Recipe: Bún Chả Hà Nội (grilled pork patties with herbs and noodles)

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As the weather warms up this time of year, there’s no easier — or more delicious — way to get dinner on the table than by grilling a protein and tossing gobs of fresh herbs on top. Here, juicy grilled pork patties and tender rice noodles are piled with crunchy, sharp-sweet pickles and herbs like mint, cilantro, Thai basil and rau răm (aka Vietnamese coriander) — an herb that’s as fragrant as it is simple to grow, thanks to its relation to other weedy buckwheat-family plants like the knotweeds, dock and sorrel.

Look for rau răm in Asian markets, and after using what you need, plunk the remaining stems into a jar or watertight flowerpot, making sure the nodes (the place on the stem where the leaves come out) are submerged under water. Leave it in a sunny place and within a couple weeks you should see roots growing.

The same goes for lots of other herbs used in Southeast Asian cuisine — plants like basil, perilla and mint (all in the mint family) will readily sprout roots from their stems if you place cuttings in water, keeping you in fresh flavor all season long. Serves 4-6

Note: You can find roasted rice powder in Asian markets, but it’s very easy and cheap to make at home if you have a strong enough blender.

Ingredients

Pork patties

1 pound ground pork (bison or beef are great substitutes if you don’t eat pork)

1 tablespoon roasted rice powder

2 tablespoons minced shallot

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

A few pinches of salt and MSG

Do chua (pickles)

1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned (about ½ cup)

1 small kohlrabi or daikon radish, peeled and julienned (about ½ cup) OR ½ cup julienned green papaya

¼ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup sugar

½ cup water

Dipping sauce

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon rice, coconut or sugar cane vinegar

Juice from half a lime

For serving

8 ounces medium-width rice noodles, cooked according to package directions

1 head greenleaf or butter lettuce, leaves picked, washed and dried

Bunches of fresh herbs such as Thai basil, perilla, cilantro, rau răm, leaves picked (about 4 cups total)

Do chua

Thinly sliced birds-eye chiles (optional)

Instructions

1. Mix the pork patty ingredients in a bowl until well combined, then cover and stash in the fridge to marinate for 2 hours.
2. Place the do chua (pickle) ingredients in a jar with a lid and give it a shake to mix and dissolve the sugar. Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.
3. In a small bowl, mix the dipping sauce ingredients.
4. After the pork has marinated, divide the mixture into 12 slightly flattened meatballs. Heat up a grill (if using a gas grill, throw a foil pouch of wood chips on for smoky flavor) and cook the patties on both sides until you’ve got some good char marks and a thermometer inserted in the middle reads 160o. Remove the patties from the grill and set aside on a plate to rest for a few minutes, loosely draped in foil.
5. Assemble the noodles, lettuce, herbs and pickles on a platter with the dipping sauce and plate of grilled pork patties, served family-style. To eat, lay some rice noodles on a lettuce leaf, top with a pork patty, herbs and pickles and spoon a little sauce over the top, then fold and eat.

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