Vietnamese Bun (Boon)


When our daughter Isla was a mere 6 days old, my husband and I went for Vietnamese. We quite literally can not go a week without it, we love it. Although I know that recreating the legit dishes we love, at home, would be next to impossible, I knew it was at least worth a shot.

Well, let me tell you, this is delicious. Super simple. Super quick. Most can be prepped in advance. And to my complete surprise, the leftovers were amazing (I thought the noodles and everything would get soggy, but it never happened!)

Vietnamese Bun (Noodle Salad)
from bevcooks.com

(makes enough for 4)

Salad
1 pack rice noodles, soaked for 10 min in room temp water, drained(*you must do this!)
1 square of tofu or 1 chicken breast, cut into pieces and pan fried
1 large carrot, finely julienned (with a mandolin is best)
1/2 cucumber, seeds removed, finely julienned
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup fresh mint, chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts

Sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
juice from 1 lime
1 tbsp chili garlic paste (I used Sambal Oelek)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2/3 cup water

1. Cook tofu/chicken.
2. Prepare carrots, cucumber, mint and cilantro.
3. Boil some water, place presoaked rice noodles in the pot and cook for about 1 min. Drain and rinse with cool water.
4. In another pot, combine all sauce ingredients and heat until simmering. Remove from heat.
5. Toss everything together in a large bowl. (Or make it look pretty like I did the picture…then mix it all together!)

Top with a few squirts of Hoisin Sauce if you like.

Everything can be prepared in advance except for the rice noodles.

Enjoy!

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