Vietnamese Table Sauce Recipes

VIETNAMESE TABLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Mix lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, bird's eye chile, and garlic together in a bowl until sugar dissolves. Serve sauce in a small bowl.

LEMONGRASS PORK WITH VIETNAMESE TABLE SALAD

Steps:

• For dipping sauce:
• Mix all ingredients in small bowl. Season sauce to taste with salt. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)
• For pork:
• Mix first 6 ingredients and 2 tablespoons oil in 11x7-inch glass dish. Add pork chops to marinade, turn several times to coat evenly, then crowd together in single layer. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
• For salad and noodles:
• Arrange cucumber, pineapple, bean sprouts, all herbs, and carrot around edge of large platter. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Cover; chill.)
• Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender and turning white, separating often with tongs, about 4 minutes. Drain. Arrange in center of platter. Mound lettuce leaves in large shallow bowl.
• Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush grill rack with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Grill pork with marinade still clinging to meat until slightly charred and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Transfer pork to cutting board. Let rest 10 minutes.
• Cut pork crosswise into 1/3-inch-wide strips. Place pork and any juices from board atop noodles. To serve, fill lettuce leaves with pork, noodles, herbs, and vegetables. Serve with sauce for dipping.

SAIGON CREPES WITH VIETNAMESE TABLE SALAD AND CILANTRO LIME DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• Toast mung beans lightly in a pan. Transfer to a bowl and soak in water to soften.;
• For the cilantro lime dipping sauce:
• Add the garlic cloves, fresh ginger, chili paste, cilantro, soy sauce, lime juice and pulp, water, and sugar, 1 ingredient at a time through the feed opening of a running blender. Allow "sauce" to rest for 10 minutes before tasting and adjusting seasoning with salt and pepper, as needed. Pour into individual dipping bowls.
• Assemble the table salad by arranging the lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, mint, basil, cilantro, rau ram, and saw leaf herb in separate mounds on a serving platter.
• Prepare the filling for the crepes by tossing the bean sprouts, cilantro leaves, and scallions together.
• To cook the crepes, drain the mung beans and combine in a blender with coconut milk, water, rice flour, sugar, salt, and turmeric. Puree until smooth, and then strain into a small pitcher. Heat a crepe pan with a small amount of oil, and pour a thin layer of batter into the hot pan. When the crepe is cooked though and the down side is crisp, add the filling (bean sprouts, cilantro and scallions), fold the crepe in half and transfer to a serving plate. Serve crepes with table salad and dipping sauce.

SWEET-AND-SOUR VIETNAMESE DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• With a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, chile paste, and fresh chile into a paste (or mince together with a knife). Transfer to a bowl. Add fish sauce, 2/3 cup hot water, lime juice, and sugar. Whisk together until sugar dissolves. Serve sprinkled with carrots.

VIETNAMESE TABLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Mix lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, bird's eye chile, and garlic together in a bowl until sugar dissolves. Serve sauce in a small bowl.n

TUONG GOI CUON [VIETNAMESE BEAN DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• Place the first six ingredients into a blnder and process until smooth. Transfer to a pan and bring to boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat when it boils and simmer until thick enough to coat a spoon about 5 minutes. If too thick add a bit of water. Set aside to cool.
• Garnish with the paste and peanutes. Also you can use garlic, chilies and ginger.
• Keeps 2 weeks.
• Note if you can't find the soybeans omit it and use 1/3 cup hoisin sauce letting out the sugar.

VIETNAMESE SAUCES

Steps:

• Nooc Cham (regular and vegetarian):.
• Combine all the ingredients and dissolve the sugar completely. This works easily with stevia instead of the sugar. I use 2-4 drops.
• Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Store in tightly sealed glass container in the fridge.
• Vietnamese Peanut Sauce:.
• Using a food processor or mortar, pound peanuts to a course powder. Set aside.
• Sieve the tamarind and water. Set aside the liquid, discard the solids.
• Heat the oil in a wok or skillet over high heat. Add garlic and stir fry about 15 seconds, until color begins to change. Toss in the pork and cook until it is cooked through.
• Add soybean paste and tamarind and stir until blended. Add 1/2 cup of water. Then stir in most of the ground peanuts (reserve 1 T for garnish). Add the sguar and chiles. Add water until you reach the desired texture (thick and pourable, but not watery).
• Serve at room temperature or warmer. Squeeze a lime over it and add the reserved peanuts.
• This keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days or freezes for one month. Reheat before serving.

VIETNAMESE DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, chile paste, and fresh chile, if desired, into a paste (or mince together with a knife). Transfer to a bowl. Add the fish sauce, 2/3 cup hot water, the lime juice, and sugar. Whisk together until the sugar dissolves. Garnish with the carrots, and serve.