← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 200 g fermented fish (mắm cá linh or mắm cá sặc)
• 2 l water or light pork stock, divided
• 3 lemongrass stalks, 2 bruised, 1 finely minced
• 6 cloves Garlic, minced
• 3 Shallot, minced
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 250 g Pork belly, thinly sliced
• 2 Asian aubergines, cut into chunks and soaked in salted water
• 400 g firm white fish fillets, cut into chunks
• 300 g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 300 g Squid, cleaned and cut into pieces
• 400 g Rice vermicelli
• 200 g Bean sprouts
• 1 bunch Garlic chives, cut into lengths
• 1 handful perilla or mint
• 2 Bird's eye chilli, sliced
• 2 Lime, cut into wedges

Method

1. Simmer the fermented fish in 1 litre of the water for 15 min, mashing now and then, until the flesh and bones break down. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing hard; keep the liquid and discard the solids.
2. In a large pot, fry the garlic, shallots and minced lemongrass in the oil over medium heat for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the pork belly and stir for 3–4 min until it loses its pink colour.
3. Pour in the strained fish liquid, the remaining water and the bruised lemongrass. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 min. Taste and add the sugar; mắm is very salty, so add salt only if needed.
4. Drain the aubergine, add it to the pot and simmer for 5 min until soft. Add the fish and cook gently for 4 min, then the prawns and squid for 2–3 min more, until just opaque.
5. Cook the noodles according to the packet and divide between bowls. Ladle over the soup and seafood, and serve with sprouts, chives, herbs, chilli and lime.

Tips

• Look for jars of mắm cá linh or mắm cá sặc in Vietnamese grocers; the smell is strong but mellows into rich savouriness as it cooks.
• Contains fish and shellfish. Cooking with the window open is a kindness to the neighbours.

Sources

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

Vicky Pham Wok and Kin Helen’s Recipes