After a month in Vietnam, I've picked up a couple of tricks and dishes. I tried to keep an eye out for things I could replicate/duplicate once I got home. My aunt made Bun Cha Gio Chay (I'll try making it when it gets cooler so I can fry spring rolls without dying of heat), my cousin made a vegetarian version of Banh Xeo for me, and we went to countless restaurants and food carts all over the southern half of the country.
One of my favorite things that I couldn't wait to make at home is a cool beef noodle salad called bun xao. If I'm correct in my tiny knowledge of the language, bun refers to the rice noodles, and xao suggests the stir-frying of whatever protein is in this. I've made it now with both vegetarian beef and chik'n chunks (I use Trader Joe's meatless beef strips and Quorn chik'n tenders. Morningstar used to have a Meal Starters steak strips that's similar to the Trader Joe's, but I haven't seen it lately).
Bun Xao Chay
Heat 1 Tb. veg. oil and add a minced clove of garlic (or 2!) and some lemongrass. Because I haven't been able to find fresh lemongrass here, I bought lemongrass paste in a plastic tube next to the flat pack herbs in the produce section. I used maybe 2 Tb of the paste-- add it to the oil and garlic and saute for a bit. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Then add your protein-- and continue sauteing until it's browned and coated in the lemongrass mixture.
In the meantime boil a pot of water. When it's boiling, add 1/2 a package of rice vermicelli noodles. Turn off the heat and let the noodles soak for 3-5 minutes. Once they're tender, drain them completely. It's fine if the noodles cool while you're prepping everything else.
The dressing is a vegetarian version of nuoc mam-- substituting low sodium soy sauce (preferably Vietnamese soy sauce, but we can't have everything) for the usual fish sauce.
Nuoc Mam Chay (also great with cha gio chay)
(all of this can be adjusted to taste, esp. the hot stuff)
1 minced garlic clove
juice and pulp of 1 lime
2 Tb. rice vinegar
2 Tb. low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic chili paste (the stuff like Sambal Oelek, not Sriracha)
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 c. warm water
The rest is lettuce, mint, thai basil, cilantro, shredded carrots, thin slices of cucumber, bean sprouts, and crushed peanuts.
Assembly is a little messy. Usually each component is placed independently, rather than tossed together. Put down the greens and herbs, then a pile of noodles, then the protein and finish with bean sprouts and crushed peanuts. I topped mine off with some finely sliced jalapenos that went red on the plant. They were sweet and had just a little bite of heat. My relatives would probably throw on a ton of those tiny red and green bird's eye chilis. This is my humble approximation.
I topped everyone's serving with about 3 Tb. of the nuoc mam chay. I also added a little of my own pickled carrots and daikon radishes (just let them marinate in some rice vinegar, sugar, water and a little of those finely sliced chiles for at least an hour-- up to a couple of days). Pickled veggies were always present at every meal! I'm thinking of sauteing tofu with the garlic and lemongrass next time. We've had it twice in the past two weeks, so I guess everyone else likes it too!
