If you are as obsessed with Vietnamese flavors as I am, you are going to love this cold rice noodle salad with caramelized pork crumbles and herbs. Sauteeing ground pork with fish sauce and brown sugar makes the pork taste salty, umami, caramelized and savory all at once, and combined with cold rice noodles and fresh herbs, plus cucumber and lime and some little gem lettuces, this is your summertime dinner savior.
This cold noodle salad is filling yet light, and has wonderful herby flavors that make it perfect for a summer dinner! It can be customized, too, with any other herbs or lettuces you might have on hand. Take this as a template, not a hard and fast rule.
What you're going to do is cook rice noodles quickly, then let them cool down. Then, sautee the pork with fish sauce and brown sugar, and really let them caramelize and get lovely and brown. Last, combine the rice noodles with the pork crumbles alongside your favorite lettuce. I love little gems lettuce. And add mint and Persian cucumbers, and season with it with a little bit of rice wine vinegar and oil. Yum!!!
Make this cold noodle salad with caramelized pork and herbs for your next summer dinner party!
Vietnamese-Inspired Cold Noodle & Ground Pork Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb of ground pork 80% lean
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce preferably Red Boat
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 6 ounces of rice noodles
- 3 Persian cucumbers sliced ¼" thick on the diagonal
- 2 tablespoons of mint chopped
- 2 cups of romaine chopped
- 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of neutral oil
- lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Prepare the rice noodles. Bring a medium pot of water to boil, and then cook rice noodles for 4 minutes, and then drain and rinse under cold water.
- Prepare the pork crumbles. Sautee ground pork with fish sauce and brown sugar, until browned and crispy.
- Prepare the salad. Mix chopped romaine, chopped cucumbers, mint, cold noodles with the cooked pork crumbles. Dress with the rice wine vinegar and oil, and serve with lime wedges.