← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
• 4 tbsp Water
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 150 g rice paper, cut into thin strips with scissors
• 1 tbsp Vietnamese chilli oil (sa tế)
• 2 tbsp oil, for the scallion oil
• 2 Spring onion, thinly sliced
• 1 Lime, juiced
• 1 Green (unripe) mango, cut into thin strips
• 80 g Beef jerky (khô bò), shredded
• 20 g Dried shrimp, soaked for 10 min and drained (optional)
• 8 Quail eggs, boiled, peeled and halved
• 1 handful Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), roughly chopped
• 50 g roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp Crispy fried shallots

Method

1. Simmer the tamarind, water, sugar, fish sauce and garlic in a small pan for 3–4 min until slightly syrupy. Let it cool.
2. Put the spring onion in a heatproof bowl, heat the oil until shimmering and pour it over to make scallion oil.
3. Separate the rice paper strips into a large bowl and sprinkle with 2–3 tbsp water, tossing with your fingers until they turn soft and chewy but not wet.
4. Add the tamarind sauce, chilli oil, scallion oil and lime juice and toss well. Add the mango, jerky, dried shrimp and rau răm and toss again.
5. Pile into bowls and top with quail eggs, peanuts and fried shallots. Eat straight away, before the rice paper stiffens.

Tips

• Contains peanuts, egg and fish; the dried shrimp adds shellfish.
• Check your jerky label: many contain soy sauce (wheat).

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Vicky Pham Wok and Kin