Inspiration for the Dish

In November 2024 I was lucky enough to spend 2 weeks travelling around Vietnam with my fiancee. In this time we saw so many amazing palces and ate so much delicious food! Vietnamese food is such a delicious cuisine. Full of light soups, grilled meat and fish, light salads etc. It’s truly formed by the weather there.

This particular salad is inspired heavily by my experience eating bún thịt nướng in Hoi An. This is a beautiful salad focussed on marinated and grilled pork. This is then served with fried spring rolls, rice noodles, fresh herbs and salad. It is eaten by wrapping all of the components into rice paper and dipping into nước chấm, a truly ubiquitous Vietnamese dipping sauce. I may do a full recipe on this one day soon as I loved it so much! If you are interested though, check out this great recipe from Hungry Huy in the meantime.

Bún thịt nướng is reaasonably labour intensive end to end, and I wanted to rustle up something quick that captured the flavour and vibe. This then draws on a few key elements, using the nước chấm as a dressing and using the fress veg and herbs. I have substituted the grilled pork skewers for a steak because it can be cooked on the hob. The pork skewers benefit most from being cooked over coals. Cooking a good steak is also one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Cooking the Steak

Steak cooking can seem intimidating but it really doesn’t have to be. The most important aspect of a good steak, no matter what temperature you want it cooked to, is a good sear and crust. High heat is a key driver of this. High heat does not necessarily mean the highest heat on the biggest burner, you don’t want to burn the steak! you want the pan hot enough that it smokes when you put a bit of oil in.

Talking about oil, you want to be careful with your selection. Olive oil may be a common household cooking oil, but it has a low smoke point and burns easily. When it does, it has a tendency to turn rancid. You should pick a neutral oil with a high smoke point, something like rapeseed oil, sunflower oil etc.

Take your steak out of the fridge an hour or so before cooking. This lets the temperature come up a litte bit. If it’s still cold inside, it’ll cook through too slowly and maybe stay too raw in the middle. Dry your steak off with kitchen paper and salt generously on both sides. This will draw out more moisture! Right before you cook it, dry it off again. A dry exterior is hugely important to achieve a good crust and sear!

When cooking the steak flip it regularly, every 30 seconds or so. This helps to get that all-important sear, but also ensures that it cooks evenly on both sides. The steak I was cooking was relatively thin, so I aimed for about 2 minutes per side to achieve a Medium/Medium Rare.

Vietnamese Inspired Steak Salad

5 from 1 vote

A light and tasty Vietnamese inspired steak salad. Packed with noodles, fresh herbs and veg and finished with a Nước chấm sauce, this is perfect for a hot day!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings: 2 People

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Asian, Vietnamese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

For the Nước Chấm

• 3 tbsp Fish Sauce
• 1 Lime Juiced
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 75 ml Water
• 1 Red Chilli Seeds removed
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 tsp Salt

For the Salad

• 1 Ribeye Steak Around 250g
• 2 nests Rice Vermicelli Noodles
• 1 Carrot Peeled into ribbons
• 3 Spring Onions Finely sliced
• 1/3 Cucumber Cut into quarters and sliced
• 1 handful Fresh Mint
• 1 handful Fresh Coriander
• 1 handful Fresh Thai Basil

Method

 

1. Make the Nước Chấm

1. Cut your chilli in half and remove the seeds. Slice lengthways into strips and then horizontally to finely dice.
2. Cut the garlic cloves in half. Lay them on the flat side nd make a number of verticle lengthways slices, from root to end. Make one horizontal slice lengthways along the garlic piece, then slice across the cuts to finely mince them.
3. Mix the wet ingredients with the salt and sugar in a bowl until the sugar has fully dissolved. Add in the chilli and garlic and set aside.

2. Prepare the Salad Ingredients

1. Peel your carrot to remove the skin, then use the peeler to take long and thin slices like ribbons. Do this until you reach the core of the carrot.
2. Slice the cucumber vertically into quarters, then slice it into chunks.
3. Finely slice the spring onions at a slight angle.
4. Pick the leaves from your fresh herbs.
   
5. Cook the noodles according to the manufacturers instructions, then run them under a cold tap to stop the cooking process and prevent them from clumping too much.

3. Cook the Steak

1. Heat your pan to high heat and add a neutral, high smoke point oil.
2. Pat the steak dry and put it into the pan, placing it away from you so you don't get splattered with hot oil.
3. Cook the steak for 2 minutes on each side, flipping every 30 seconds or so.
4. Remove when cooked to your satisfaction and set aside to rest for a couple of minutes.

4. Assembling the Salad

1. Start by putting the noodles into the centre of the bowl.
   
2. Place the fresh herbs and veg in piles around the noodles.
   
3. Dress with a few spoonfulls of the nước chấm.
4. Slice the steak against the grain and assemble in the centre of the bowl, on top of the noodles.
   
5. Dress with the remainder of the nước chấm and serve.