Bun Cha

Lunch | Vietnamese

Prep time: 30 min Cook time: 16 min Servings: 4

Bun Cha is an incredible Vietnamese dish that consists of smoky grilled pork patties, tangy pickled veg, fresh herbs and vermicelli. Served DIY-style with a punchy dipping sauce. It’s fresh, fiery, and built for sharing.

I first had this dish when I was travelling in Vietnam and I was blown away with how clean the broth was, and how great this combination of pork, noodles, herbs, broth and dipping was. If you're ever travelling in Vietnam make sure you seek this dish out. If you want to see me eat it in Vietnam, check out this video.

About Bun Cha

Bun Cha is a Hanoi dish. The pork patties are flavoured with fish sauce, oyster sauce, lemongrass and garlic, pressed into flat patties and grilled over high heat. Pressing them flat rather than rolling into balls maximises the surface area in contact with the grill, giving you more caramelisation and the char that’s essential to the flavour. Lemongrass is grated rather than chopped so it incorporates fully into the mince without leaving fibrous pieces. The mix needs to be refrigerated for at least 30 minutes before grilling, which firms the patties so they hold together on the grill and don’t shrink and curl as dramatically.

The dipping sauce is a version of nuoc cham: sweet, sour, salty and gently spiced with bird’s eye chilli. The pickled daikon and carrot go into the dipping bowl alongside the pork, adding crunch and acidity. Everything is served at the table as separate components and each person assembles their own portion with vermicelli, herbs and sauce. The pickled vegetables need at least 30 minutes in the warm pickling liquid before they’re ready to serve, so make them before you form the patties.

Ingredient Notes

Fish sauce: Quality varies more for fish sauce than almost any other condiment. A good fish sauce is complex, savoury and clean without being overwhelmingly pungent. Cheap fish sauce can be flat and very salty. If you’re unsure about the strength of your brand, start with slightly less than the recipe calls for and taste before adding more.

Lemongrass: Use only the bottom third of the stalk, the white and pale yellow part. Remove the outer 2-3 tough, dry layers first. Grate the inner core on a microplane or fine grater rather than chopping. Finely grated lemongrass incorporates into the mince without leaving tough fibrous pieces. Frozen lemongrass paste is a workable substitute.

Daikon: A large white radish with a mild, slightly peppery flavour when raw that mellows and sweetens in the pickle. Available at Asian supermarkets. If you can’t find daikon, substitute with an extra carrot or with kohlrabi. The flavour will be different but the textural contrast in the dipping bowl still works.

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Large mixing bowl
BBQ grill or grill pan
Tongs
Small saucepan (for pickle) and mandoline or sharp knife for julienning

Ingredients

Pork patties
500g pork mince (20% fat)
1½ tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
5 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 stick lemongrass, finely grated
1 shallot, finely chopped
sea salt and black pepper
Dipping sauce
1 cup (250ml) water
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
½ cup (125ml) fish sauce
juice of 2 limes
3 small garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 Birdseye chillies, finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Pickled carrot & daikon
1 cup (250ml) water
⅓ cup caster sugar
½ cup (125ml) rice vinegar
2 tsp sea salt
1 large carrot, julienned
½ white daikon, julienned
to serve
150g vermicelli noodles, cooked
vietnamese mint, thai basil, spearmint leaves, butter lettuce
sliced chillies, sliced cucumber

Directions

In a large bowl, combine pork mince, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, garlic, lemongrass, shallot and season with salt and pepper. Mix well, then cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 4 hours to marinate.
For the pickled carrot and daikon, combine water, sugar, vinegar and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
Place carrot and daikon in a medium bowl or sterilised jar and pour over syrup. Set aside to cool.
For the dipping sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until sugar dissolves.
To prepare pork, use lightly oiled hands, roll heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into round patties, flattening slightly.
Grill the patties over a preheated charcoal fire or BBQ grill for 8 minutes each side, turning to cook through evenly.
To serve, assemble the pork patties, cooked vermicelli, pickled vegetables, mixed herbs, cucumber and lettuce on a large platter with dipping sauce on the side for everyone to grab and dip!

Ingredients

Directions

Recipe notes