Nem nuong

Name: Nem nuong
Cuisine: Vietamese
Ingredients: ¼ tsp white pepper; 100 g (3 oz) pork fat, chopped into small cubes; 2 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam); 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped; 500 g (1 lb) boned pork shoulder or neck; 2 tbsp sugar; 1 tbsp jasmine rice; small bunch Asian basil, or fresh mint, picked; small bunch Asian basil, or fresh mint, picked; 1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced; ½ cup peanuts, roughly chopped; 250 g (8 oz) rice vermicelli; 1 cup loosely packed bean sprouts; 1 tsp salt; pinch of baking powder; 1 quantity nuoc cham

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Noodle

By Terry Durack

Published 2002

About

The Vietnamese have a happy knack of turning practically any grilled meat into a complete meal just by serving it on a bed of rice noodles and accompanying it with a bowl of nuoc cham. Rarely, however, does the idea work as well as it does with these moist, delicious pork meatballs served on a bed of rice vermicelli.

Ingredients

1 tbsp jasmine rice
500 g (1 lb) boned pork shoulder or neck

Asia
Vietnam
Main course
Southeast Asia
Gluten-free
Noodles

Method

Toast rice in a dry, heavy-bottomed frying pan until lightly golden. Grind or pound rice to a coarse powder and set aside. Soak 8 wooden skewers in cold water for 1 hour to stop them from burning on the grill.

Cut pork into thin strips and mix with sugar, fish sauce, garlic and pepper. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.

Transfer meat to a food processor with pork fat, ground ro