Vietnamese Vermicelli with Pork Meatballs are so good. I love how Vietnamese food really balances the salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. This dish hits all those notes. You will need to make a few separate dishes that come together on one plate. A Carrot and Daikon Pickled Salad, Pork Meatballs, Vermicelli Noodles, and Nuoc Cham (which is a Vietnamese Table Sauce).
It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so I probably should be posting some more festive traditional recipes for that, but my Mom is doing the meal for us this year, so I am off the hook for cooking which is wonderful. Also, on a completely unrelated side note – my two older boys are home for the weekend from university!! Insert happy dance here! I am so thankful to have all my boys under one roof this weekend. I sure miss them when they are gone! Hug your babies, because it all just truly goes too fast!
My husband and I both love Vietnamese food, so I thought I would recreate a restaurant-style dish that we could have at home. This would be a good one to serve for entertaining as it comes together fairly quickly and you could make it all in advance and just plate for your guests once they arrive.
I love how Vietnamese food really balances the salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. This dish hits all those notes. You will need to make a few separate dishes that come together on one plate. A Carrot and Daikon Pickled Salad, Pork Meatballs, Vermicelli Noodles, and Nuoc Cham (which is a Vietnamese Table Sauce).
These recipes for the Pickled Salad and Nuoc Cham come from this book Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid a great cookbook inspired by travels with wonderful pictures. The meatballs are inspired from their recipe with a few changes of my own.
VIETNAMESE INSPIRED MEATBALLS:
– 1 pound ground pork
– 1/4 cup minced shallots
– 1/4 cup minced garlic
– 2 tablespoons fish sauce
– 1 teaspoon sugar (plus another 1/4 cup for rolling the meatballs in)
– Generous grinding of black pepper
– 1 tbsp corn starch
Preheat your oven to 425F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Mix together well your pork, shallots, garlic, fish sauce, pepper, cornstarch and 1 tsp of sugar. Shape into meatballs and roll each meatball in the reserved sugar and place on a baking sheet. The sugar will nicely brown and caramelize the meatballs while they bake.
Bake the meatballs until nicely browned and cooked through (approx. 12 minutes).
NUOC CHAM (you can adjust this to your taste. If you like your Nuoc Cham a little sweeter, feel free to add a bit more sugar, but start with this amount)
– 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
– 1/4 cup fish sauce
– 1 Tablespoon Sugar
– 1/4 cup water
– 2 tsp rice or cider vinegar
– 1 small clove garlic, minced
– 1 bird chile, minced
– several shreds carrot (optional)
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar completely. Can be refrigerated and stored for up to 3 days in the fridge.
CARROT AND DAIKON PICKLED SALAD
– 1/2 pound carrots peeled
– 1/2 pound daikon radish, peeled
– 1/2 tsp kosher salt
– 1 1/2 cups water
– 1/4 cup rice vinegar
– 2 tablespoons sugar
I used a mandoline (watch your fingers) to finely slice the daikon and carrot. You should have about 2 cups of each. Place the sliced veg into a colander in the sink. Sprinkle with the salt, mix around and let sit for 30 minutes. While this is waiting combine your water, vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, stir. once the sugar is dissolved it’s done. Turn it off and let cool completely. After 30 minutes briefly rinse your veggies and squeeze them dry and add to a bowl with your vinegar mixture. To serve lift out of the vinegar liquid and arrange on a plate. Leftovers keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.
For the VERMICELLI NOODLES
Place dried noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water and let sit submerged for about 5 minutes until tender. Strain and coat with a little oil to prevent sticking.
OK. Now that you have prepped, you are ready to put it all together. This is what you will need:
– Pork Meatballs
– Nuoc Cham
– Carrot and Daikon Pickled Salad
– Rice Vermicelli, cooked
– Lettuce
– Fresh Thai Basil, Cilantro and Mint
– Cucumbers, sliced thin
– Thai Chili Peppers (they are quite spicy, so optional, depending on your heat tolerance)
– Unsalted Peanuts chopped for garnish
– Bean Sprouts
– tomatoes (optional)
On a serving plate, arrange your lettuce, vermicelli noodles, cucumbers, pickled salad and beansprouts. Top with your meatballs (reheated if necessary) and garnish with lots of fresh herbs, a sprinkling of chopped peanuts and chili peppers if desired. Serve with Nuoc Cham on the side to dress with as desired.
My husband also loves Hoisin and Sriracha Sauce as additional condiments for this.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend everyone!
If you like this recipe you should try: Sesame Noodle Bowls
