20-minute Vietnamese minced pork noodles

Ingredients

Scaled for your household (4 portions) · original serves 4

• Red onion1
• Rice wine vinegar3 tbsp
  2 tbsp pickle + 1 tbsp dressing
• Rice vermicelli noodles250 g
• Vegetable oil1 tbsp
• Pork mince500 g
• Garlic cloves2
• Lemongrass1 tbsp
• Fish sauce1½ tbsp
  plus 1 tsp in dressing
• Dark soy sauce1 tbsp
  plus 1 tsp in dressing
• Brown sugar2 tbsp
• Honey1 tbsp
• Lime2 tbsp
• Carrots2
• Lebanese cucumber2
• Coriander bunch (optional)1 bunch
  to serve
• Salted peanuts (optional)50 g
  approximate quantity for costing
• Sweet chilli sauce60 ml
  dressing

Method

1. 1

   Quick-pickle the onion. Combine the thinly sliced red onion with 2 tbsp of the rice wine vinegar and 1 tsp salt flakes in a small bowl. Stir and set aside to pickle while you cook.

2. 2

   Soak the noodles. Put the 250 g vermicelli in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and stand until just tender. Drain and set aside.

3. 3

   Brown the pork. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the 500 g pork mince and the crushed garlic and cook for 6 minutes, stirring and breaking up the mince, until well browned.

   6 min
4. 4

   Make it sticky. Add the lemongrass, 1½ tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy, the brown sugar, honey, lime juice and 2 tbsp water. Cook, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until sticky and caramelised.

   4 min
5. 5

   Mix the dressing. Stir together the sweet chilli sauce with the remaining 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp fish sauce and 1 tsp dark soy.

6. 6

   Assemble. Divide the noodles between bowls and top with carrot matchsticks, sliced cucumber and the pickled onion. Add the pork, then coriander sprigs. Serve with the dressing and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.