Pork Bun Xao (with a nuoc cham sauce)

It is no secret that Vietnamese is one of my favourite foods. It is fast, fresh, spicy and low in fat. It does have a lot of salt though which is why it is important to keep the sauces such as soy, oyster, fish and rice wine vinegar down to a low. If you hold back on that and keep on throwing all the fresh ingredients that come with a typical Vietnamese dish then you will have a dinner that is zingy, tasty, full of fire and guilt free!

Bun Xao is often on my weekday menu plan. A salad of fresh herbs and spices that are mixed with some rice noodles and topped with grilled meat. I often use pork, seeing as German supermarkets are of no short supply of pork! But beef would also work well. Drizzle some nuoc cham sauce on top and this will really get your taste buds going.

This is a really quick and delicious meal. Try making this on a Monday night to end the Monday blues on a more happy note!

Ingredients: serves 2

100g rice noodles

3 romaine lettuce leaves (finely chopped)

Half a cucumber (deseeded and thinly sliced)

Small handful of fresh mint leaves

Small bunch of coriander

Handful of Thai basil leaves

6 spring onions (finely chopped)

2 lemongrass stalks (outer layer removed and finely chopped)

2 pork fillets (cut into strips)

1 tbspn sambal oelek

1 tbpsn sesame seeds

1 tbspn sesame oil

Roasted peanuts

For the Nuoc Cham sauce:

2 cloves garlinc (crushed)

2 tspn dried chilli flakes

Juice of 1 lime

Dash of fish sauce

50ml rice wine vinegar

Dash of sesame oil

1 tspn turmeric

• Heat the sesame oil in a small frying pan. Once hot add the pork. After 5 minutes add the sambal oelek and sesame seeds to the pan and cook for a further 7-8 minutes on a medium heat.
• In a large mixing bowl add the lettuce leaves, Thai basil, mint, coriander, cucumber, spring onions and lemongrass. Mix well.
• Add the rice noodles to a bowl and pour in boiling hot water. Leave for around 7 minutes. Drain the noodles and add to the bowl with the salad. Mix everything together.
• Take the meat off the heat and leave to stand for a couple of minutes and then add to the bowl.
• For thee nuoc cham sauce: mix everything together into a small bowl and then pour over the salad, meat and noodles. Mix every together.
• Plate up and garnish with more coriander and some peanuts.