Bun cha (Bún chả) is a signature dish of Hanoi. At lunchtime, you’ll find just about everyone sitting on kid-sized stools and slurping down this combination of charcoal grilled pork, salty-sweet broth, crunchy green papaya, rice noodles, and fresh herbs.
Karen and I had lunch in the Old Quarter, a labyrinth of 36 streets dating back to the 13th century. Both exuberant and exhausting, its present day pandemonium is just a different form of the ancient chaos, when specialized trade guilds were responsible for each street.
Bun Cha Ha Noi Recipe
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Pork Patties
Ingredients
500 g Pork shoulder, minced
1 Garlic clove, minced
½ Bunch chives
1 teaspoon Fish sauce
¼ teaspoon Salt
Method
Mix all ingredients vigorously with your hand until the mixture becomes slightly sticky. Refrigerate overnight.
Pork Belly
Ingredients
500 g Pork belly, cut into bite size strips
1 tablespoon Vietnamese caramel sauce
1 tablespoon Oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Fish sauce
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Honey
½ tablespoon Brown sugar
1 teaspoon Black pepper
Method
Combine everything together and marinate overnight.
Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
150 ml Hot water
3 tablespoons White sugar
2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
3 tablespoons Lime juice
1 clove Garlic, sliced thin
1 Thai bird chile, sliced thin
Method
Mix all the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved.
To Finish
Roll the ground pork into small patties and grill until cooked through.
Grill the pieces of pork belly until cooked through.
Serve with Vietnamese herbs, rice vermicelli noodles, and pickled carrot, daikon, and papaya.
It’s one of the most delicious dishes in Vietnam
20,000 vnd or 1 UD dollar
Chef Chris Colburn 