Vietnamese Street Food (2): Marinated Grilled Beef on Noodle Squares

This is one of those dishes that you can start the prep, take the dog for a walk to the park, apologise profusely to another dog owner when your dog steals their dog’s ball, not once but twice, get home, bath your dog because they decide to swim in the river and finally, at 8pm, put the final elements together.

 

I clearly was a little tired when I read the recipe because I didn’t cook the spring onions in the peanut oil, instead I had them raw in the first lettuce cup and decided it wasn’t quite right and so didn’t include them for the remaining cups. I also used rice vermicelli noodles as I could not find rice noodle squares, and omitted the perilla leaves as they were not available.

 

This is a super simple recipe and makes for great leftovers in rice paper the following day (just ensure you have cooked steak through).

 

Mess factor: **

Weeknight meal appropriateness: yes

Cook again: definitely

 

 

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Marinated Grilled Beef on Noodle Squares

Serves 6

Vietnamese Street Food

 

600g rump steak

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

12 fresh rice noodle squares

1 iceberg lettuce

2 handfuls coriander sprigs

1/2 handful perilla leaves

1 handful mint squares

2 1/2 tbsp peanut oil

4 spring onions, green part only, sliced

classic dipping sauce

 

Cut the beef into slices about 1cm thick and 4 – 5cm long. Combine the beef with the garlic, shallots, sugar, black pepper and fish sauce. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

 

Cut the rice noodle squares in half and arrange on a platter. Separate the lettuce into cups and arrange on a separate plate with the herbs.

 

Heat a chargrill or barbecue and cook the meat on both sides until done to your liking.

 

Meanwhile, gently heat the peanut oil and spring onion in a saucepan for 1 minute, or until the spring onion has just wilted. Remove from the heat.

 

Place the hot beef on the noodle squares and drizzle with the spring onions and peanut oil.

 

Pick up a lettuce cup and place a noodle square, along with a piece of beef and some spring onion, into the cup. Add some of the coriander, perilla and mint, and roll into a fat log. Serve with the dipping sauce.