Bún Chả Hà Nội

Bún chả is a Hanoi dish of grilled pork, rice vermicelli, lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce. In Sophie Pham’s recipe, ground pork is mixed with a sugar caramel, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, fish sauce, oyster sauce and pepper. The seasoned mixture is shaped into small meatballs and grilled. She describes charcoal grilling at street stalls, while her home method uses a grill pan.^[1]

The grilled meatballs are placed directly in nước chấm made from lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, water and garlic, with optional sliced carrot or green papaya. Noodles and herbs can be picked up and dipped into the sauce before being eaten with the pork. Another way is to put noodles, lettuce and herbs in a bowl, then spoon the sauce and meatballs over them.^[1]