Bun bo xao is a quick weeknight meal. Big tastes of lemongrass, beef, chili and fresh herbs hit all the right flavour notes. It’s the best kind of salad. Everything in balance.
I’m a omnivore with carnivore tendencies. There’s no doubt. Look around this blog. Probably five recipes that can qualify as vegan. Maybe less.
But Vietnamese works for me. Fascinates me really. The notion that meat is another ingredient. Not the star. Not the focus. Just another supporting voice.
It’s very different from the North American perspective. But it’s so good. We can learn something here.
A little help with translation. Bun are the noodles. Bo is beef and xao is stir fry. Bun bo xao. Stir fried beef with rice noodles. Now you know
Bun bo xao makes a great summer dish
These are summer flavours. Clean. Tasty. Not heavy at all. Little bits of meat. Some noodles. Vegetables. Chilies. And nuoc cham.
Nuoc cham is that clear drizzling sauce that comes with almost everything in Vietnamese restaurants. It’s great stuff. Just the perfect balance of sweet, sour, spicy and salty. I love it.
It takes almost no time to make it. Just combine some ingredients. Heat it a bit to bring it together. Let cool. Ready. Nothing to it. So make it. Make it often. It is killer with fresh spring rolls. Any Vietnamese noodle salad. And with bun bo xao.
There’s not a lot to bun bo xao once you have your prep done. Cook some noodles, fry up some beef and drizzle that crazy tasty Vietnamese dipping sauce overtop. Eat. Enjoy. Feel good.
bun bo xao
Ingredients
Beef
- 10 oz top sirloin sliced about 1/4 inch thick
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped lemongrass - tender inside part only
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp sambal oelek or other asian chili sauce
- 2 Tbsp oil
Nuoc cham dipping sauce
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp lime juice about 1/2 a lime
- 1/2 tsp sambal oelek or other asian chili sauce
- 1/3 cup hot water
- minced red chili to taste to taste
Salad
- 8 oz rice noodles - the flat kind or vermicelli - whatever you prefer
- 1 small cucumber julienned
- 1 small carrot julienned
- 1-2 green onions chopped
- leaf lettuce
Garnishes - be heavy handed
- cilantro
- mint
- basil
- crushed peanuts
Instructions
- Combine the dipping ingredients in a small bowl and stir to dissolve sugar. You want hot water here to help the sugar along. You can do this ahead of time.
- Mix the beef, lemongrass, sugar, fish sauce, garlic and sambal oelek and let stand 15-20 minutes (longer is fine).
- Cook the rice noodles as per the package instructions. Alternately, pouring boiling water to fully submerge the noodles works well. Drain them as soon as they soften - about 5 minutes. Check them before draining. Let the noodles cool briefly.
- Heat the oil over medium high heat and stir fry the beef.
- To serve place a couple pieces of leaf lettuce in the serving bowl. Add the noodles. Top with carrot, cucumber, green onion and beef. Garnish with cilantro, basil, mint and peanuts. Pour the nuoc cham overtop.
Nutrition
Skillet chicken with mozzarella and tomato. Pizza chicken. It’s a recipe mash up. Roast chicken meets pizza Margherita. It’s not on a menu anywhere but it should be. It’s that good. Chicken. Tomato. Cheese. What’s not to love?
This is a one skillet meal. Sort of. If you really want to keep it to one skillet you can make the marinara sauce in the skillet. Drain it off and fry the chicken. Or you can break down and use a pot along side. An extra 30 seconds of clean up.
You are going to need a big skillet. Like 12 inches. If you don’t have one of those maybe this should be a 2 skillet chicken dish. Or use a smaller skillet to cook the chicken in batches then finish it in a baking dish. Up to you.
Pizza chicken works pretty much no matter what it’s cooked in. It’s not that picky. It’s secure in it’s deliciousness. Not worried about it. Angst-free.
Pizza chicken is all about layering flavour
The magic in this pizza chicken recipe is the layering of the flavours. Browning the chicken gets you a fond in the pan. Deglazing with marinara sauce gets that fond into the sauce. That’s depth.
Roast chicken drippings in the sauce. Another layer. Fresh mozzarella melted into the dish. The jewel in the crown. A quick flash under the broiler. The final layer.
Layer upon layer of just damn tasty. Once you understand what the layers can bring to dinner you will want to make pizza chicken again and again.
