I love Vietnamese food. I find it a really refreshing cuisine. One of the main flavorings in Vietnamese food is the very pungent and repugnant fermented fish sauce aka nuoc mam. If you smell it on its own – it will make you gag. But, somehow this smelly concoction works culinary miracles and helps create the most toothsome meals.
Recently, I made Vietnamese Grilled Beef with Nuoc Cham. Well, I actually made Vietnamese Grilled Beef and Pork, using the same marinade for the pork. I found the recipe in my The Food and Cooking of Vietnam and Cambodia cookbook by Ghillie Basan. Delicious. The beef/ pork can be wrapped in lettuce leaves for dipping or eaten off the skewer. To go along with it I tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate the lotus root salad I so enjoy at Tamarind Tree in Seattle. I’ll let you know when I succeed on that one….
Vietnamese Grilled Beef
adapted from The Food and Cooking of Vietnam and Cambodia by Ghillie Basan
Ingredients:
- 1 pound beef rump, sirloin or fillet, cut across the grain into thin strips
- 2 lemon grass stalks, trimmed and chopped
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 1 red Thai chilli, seeded and chopped ( I omit)
- 2 t. sugar
- 2 T. vietnamese fish sauce
- 1 T. soy sauce
- 1 T. peanut oil
- lettuce leaves
- 1 small bunch cilantro
- 24 wood skewers, soaked in water at least 20 minutes
Cooking Directions:
- In a mortar and pestle, pound together the lemon grass, shallots, garlic, chilli and sugar until it forms a paste. Beat in the fish sauce, soy sauce and peanut oil.
- Add the marinade to the beef in a large ziplock bag and marinade for 1-2 hours.
- Thread the beef on the skewers and grill for not much more than a minute on each side.
- Leave on the skewer or wrap in lettuce leaves and garnish with the cilantro.
- Serve with nuoc cham dipping sauce.
Nuoc Cham
adapted from The Food and Cooking of Vietnam and Cambodia by Ghillie Basan
Ingredients:
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 red Thai chillies, seeded and roughly chopped
- 1 T. sugar
- 1 lime, juice of
- 4 T. vietnamese fish sauce
- 4-5 T. water
Cooking Directions:
- With a mortar and pestle pound the garlic with the chillies and sugar to make a paste.
- Squeeze in the lime juice, add the fish sauce and water to taste. Blend well.