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Susan Jung

I was introduced to Vietnamese food when I was living in San Francisco. My Vietnamese friends cooked for me and took me to the Bay Area's best Vietnamese restaurants, whose unassuming exteriors gave no indication of the excellent food they were serving. My friends sincerely believed Vietnamese was one of the world's greatest cuisines, and I agree.

Because the Vietnamese make liberal use of fresh herbs and raw vegetables, the food tastes especially good when the weather is hot and humid. Although Vietnamese restaurants in Hong Kong are often stingy, the selection on the fresh herb and raw vegetable platters served in Vietnam is astonishing, even at the dingiest noodle shops.

If you're cooking for a group, take a trip to the shops of Wan Chai, around Stone Nullah Lane - it's much cheaper than shopping at a supermarket. These shops sell bags of fresh herbs, chillies, limes, rice papers and fine rice vermicelli. If you travel to Vietnam, you'll find the rice papers are different from the kind you buy here: they're thinner and more pliable and don't need to be soaked in water before rolling them.

Lemongrass pork with rice noodles

450 grams boneless pork (thin chops or meat sliced from a slightly fatty piece)

1 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp fish sauce

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 spring onions, minced

2 stalks of lemongrass, crushed lightly then minced (use only the juicy part of the stalk)

For the rice noodles: 250 grams thin rice noodles

3 spring onions, minced

2 tbsp oil

1/4 cup peanuts, roasted then lightly crushed

Shredded lettuce and grated carrot

Dipping sauce from the fried spring rolls

For the dipping sauce:

1/2 cup bottled fish sauce

2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1-2 tbsp rice vinegar

2-3 tbsp granulated sugar

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

Chopped red chillies, to taste

1 small carrot, finely shredded

Toss the pork with sugar, fish sauce, garlic, spring onions and lemongrass. Let the meat marinate in the fridge for at least one hour, then cook over hot coals, on the grill or in a lightly oiled frying pan.

Mix the ingredients for the dipping sauce, then dilute to taste with cold water.

Heat the oil, add the spring onions and let them sizzle. Soak the rice noodles in boiling water until tender, then drain and run under cold water. While still moist, toss them with the spring onion oil. Divide between bowls and add lettuce and carrot, top with the cooked meat and sprinkle with peanuts. Serve with small bowls of dipping sauce.

Fresh spring rolls (pictured)

These are sometimes called crystal spring rolls or summer rolls. It's difficult to say precisely how much of each ingredient you need. I use roast pork (siu yuk) from barbecue meat shops - pick a boneless piece that is slightly fatty, and save the skin for another use.

12 large, round rice papers

120 grams thin rice vermicelli

12 large shrimp

250 grams roast pork, skin removed

1 medium carrot, roughly grated

1/2 cup each fresh basil, mint and cilantro

1 head red leaf or butter lettuce

Dipping sauce:

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 tbsp bottled fish sauce

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 fresh Thai chillies, finely minced

3 heaped tbsp peanuts, toasted then roughly chopped

Boil a pot of water then add the rice vermicelli and turn off the heat. Let the vermicelli soak until tender, then drain and refresh under cold water.

Boil the shrimp until pink and curling then drain and refresh. Peel the shrimp and remove the vein along the back. Using a small knife held parallel to the cutting board, cut the shrimp in half. Slice the pork thinly.

Dip one rice paper briefly in cool water then lay it flat on a clean, dry tea towel. The paper will soften and become pliable. Put some of the rice vermicelli on the lower third of the paper, add a leaf of lettuce (torn, if too big), some grated carrot and a slice or two of pork. Fold the lower third of the rice paper over the filling, then add some basil, mint, cilantro and two prawn halves (this allows the green herbs and pink shrimp to show through the paper when rolled). Fold in the sides of the paper, then roll away from you, enclosing the filling completely. Continue with the remaining papers and filling.

Mix the hoisin sauce, fish sauce, chillies, garlic and enough water to thin it to sauce consistency. Divide between bowls and sprinkle with peanuts.

Fried spring rolls

I learned these from my friends in San Francisco. The filling isn't cooked completely; it will finish cooking when the rolls are fried. Adding Coca-Cola to the water for the rice papers doesn't add sweetness - it caramelises and gives the rolls a lovely, brown colour when fried.

2 tsp oil, plus oil for frying

1 medium onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced thinly

3 cloves garlic, minced

300 grams ground pork

300 grams raw shrimp (weighed after heads and shells have been removed), chopped

50-gram pack of mung bean noodles (fun see), soaked in warm water until soft, drained and chopped into shorter lengths

1 medium carrot, roughly grated

6 cloud ear mushrooms, soaked in hot water until soft, then squeezed dry and minced

6 fresh water chestnuts, peeled, washed then chopped

2 tbsp bottled fish sauce

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

40 (approximately) small rice paper wrappers

1 can of Coca-Cola

Heat the oil, add the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add the minced pork and cook until the juices start to come out. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl, then stir in the shrimp, mung bean noodles, carrot, cloud ear mushrooms, water chestnuts, fish sauce and black pepper. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl, then stir thoroughly into the mixture. Let this cool completely.

Pour the can of Coke into a large bowl and add two cups of water. Dip a sheet of rice paper into the soaking liquid then lay on a clean, dry tea towel. Put a heaped spoonful of filling on the bottom quarter of the rice paper, fold up the bottom then the sides and continue to roll away from you. Don't overstuff them and don't roll too tightly or they'll burst. Repeat with remaining papers and filling.

Pour oil into a large skillet and heat to 200 degrees Celsius. Fry the rolls for about five minutes or until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with lettuce leaves, additional fresh herbs and small bowls of the dipping sauce in the lemongrass pork recipe.

Food styling Leonie van Hasselt

Picture Loena Kotze



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