Vietnamese Pork & Rice Vermicelli Bowl

Ingredients

• 600 g pork mince
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 200 g rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 large carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
• 0.5 cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks
• 100 g beansprouts
• 15g fresh mint and coriander
• 2 red chillies, sliced
• 30 g roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• Nuoc chăm dipping sauce, to serve
• Pickled daikon and carrot (đồ chua), to serve
• Butter lettuce leaves, to serve

Method

1. Soak the rice vermicelli in a bowl of boiling water for 5 minutes until tender, then drain and rinse thoroughly under cold water — this stops the cooking and keeps the strands loose rather than gluey.
2. While the noodles soak, season the pork mince generously with salt and pepper and have your aromatics ready by the hob. Stir-fries move fast — everything chopped before the oil goes in.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok or stainless steel pan over high heat until it shimmers. Add the pork mince in two batches, pressing it into a single layer and leaving it alone for 2 minutes before breaking it up. Crowd the pan and the meat steams in its own water; give it room and you get the deep brown crust and crisp catching edges that carry this dish. 6–8 minutes total per batch.
4. Return all the pork to the pan, push it to one side, and add the garlic and ginger to the cleared space. Stir for 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold — don't burn the garlic, it turns the whole bowl bitter.
5. Pour in the fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Toss everything together and let it bubble for 2 minutes until the liquid reduces and lacquers the mince in a glossy, mahogany glaze. Taste — most of the salt comes from the fish sauce, so adjust with a pinch more sugar if it's too sharp, or a splash of water if it's pulling tight.
6. Whisk 2 tablespoons of fish sauce with the lime juice, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and the sliced chillies to make the dressing. Taste again — it should land sharp, salty, and gently sweet, with the lime juice cutting clean through the heat. Adjust now, not at the table.
7. Divide the vermicelli between four bowls. Arrange the carrot and cucumber matchsticks, beansprouts, and torn mint and coriander around the edges in distinct piles — the joy of this bowl is mixing it yourself at the first bite.
8. Pile the caramelised pork into the centre, spoon the chilli-lime dressing over the top, scatter with the chopped roasted peanuts, and serve with the nuoc chăm and butter lettuce leaves alongside for wrapping.