Nuoc Leo Recipes

TRADITIONAL BANH XEO WITH NUOC CHAM SAUCE

Steps:

• For the nuoc cham sauce: Pound the garlic and chile in a large mortar with a pestle until pasty. Whisk in the fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, and 1 cup water until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a serving bowl for dipping.
• For the banh xeo: Whisk the flour together with the scallion, salt, turmeric and 1/4 cup cold water in a bowl until completely smooth. Set aside.
• Heat a well-seasoned 9-inch carbon steel skillet over high heat until smoking hot. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan generously and swirl to lightly coat the sides, too. Add the shrimp and bacon, and cook, stirring and tossing, until the shrimp start to curl but before they become completely opaque, about 1 minute.
• Whisk the batter again to mix in any flour that has settled on the bottom, then ladle a spoonful into the pan. Swirl the pan to coat the bottom and an inch or so up the sides with a thin layer of the batter. Repeat two more times. Let the batter set, about 30 seconds.
• Drizzle the egg over the crepe and swirl the pan to evenly coat the crepe with egg. The crepe should have released from the sides of the pan; squirt oil between the crepe edges and the pan. Gently shake the pan to keep everything moving. Poke a hole in the crepe with a fork or spoon to keep it from bubbling up -- you want a flat crepe. Oil should be sputtering at the edges of the crepe; if it isn't, add more.
• Cook the crepe, oiling and shaking until the egg has set on top and the bottom of the crepe is dark brown around the edges and speckled on the bottom. Pile the bean sprouts on one half and fold the other half over with a spatula. Hold the folded omelet against one side of the pan and tilt the oil out the other side into a heat-safe bowl; discard.
• Lift the omelet out of the pan with the spatula and immediately serve with the shrimp and bacon, lettuce and shiso leaves, herbs and nuoc cham. Tear off a piece of omelet with a bunch of bean sprouts and tuck it into a lettuce leaf with a shiso leaf and some bacon and shrimp. Pluck a few fresh herb leaves of basil, cilantro, dill and mint, and stuff them in there, too. Then roll it up and dip into the nuoc cham. Eat. Repeat.

BA-NAM'S NEM NUONG WITH NUOC LEO SAUCE

Steps:

• Have butcher grind pork and pork fat together very fine, or do it yourself in a food processor. Mix sugar, garlic and pepper with pork and set aside, covered and refrigerated, for a few hours or overnight.
• Combine tuong and water and mix well. Add thinly sliced chili peppers to taste. Place sauce in serving bowl and sprinkle peanuts over top.
• When ready to serve, form pork into little meatballs about 1 inch in diameter and thread onto wooden skewers. Grill over charcoal if possible, basting frequently with peanut oil; or broil in a gas or electric oven for 15 to 20 minutes, basting and turning skewers until meatballs are nicely browned.
• While meat is cooking, arrange vegetables on platter with rice papers and a bowl of warm water.
• Each guest should dip a rice paper in water to soften, then arrange lettuce on rice paper with other vegetables as desired and two or three meatballs. Wrap rice paper to make a little package and dip in nuoc leo sauce before eating.

NUOC LEO

Steps:

• Mix the first three ingredients then add some slices of the red chili pepper.
• Sprinkle with roasted peanuts.
• To make the peanuts add 1/2 cup to a very hot wok and stir until skins are black and scorched.
• Cool 2-3 minutes in colander. Skins should wipe off.
• Vietnamese soy sauce is called Tuong or Toi sauce. It is a salty bean paste. IF you do not find it you can make a sub by blending equal parts bean sauce and water
• Do NOT use American or Japanese Soy Sauce. It won't be right.

HOISIN PEANUT DIPPING SAUCE (NUOC LEO)

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, blend together the hoisin sauce and peanut butter.
• Stir in the oil, garlic, and cayenne.
• Gradually stir in the stock and fish sauce.
• Cover and chill until needed.
• Transfer the sauce to a bowl and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.
• Serve cold.