Bun Bo (Grilled Lemongrass Beef Noodle Salad) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

225 g rice vermicelli
450 450 g flank steaks or 450 g top round beef, cut into strips
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (optional)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
200 g lettuce, shredded
1 cucumber, peeled and shredded
225 g bean sprouts
40 g fresh mint leaves
40 g coriander, coarsely chopped (cilantro)
150 g carrots, shredded
100 g crushed roasted peanuts

Preparation

To make the marinade paste, pound the onion, garlic and lemongrass with a mortar and pestle or with a food processor until coarse. Add in the salt, black pepper, curry powder if desired, and fish sauce. Stir mixture over the beef and marinate for 1 hour or overnight if possible.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the vermicelli noodles and cook for 3-5 minutes or until tender. Drain, refresh under cold water, drain again and set aside.
Thread the meat strips onto the bamboo skewers. Grill till done to taste.
To serve, place a portion of noodles in a large soup bowl. Then place the beef, lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, mint leaves, fresh coriander, carrot and 1 teaspoon crushed peanuts on top of the noodles. Dress the ingredients with 2 tablespoons nuoc cham, or more to taste - I use around 4 tablespoons for each serving. Toss the ingredients together and serve. Repeat the process for each serving.