Cook: Vietnamese Noodle Bowl

I love a rice OR a rice noodle bowl. And while specifically on the search for the sauce to accompany my favorite Vietnamese rice noodle bowl, I decided instead to save the recipe for the whole dish.              

And though a neighbor recently gave me Filipino bbq pork, I thought I could put it in a rice noodle bowl.                   

I didn’t remember to get Imperial rolls from a Vietnamese restaurant, but I did  make the Nuoc Cham—omg so easy. And so with the Nuoc Cham and the Do Chua or pickled carrots and daikon I made the week before, both such necessary components in my Vietnamese-inspired meals, I was ready to add to my meal rotation. Also I didn’t have rice vermicelli in my pantry. I had long bean thread noodles, and I think the beans are soy. And so I gathered the Nuoc Cham and Do Chua and sliced and tossed the leftover bbq pork in lemon grass, and chopped up a ton of herbs and vegetables: cilantro, mint, green onion, butter lettuce.                                

I hadn’t thought the noodles was going to to take as long as as they did. I had to soak them for 15 minutes first and then boil them for 30 seconds. I now remember the glass noodles and ginger chicken dish my mom used to cook for our family.           

And once the noodles were cooked, serving was as easy as tossing all the ingredients together in a bowl.             

Bright and delicious and healthy. At some point I will try this again with other ingredients like imperial rolls, rice vermicelli, shrimp or chicken or tofu.