Friday, September 5, 2008

Bun Thit Nuong

I have a favorite Vietnamese restaurant that I frequent whenever I go to the North Market in downtown Columbus. I stopped by there one afternoon on a whim, having never had Vietnamese food, looked at the menu & picked what sounded best to me. That dish was Bun Thit Nuong. It's a mixture of rice noodles, pork typically however you can use whatever meat you like, fresh veggies (salad, sprouts, cucumbers, cilantro, carrots) and a yummy sauce. Well I found myself going to North Market just to eat lunch there, so I had to search around & try to find a recipe. Low & behold I found a phenomenal recipe & it tastes just like (if not better) than my beloved North Market restaurant. I just love the mixture of fresh crisp veggies, chicken & rice noodles mixed with the sauce. It's a very light type of meal but is VERY filling. Take a look at some of the pictures & read on for the recipe below. If you've never tried Vietnamese recipes let alone cooking, give it a whirl, you may just surprise yourself & find your new most favorite dish ever!
Chicken marinating
Lettuce, cilantro, cucumbers & carrots
The finished products All mixed together
Bun Thit Nuong
Thit Nuong
1lb. chicken breast, sliced thin
1Tbs. diced garlic
2Tbs. oyster sauce
1/4C. sugar
1/4C. fish sauce
1/4C. vegetable oil
1/2tsp. black pepper
Nuoc Mam (sweet fish sauce)
1/2C. fish sauce
1/2C. sugar
1C. hot water (must be very hot)
1/4tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1tsp. minced garlic
1/2 fresh lime squeezed
Bun (vermicelli or rice stick)
4C. rice stick/vermicelli
2C. bean sprouts (mung)
2C. lettuce chopped (I chopped up leafy romaine)
1C. cilantro chopped
1 carrott julienned
1 cucumber julienned
1/2C. chopped peanuts
hoisin sauce, to taste
Mix all Thit Nuong ingredients together in a large ziplog baggie. Add thinly sliced chicken and let marinate in fridge for 1/2 hour. While meat is marinating, add Nuoc Mam ingredients in a blender & pulse till sugar is dissolved (will be cream tan color but once settles will look amber). Set this sauce aside. Boil rice stick according to package (3 min) and drain. Remove chicken from fridge & cook either by frying in pan or broiling (I broiled and like this better) till done.
Assembly: in 4 seperate bowls place rice stick, lettuce, sprouts & veggies & cilantro. Top with chicken & chopped peanuts. Drizzle Nuon Mam sauce evenly between the 4 bowls & top with hoisin sauce. Enjoy!!




2 comments:

Jaime said...

mmmm i love this dish, i grew up eating it! (i'm vietnamese)

Anonymous said...

That place in North Market is so good! And cheap!

I'm a native Columbusite, and found your blog linked off Iron Cupcake. Bake on!