Rice Noodle Salad Bowls with XYZ Skewers

Adapted from Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen.

This noodle salad bowl may look long and involved, but it’s really not too bad, and the result is well worth it. My favorite recipe from Nguyen’s friendly, approachable 2019 book, it’s the type of dish that Nguyen writes is often categorized at restaurants as rice vermicelli bowls or bún. “They’re built on this blueprint: A large bowl filled with ribbons of lettuce and a thin, crunchy vegetable for texture; fresh herbs for pungency; and slippery rice noodles to convey flavors.” The diner chooses the toppings, she adds, which inevitably include roasted peanuts. “You dress the bowl with nuoc cham dipping sauce, toss it with chopsticks (or a fork) and spoon, and then dive in.”

The delicious marinade in the recipe works, Nguyen assures us, for chicken thighs or beef, as well as pork. Alternatively, Nguyen suggests topping it with salmon fillets rubbed with a lemongrass, shallot and shallot marinade and then broiled (“Crispy Lemongrass Salmon,” which is also in the book) or grilled trout. We tried the salmon, and loved it on the bowl. The Koji-Marinated Salmon from Sonoko Sakai’s Japanese Home Cooking would be wonderful, too (leave off the daikon and ginger garnish), as would simply seasoned and grilled shrimp skewers — or even chilled poached shrimp. For a vegetarian bowl, she suggests marinated grilled tofu and seared mushrooms.

[Read: Author Andrea Nguyen brings unforgettable Vietnamese flavor into every home cooks’s wheelhouse.]

Serves 4.

Ingredients

FOR THE SKEWERS

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup coarsely chopped shallot or yellow onion

1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar, or 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon molasses or dark amber honey

1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil, plus more for grilling

1 1/4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, boneless country-style pork ribs, well-marbled beefsteak (such as tri-tip or New York strip) or boneless, skinless chicken thighs

FOR THE Rice Bowl

One 6 to 8-ounce package small dried round rice noodles (maifun), or one 10 to 12-ounce package dried rice capellini

1 cup Nuoc Cham dipping sauce (either our linked recipe or Andrea Nguyen’s, which follows)

2/3 cup unsalted roasted peanuts or cashew pieces, coarsely chopped if large

1/4 cup fried onions or shallots (optional)

4 cups spring mix or leaves of soft-leaf lettuce (such as butter, Boston or green leaf), cut into ribbons, with spines intact

3 or 4 handfuls bean sprouts or 2 Persian cucumbers, shaved with a vegetable peeler into thin strips, or both

1/2 cup hand-torn fresh cilantro leaves and tender tops

1/2 cup hand-torn fresh mint leaves, basil leaves or dill leaves, or a combination

1/2 to 3/4 cup Namasu, optional but encouraged

Instructions

1. If you’re using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 20 minutes. You’ll need about 10 6-inch skewers or 4 to 6 10-inch skewers.

2. To make the marinade: In a small food processor, combine the garlic, shallot, pepper, five-spice powder, sugar, molasses, fish sauce, soy sauce and canola oil, then whirl into a slightly coarse, liquid-y marinade. (Alternatively, pound the garlic, shallot and sugar with a mortar and pestle and mix in the other ingredients.) Transfer the marinade to a large bowl.

3. If you’re using pork or beef, cut the meat across the grain into strips about 1 inch wide, 3 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. For chicken, cut each thigh crosswise into 1-inch-wide strips, cutting gashes anywhere it’s extra-thick. Add the meat to the marinade, and massage to coat well.

4. Thread the meat onto the skewers, covering most of each skewer. For succulence, give each loaded skewer a gentle squeeze to ensure that the meat hugs the skewer. Set on a plate, and let marinate at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, in a pot of unsalted water, boil the noodles until tender (follow package directions for timing). Drain in a colander, rinse with cold water and set aside to drain well. Put the dipping sauce in a serving bowl. Set the nuts and fried onions (if using) near the stove.

6. Divide the lettuce and bean sprouts/cucumbers among four large soup or pasta bowls (you’ll need room later to mix and toss). Add the cilantro and mint, reserving 2 tablespoons for garnish. Top with a layer of noodles. Tuck a small pile of pickle (if using) into each bowl. Set near the stove.

7. Right before grilling, lightly oil a cast-iron stove-top grill and set over medium-high heat. (Alternatively, prepare a medium-hot charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill to medium-high (hot enough so that you can hold your hand 6 inches above the grill for 3 or 4 seconds). Cook the skewers for 8 to 12 minutes, turning frequently, until the meat is slightly charred and cooked through. Nick a piece with the point of a knife to check. Divide the skewers among the bowls. Crown with the nuts, fried onions and reserved herbs.

8. Serve the bowls with the sauce on the side. Have diners dress and toss their own bowls.

Andrea Nguyen’s Nuoc Cham

Combine 2 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons lime juice and 1/2 cup warm water, then taste and add up to 2 teaspoons rice vinegar and/or 1/2 tablespoon sugar if you feel like it needs it; dilute with a little more water if you go too far. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons fish sauce to taste, plus, if you like, 1 or 2 thinly sliced Thai or serrano chiles, and/or a large minced garlic clove.

Lime juice can turn the sauce a little bitter if you leave it overnight, so if you want to make the sauce ahead, you’ll make a base to keep (make a double batch if you use it frequently). Combine 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 cup warm water and 3 to 4 tablespoons fish sauce. When ready to serve, add 3 tablespoons lime juice plus 1 or 2 thinly sliced Thai or serrano chiles.

Recipe Notes

• Nguyen’s book includes a recipe for a quick Vietnamese pickle of daikon and carrot; it is so similar to Sonoko Sakai’s Namasu — which we love — that we chose not to reproduce. If we test Nguyen’s Any Day Viet Pickle, we’ll update with the recipe.

• We tested the Rice Noodle Bowl two ways: Once with pork skewers, made using a bone-in pork shoulder (also known as picnic roast or pork butt) because boneless was unavailable. It was easy to cut out the bones. And once topped with broiled salmon. We have not tested Nguyen’s marinade and grilling technique with beef, chicken or country-style pork ribs.

• We tested the Rice Noodle Bowl both with Nguyen’s Nuoc Cham and Susie Bui’s recipe for Nuoc Cham, which was already on Cooks Without Borders. Both were outstanding with it.

• We tested the Rice Noodle Bowl with two brands of rice noodles — one was a very thin vermicelli, which stuck together, but it was fine once in the dish (the Nuoc Cham seemed to loosen it up). The other was a thicker round noodle, more like spaghetti thickness. Even better.

• For garnishes, we tested it with roasted cashews rather than peanuts, due to a peanut allergy in the family. Nguyen’s original recipe calls for either.

• We did not test with the optional fried onions or shallots, and didn’t miss them. Perhaps we’ll love it even more next time when we try them.

• We tested it once with cucumbers but no bean sprouts, and another time with both.

• We tested it both times with mint and cilantro, and have not yet tried it with dill or basil. We assume Thai basil would be preferable to Italian. We will update if we manage to test it again that way.