Last week, Edmonton’s Chef Doreen Prei made Alberta proud with a win on the latest season of Firemasters, the outdoor barbecuing competition series on Food Network Canada.
Chef Doreen competed through three rounds of fiery culinary challenges, including the final round against one of the judges, before claiming the $10,000 grand prize as well as bragging rights of being a Fire Master Champion.
For her signature dish in the first round of competition, Chef Doreen made a dish inspired by a trip to Vietnam. Originating in Hanoi, Vietnam, Bún Chả is traditionally a dish served with grilled fatty pork over a plate of rice noodles and a side of dipping sauce. For the competition, Chef Doreen served her version of Bún Chả with pork two ways – pork belly and ground pork patties.
Check out Chef Doreen’s winning Firemaster episode on Food Network Canada to see how she served up her recipe below for Bún Chả.
Chef Doreen Prei’s Bún Chả
Yield: six portions
What you’ll need…
300 g pork belly, thinly sliced
350 g ground pork
25 ml fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
10 garlic chives, sliced
600 g dried rice vermicelli
150 g bean sprouts
1 butter lettuce, leaves separated
1 handful cilantro sprigs
1 handful perilla
bamboo skewers, soaked (optional)
Bun Cha Dipping Sauce
200 g sugar
200 ml water or pork stock
100 ml fish sauce
100 ml rice vinegar
100 ml lime juice, freshly squeezed
1 long red chili, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 small carrot, sliced in rounds
Directions:
- In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, garlic, shallots and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Use half of this mixture to marinade the sliced pork belly, setting aside at room temperature for an hour, or in your fridge for up to four hours.
- Combine the remaining fish sauce mixture together with the egg and garlic chives with the ground pork, massaging well with your hands. Allow to marinate at room temperature for an hour, or in your fridge for up to four hours.
- To finish, soak the vermicelli noodles in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, stirring to separate. Drain the noodles, then refresh them in ice water. Use scissors to cut them into shorter pieces.
- Heat your grill to medium high.
- Form the ground pork into meatballs about 3 cm in diameter.
- Use bamboo skewers and /or a grill basket and grill the pork for 3-5 minutes, until cooked through.
- To serve, arrange Bun Cha dipping sauce in 6 bowls, then add 3 meatballs and 4 slices of pork belly. Serve the noodles, remaining pork and greens and herbs separately allowing your guests to dip the noodles and greens in the dipping sauce to eat with the grilled pork.
Bun Cha Dipping Sauce
- In a pan, combine the sugar and water (or stock), then heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat.
- Sir in the remaining ingredients, adding the fish sauce, vinegar and lime juice to taste.
The post Chef Doreen Prei’s Firemasters Winning Bún Chả Recipe appeared first on Passion for Pork.