Vietnamese Bun Cha-inspired Lettuce Cups

Vietnamese food is up with Japanese as my favorite food in the world. Bun Cha is a very special and delicious lunch or dinner, with pork meatballs dipped in Nuoc Cham, a chilli, garlic, bright dipping sauce and eaten with herbs, veggies and rice noodles on the side.

I’m no professional when it comes to Vietnamese food, I just love it, so I’ve named it Bun Cha-inspired because I can’t claim that this is totally authentic, since I’m not Vietnamese. I’ve tried my very best to make it as authentic as possible though!

If you love a bright and flavor packed lettuce cup, you will love Bun Cha. Imagine herbs like Thai Basil and crisp veggies with a brown sugar caramelized pork meatball, covered in a chilli and lime sauce, all wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Dip rice noodles into the dipping sauce in between lettuce cup bites and savour each and every bite.

Makes 16 small meatballs, serves 2-3 people.

Ingredients:

Bun Cha meatballs:

500g pork mince

1 lemongrass stalk, soft bottom half, outer leaves removed, minced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup spring onion, white and green parts, sliced

1 shallot, diced

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

big pinch of salt

Neutral oil to fry, enough to cover the base of the pan

Nuoc Cham:

6 tbsp water

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

juice of 1 lime

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 birds eye chilli/Thai chilli, sliced thin

Fillings:

2-3 radishes, sliced into thin rounds

2-3 baby carrots, sliced thin long ways

1 cup beansprouts

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves and/or thai basil

Lettuce leaves for cups, the ones sold as whole heads of lettuce are perfect for use as cups, such as baby gem, romaine, butter lettuce

Baby cucumbers, sliced into matchsticks

Any pickled veggies such as carrots and daikon.

Optional: authentic Bun Cha has rice noodles on the side to dip into the Nuoc Cham in between bites. If you decide to do this, get medium size rice noodles and prepare as per the package directions.

Method:

Prepare the meatball fillings: using only the soft bottom part of the lemongrass stem, remove the outer tough leaves. Slice into thin rings then run the knife over them all and mince to a super small size. Use a microplane to grate the garlic, go ahead and grate the garlic for the Nuoc Cham and leave off to the side.

Make the meatballs: combine pork mince along with all the other ingredients for the meatballs in a mixing bowl and mix together gently with your hands. Roll into golf ball sized balls.

Fry the meatballs: heat a large frying pan over medium-low heat and add enough neutral oil to generously cover the base of the pan. A glug or two will do! Once the pan and the oil get very hot and you see whispers of smoke from the pan, add the meatballs, as many as you can fit without overcrowding them. Leave an inch between each one. Fry them for 5-7 minutes without touching or moving them, so they get a nice dark caramelization on the bottom. Test one and flip to see if they have a nice dark sear. If they do, flip them all on the other side and turn the heat down to low. Fry for 5 minutes on the other side, or until they develop a dark crust. These meatballs are small so they don’t take long to cook through, but test one meatball and see the inside. If it’s cooked through, remove from heat.

Make the Nuoc Cham: add brown sugar to a mixing bowl. Add hot water over the brown sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Taste and adjust for more lime, fish sauce, etc.

Add the meatballs to the bowl with Nuoc Cham and let the meatballs rest in this dressing to absorb it’s deliciousness.

Prepare the lettuce cup fillings: thinly slice radishes, carrots, cucumber, any veggies you are using. Add to a plate with the beansprouts, herbs and lettuce leaves. Use any pickled veggies too such as pickled daikon or carrot. If you are going to have rice noodles too, prepare them now.

Assemble: to serve, have the meatballs in Nuoc Cham in one bowl, rice noodles in another, herbs/lettuce/veggies on a large plate and assemble individually. Using a lettuce cup as the base, add a meatball to the center. Fill with veggies, herbs and add a spoonful of Nuoc Cham over everything. Dip rice noodles into the Nuoc Cham and enjoy!