Bun Thit Nuong (Vietnamese Pork & Noodle Salad)

• 650g pork shoulder sliced (any cut will do)
• 1 package rice noodles, medium thickness

MARINADE

• 3 tbsp shallots finely chopped
• 1.5 tbsp garlic finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp Kecap Manic or Thai Sweet Soy
• 1/2 tbsp pepper

Other ingredients

• Green leaf lettuce
• Coriander or Mint
• Match-sticked daikon and carrots
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp crushed peanuts

SAUCE

• 2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 red chilli (chopped)
• Lime juice
• 2 Tbsp Caster Sugar
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce

Finely chop your shallots, garlic and spring onions and mix in a bowl with the sugar, fish sauce and kecap manis. Run this mix all over the pork and add a generous pinch of black pepper. Marinate the meat for 1 hour, or overnight for better results.

Bake the pork at 210°C for 25-30 minutes, turning and basting it every ten minutes.

While that’s baking, make a quick pickling liquid with sugar, salt and rice vinegar and pour over the carrots and daikon. Leave those to pickle on the side. Boil your noodles for about 3-4 minutes, before being dunked into cold water.

To make the sauce combine the garlic, chilli and juice of a lime in a ramekin, mix that through until the sugar is dissolved and then add the fish sauce.

Assemble your dish: create a bed of noodles first, followed by the roughly chopped lettuce, mint and pickled carrots and daikon. And then thinly slice your meat and place it next to the veg.

Pour some basting sauce over the sauce. Top with the drizzling sauce and crushed peanuts and serve with a slice of lime.