on Instagram at @forksandchopstix and let me know if you liked it as well!